On Monday 21 March 14 members of the Epsom College community were confirmed in St Luke’s Chapel by the Right Reverend Dr Jo Bailey Wells, Bishop of Dorking.
There was a tangible sense of celebration and spiritual warmth from the first moment Bishop Jo arrived at the College. This was evident during the informal supper for candidates, their families and guests in Big School and throughout the confirmation service.
In St Luke’s Chapel members of the Chapel Choir beautifully sang the anthem Grow in Grace, composed by our Director of Music, Mr Paul Johnson-Hyde.
Those confirmed were prepared by the Senior Chaplain in small groups each week. Throughout the term, the candidates discussed what it means to be Christian in the 21st Century. One of the main objectives was to talk about God, the significance of Jesus and how his message of love has been revealed to our world. They looked at how Christians should respond to this good news. One of the main aims of the course was to empower the candidates to question and not be satisfied with easy or trite answers.
Those confirmed included an OE, Riona Buley, who lives locally. It was really super to welcome her back to the College Chapel where she used to sing in the Chapel Choir.
Bishop Jo was joined at the service by the Senior Chaplain, Canon Haviland, the Assistant Chaplain, Mrs Rebecca Catterall, Associate Chaplains, the Revd Canon Adrian Esdaile and Mr Graeme Lodge LLM and the vicar of Epsom, the Revd Nick Parish. The Headmaster read from St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians 3: 12-17 and the Senior Chaplain read the Gospel.
A service of confirmation takes place annually in St Luke’s Chapel at the end of the Lent Term. If anyone is interested in finding out a little more about confirmation, Canon Haviland and the Chaplaincy team would be delighted to hear from them.
