This is a day of great joy on which we celebrate the faith that defines us as individual followers of Jesus and as a Christian community. We call this faith our baptismal faith because baptism sums it all up. Baptism says to the one being baptized: “You belong to Jesus, and Jesus welcomes you as a companion in life; as a kindred spirit.” I think that everyone knows what we mean by a kindred spirit. Sometimes we have close friendships in which we have that senses of being kindred spirits. When friends are kindred spirits they have a special affinity with each other. They have a feeling that somehow they were meant to be friends. They understand each other. They enjoy each other’s company. They can almost tell what the other is thinking. They care about each other. We can also have a sense of spiritual kinship with certain persons that we connect with through reading or through music; through public organizations or even through politics. Many people have a favourite author or musician. When you read a book written by your favourite author or hear a song composed by your favourite musician, something resonates and awakens within your spirit. The sense of being kindred spirits is there.

When we pray today that each of our confirmands might live their lives as faithful companions of Jesus Christ, we meant that each one of them might discover more and more that they are indeed kindred spirits with Jesus. We all have it in us. We were all created in the image of God, which means exactly that each one of us has it in us to be kindred spirits with Jesus. When we go through a confirmation program we go through an exploration, a journey of discovery in which we discover our kinship with Jesus. We learn about what Jesus said, what Jesus did, how Jesus lived, and something is awakened within our spirits. We start to resonate with the Spirit of Jesus. We start to understand that we could indeed be kindred spirits with this person. We start to understand that it would be good for us to live our lives as Jesus did with justice and compassion, to live with respect in creation, to love and serve others as Jesus did.

I trust that each one of our confirmands has indeed come to realize that they are kindred spirits with Jesus; and that they have the opportunity and the mandate to nurture that kinship in the living of their lives. That is what makes for a spirit-filled life, a life that is truly worth the living. May we all live that life in which our spirits resonate with the spirit of Jesus, in life, in death, in life beyond death. Thanks be to God.

Spirit-filled Church (Kathy Toivanen)

Erin Mills United has a wonderful Easter tradition – the Easter dance. In one of the sessions in the confirmation program, a few of you said that this was one of the important events in the life of this congregation. For those of you who haven’t been here to participate in this dance - on Easter morning, we gather in a circle around the sanctuary. We are a mixed group – folks old enough to know ball room dance steps, others who grew up with rock and roll, others who dance to a rap or a dance mix beat, some who hop and skip to nursery rhymes and lullabies. Nevertheless, at Easter, we gather together, and support each other, laughing as we step on toes and bump into each other as we try to dance to the rhythm of the Easter music.

For me a Spirit-filled church is a church that moves to the rhythm of the Easter dance. It is a rhythm that is essential to our life together; it is our heartbeat, it is the rhythm of breathing in and out. The Spirit urges us to be attentive to this Easter rhythm. Sometimes gently, sometimes firmly, the Spirit guides and teaches us to align our steps and to walk in time with the steps of Jesus Christ who invites us to the Easter dance.

And what does a Spirit-filled church look like as it joins Jesus Christ in the Easter dance? It is a community where everyone gets to take part; no has to stand against the wall waiting for a turn, in fact the smallest and the least powerful are given a special place in the circle. The Sprit- filled church is a community that throws open the doors and turns the dance into a street party, where the dance moves along the streets sharing food and companionship with strangers and neighbours, inviting the lonely into the circle, stopping to wait for any who have trouble keeping up, and carrying those who cannot stand on their own. The Spirit-filled church is a community where we still dance even when we are sad or in pain because we know that the rhythm of Christ’s love for us and for our world will not be stopped, it is a rhythm that inspires hope, it is a rhythm that brings healing and the promise of new life.