Brief synopsis of the readings: In the Acts of the Apostles we see Phillip converting a Samaritan town; they were impressed by the miracles he performed and were baptized. He drew out unclean spirits as well as healing the paralyzed. Back in Jerusalem the Apostles learned of this and sent Peter and John to lay hands on the Samaritans and allow them to receive the Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel Jesus told his disciples that the Father will send an Advocate to them. This Advocate will be exclusive to them and the world will not understand it. Finally “whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

I think we can all agree that there are times when it can be frustrating to be a Christian. We oftentimes live by a different code of ethics and are called to actions that are not well understood. But also we eventually come to realize that events we hoped would end our journey simply don’t. We never seem to get to “and they lived happily ever after.”

Adam and Eve, to the extent that they were aware, probably thought that they would live in the Garden of Eden forever. That only lasted until they met the serpent. Noah’s Ark was supposed to be a “do over” with a fresh start but the animals were barely off the boat before his sons showed that we were pretty much back to the same old behaviors. The Israelites that Moses led out of Egypt were supposed to live the perfect society in the Promised Land. After that the birth of the Messiah was supposed to usher all good things. That’s right: we believe that Jesus is the Messiah but even after his death and resurrection, well here we are.

So what do we do with this? When Jews ask us if our world looks like a world that has welcomed the Messiah, they kind of have a point. We still have war, disease, soggy french fries and incredibly complicated TV remote controls. The internet over saturates our lives and social media finds newer and better ways to isolate us and make us feel inferior.

Well, some of us have chosen simply to move the goalposts back. If the First Coming of Jesus didn’t give us all that we need, then the Second Coming will. All we have to do is sit back and wait for the Rapture. Then we will be saved and we will live happily ever after. This has the advantage of being incredibly lucrative to TV evangelists.

Or maybe there is another way. From our earliest time we humans have looked at God vertically: God is “up there” and we are “down here.” For those who remember high school geometry, this is the “y axis.” There is certainly great truth in this view, but perhaps we can look also a the “x axis,” the horizontal axis.

In our first reading Phillip went to the Samaritans and convinced them to follow Jesus and they were baptized. To them this placed them on the road to Salvation. It elevated them on the y axis. But God wasn’t done with them just like God isn’t done with us. When the leaders in Jerusalem learned of this they sent Peter and John to lay hands on the Samaritans. And while baptism looks much the same to us as it did then, this “laying on of hands” has undergone many changes. Many Christian denominations now recognize this as the sacrament of confirmation.

So how does confirmation differ? Is it simply the “new and improved” baptism? I think not. I think if baptism lies on the y axis and gets us to think vertically of our relationship with God, confirmation lies on the x axis and gets us to think horizontally with our relationship with each other. When I administered a Sunday School (CCD) program in Virginia we celebrated confirmation in the 8th grade. We required each of the candidates to perform some act of service: some did child care, caring for infants and small children while their parents attended mass. Others volunteered as teacher’s aids or visited parishioners in one of several nursing homes. It was our hope that by getting involved the 8th graders would begin to see not only the needs around them, but also their ability to participate in the ministry of the church.

Remember I’ve previously spoken about how the earliest of Jesus’ followers didn’t believe they needed to make long range plans because “happily ever after” would happen soon. There wasn’t an instantaneous recognition that we were in for the long haul but it didn’t take long for the early disciples to figure out that the people around them mattered. They weren’t merely future fellow passengers on the chariot to salvation: they are also people we are bound to here.

And it’s more than a recognition that we are each other’s keeper. It is a recognition that God’s plan of salvation binds us to each other with a bond that will only strengthen over time. When Jesus talks about the Advocate he talks about the Spirit of Truth but he also promises not to leave us as orphans. An orphan leads a difficult life because his life is disconnected from anyone else; it’s lonely and rootless. But our life, because of this Advocate, is just the opposite. We are welcome in each other’s lives and how we treat each other matters. Nobody is an orphan because nobody is alone.

So where do we go from here? Do we passively await the next “end of the story?” Do we think the next event in Salvation History will be the last? I hope not. I hope and believe that God loves us more than that. I hope God places events in our lives to give us energy and encouragement.

Plus, if we are committed to each other when we get to Heaven we won’t need name tags.