Pastor Sarah R. Cordray
Luther Memorial Church
October 25, 2015
John 8:31-36
Telling the Truth
“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and
the truth will make you free.” Today is a special day in the life of our Lutheran church for
telling the truth for two reasons. First we, as Lutheran Christians, tell of the truth of our
salvation through Christ. We confess boldly that, “It is by grace you have been saved
through faith; and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2.8).
Second, today is a special day as eight of our youth tell the truth for themselves as they
confirm their faith and affirm their baptism.
Because it is such a day of truth telling, I want to come out and tell you the truth of what
I think about you Luther Memorial. All of you that attend worship and our eight
Confirmands who have just completed all the requirements asked of them, the truth
is…I don’t want you to come to church anymore. I don’t want you to come to church
where you feel you are forced or feel morally obligated because this is what mom and
dad have said you must do. I don’t want you to come to church where you feel you have
to listen to the sermon…you have to volunteer…you have to sign up…you have to give.
I don’t want you to come to church because you will feel just like Colton did when he
was a child. “When I started this long journey of faith-building way back in preKindergarten, church felt like a punishment to me. I hated going to Sunday School. It
wasn’t fun at all.” In Colton’s and my truth-telling, don’t come to church anymore
because it will feel like a punishment.
Going to church felt like a punishment as well to Martin Luther, our forbearer of our
Lutheran faith. Martin Luther went to church because he felt it was the only way he
could save himself. He went to church out of moral obligation and conviction that he
must earn his salvation. If he went to church enough…volunteered enough…gave
enough, he would be a person worthy of God. Martin Luther’s church also taught him
that if he would go to church and buy indulgences (money paid for forgiveness), he
would spring himself and loved ones out of purgatory. Going to church became
punishment until the truth hit Luther. While studying God’s word, Luther was opened by
the truth that we don’t go to church to earn our salvation…we don’t go to church and go
through what we feel is like punishment in order to be forgiven. The truth is we don’t go
to church; rather the truth is…we are the church. We are the church that is named and
claimed, loved and forgiven, freed and set forth to tell the truth with all our lives that
Jesus Christ is the savior of the world that has set all people free.
We are free from our sins, our natural tendencies to curve in towards ourselves, and
from death itself. We are freed from having to go to church where we feel we must
complete our spiritual duties in order to be saved so that we may be free to be the
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church of Christ. We are freed so that we may tell the truth…the truth about God who
are Confirmands say:
 God is everything and everywhere (Wil McCoy).
 I believe I wouldn’t be here without God (Emily Holthus).
 God’s love has no boundaries and is what surrounds us in times of joy and
sorrow (Brynn Krieger).
 God makes a promise and God keeps it (Emily Holthus).
God did make a promise over each one of you as you were knit together in your
mother’s womb and baptized as a child of God. God promised that God would never
leave you or forsake you. God promised that God would deliver you from sin and death.
And God promised you that you would never be alone. This is the truth that God told
you that day and it is the truth to which your loved ones also gave their word.
Your loved ones, parents, grandparents, godparents, and your church family-we all
gave our word to the truth of Jesus Christ as we too made our promises on the day of
your baptism. This is why as Reed says, “My faith began with my family (Reed
Seelhoff). We promised that we would pray for you, nurture you in faith and prayer,
place in your hands the scriptures, bring you to the Lord’s Table, and teach you the
Lord’s prayer, the creed, and the Ten Commandments. As God made a promise, so did
your loved ones. Because of these promises, God would not let any of us give up on
you or each other. After Colton wrote that church felt like punishment, he also wrote,
“But God wouldn’t let my parents give up.”
God would not let us give up on you and on each other because the truth is God does
not give up on us. Just as Mackenzie reminds us, “You always have to remember that
you’re in God’s hands” (Mackenzie Post). You are in God’s hands dear ones and there
is nothing you can do to undo the truth of God that has named and claimed you, loved
and forgiven, freed and set forth to be the church. You cannot undo the truth of God in
your life even when having faith is hard.
Reed shared, “Sometimes having faith is hard. Sometimes our prayers seem to go
unanswered.” Many of our Confirmands wrote in their faith statements that their families
have been through a number of ups and downs, sickness and disease, and there will be
confusing times when they have questioned the Bible, the pastor, and even God. These
youth are telling us the absolute truth; nevertheless, they keep telling us a greater truth,
the truth that has set them free:
 I believe in Jesus Christ. He gave us the ultimate sacrifice. He died for us so that
we could live (Aaron Mead).
 Jesus preached God’s word…and set examples for us to live by such as: being
kind to those that were overlooked, healing the sick when they were in need, and
showing patience for those around him (Brynn Krieger).
 Jesus is the gate to everlasting life (Dylan Halouska).
 It is my faith that will keep me strong. The one thing that has kept us together is
our faith.
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 Faith is more than a word, it is action (Dylan).
Faith is action. It is action as the truth of Jesus Christ lives in you and the Holy Spirit
“not only connects all peoples together through faith, but also projects God’s energy into
the faithful” (Aaron Mead).
Today, God’s energy is projected into our eight Confirmands as their faith is confirmed.
To confirm means to state or show that (something) is true. Dylan, Emily, Brynn, Wil,
Aaron, Colton, Mackenzie, and Reed—tell the truth and show the truth of Jesus Christ
in your lives as your faith is confirmed. Tell the truth as you give your word to God’s
word as you promise to live among God’s faithful people, hear the word of God and
share in the Lord’s supper, proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and
deed, to serve all people following the example of Christ Jesus, and to strive for justice
and peace. Tell the truth as you agree to NOT go to church but to be the church through
the power of the Holy Spirit. Tell the truth as it is not YOU who confirms your faith, but it
is the very one who named and claimed, loved and forgave, freed and now sends you
forth together with us as we are the church!
And all of God’s people say, “Amen!”
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