Confirmation
Confirmation
For many of us, confirmation meant an extra class at church
every week for two or three years, sermon notes, and an examination by the
church council either publicly in church or at a council meeting. Robes, pictures, corsages, hair dos, new
dresses or suits for the big day. While
going through confirmation we were also asked to acolyte on a regular basis, if
we were lucky we went on a confirmation retreat. My 8th grade confirmation class
consisted of 27 kids – 17 boys and 10 girls.
We met each week after school at church for instruction – which was
probably just as hard for my dad, who was the pastor, as it was for all of us. 27 squirrelly kids can be exhausting. My dad expected sermon notes – and to his
credit, read them all, commented on them and handed them back to us. After confirmation Sunday, of the 27 kids in
my confirmation class only about 10 of us stayed involved in church, becoming
the nucleus of our high school group, Luther League. Why did some stay and many not? Lots of different reasons I suppose. Of the ones who stayed, we had found things
at church which kept us coming – a sense of community, family and belonging. Even though confirmed, we were not
full-fledge members of our church – we still were not allowed to vote at
congregational meetings – and we sent a strong message that as confirmed
members of the congregation we wanted to be full members with a voice and a
vote. We wanted to be a part of the church!
On Reformation Sunday, students of Good Shepherd will affirm
their baptism. They will affirm the
promises that their parents, sponsors and congregation made on their baptismal
day. They will say yes to adult
membership. This is one of the
milestones along their faith journey.
This isn’t the end – but the beginning of their adult participation in
the church. Let us congratulate these
new adult members of our congregation!
Written for Good Shepherd's church newsletter - since we are confirming our young people this month.