Letter from Amy: Nov 12, 2025
- Amy Rowe
- Nov 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 12
Dear friends,
As I announced on Sunday, our broader denomination continues to be in the news; this article provides a helpful and clear update on the latest allegations. While I am deeply grieved by what is being revealed, I also believe that light dispels darkness. Justice and healing is only possible after an honest reckoning of all that has happened, and so I continue to pray for the truth to come to light, even as it hurts. If this news stirs up painful memories from your own life, or if you have questions or concerns you would like to raise, please reach out to me or Katie. We are here for you.
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Our annual synod (the governance meeting of our diocese, which all clergy attend) begins this Thursday. Our annual bishop’s visit is just a few weeks away, and with it, TJ’s ordination to the priesthood and many of our members’ confirmations. The timing of these events feels poignant at a moment when trust in our church’s leaders and structures feels so fragile. And yet, miraculously and mercifully, this fragility does not hinder the power of the Spirit to call and gift his people. Leaders may fail us, but our work does not change, and our God is still with us.
Several of you have asked what confirmation means, so I’m recycling what I wrote a few years ago for those interested. Confirmation is sometimes referred to as "the ordination of the layperson," and I love that description. (If you attend TJ’s ordination on December 6 and church confirmations on December 7, you’ll see some similarities.) In confirmation, the bishop lays hands on a person and prays for the strengthening of the Holy Spirit for a life of service to God. In this way, confirmation is a rite of Christian maturity and mission, a public acknowledgement of the continuation of the Spirit's work in baptism.
During the baptism liturgy, we tell parents and godparents that when their baptized children have learned the Christian faith, they should "come to the bishop to be confirmed, to publicly claim the faith for their own and be further strengthened by the Holy Spirit to serve Christ and his kingdom" (Book of Common Prayer, p. 163). In baptism, the Holy Spirit births a person into the body of Christ. At confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens him or her for the continual growing and deepening in the Christian life that marks a mature faith.
This deepening and strengthening by the Spirit is not only for the good of the confirmed person; it also equips them to be sent out for the good of others. Confirmation marks someone with a deeper sense of Christian vocation as a witness and minister of Jesus in all the ordinary places of their lives: their households, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
In other words, confirmation is a powerful moment of grace in which a person makes a public profession of faith, and the church affirms, supports, and strengthens that faith in return.
Confirmation is open to anyone who is baptized, affirms the Nicene Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and is ready to make a public profession of faith. Those who are already confirmed may also wish to reaffirm their faith (same ceremony, ever-so-slightly different prayer) — this reaffirmation can be especially meaningful for those who are returning to the faith, experiencing inward spiritual renewal, or going through a significant life transition.
Interested? We will hold a two-hour class sometime in the next couple weeks over Zoom (date and time still TBD). Let me know if you’d like to join!
With love,
Amy
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