Confirmation: A Team Sport

It’s no secret that I love doing baptisms at Holy Trinity. It is a delightful experience to hold each baby (even the crying ones) and dunk them in the water of new life in Christ. As the water drips off of their naked bodies, we sing ♫“You have put on Christ” and I can’t help but beam with joy for the newly baptized. 

On the day of your baptism, God said “yes” to you. You are wanted, loved, forgiven and chosen to live among God’s faithful people with grace and purpose. On each person’s baptism day, God’s people gather to add their “yes!” to God’s “yes!” for the newly baptized. As baptized Christians participating in another’s baptism during worship, we promise to receive them as wanted, loved, forgiven, and chosen people. 

And we make promises to be in relationship together with God’s people as they develop in Christian faith and life. 

Confirmation instruction is one of the many ways we live out that promise to help them grow in the Chrisitan faith and life. At the time of their confirmation those now grown babies will affirm their faith--the faith in which they were baptized. We’ll repeat the the marks of a Christian faith and life that were spoken at their baptism: 

to live among God’s faithful people, 

to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper

to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed

To care for others and the world God made

And to work for justice and peace in all the earth. 

Promises made at baptism are nurtured in the life of the congregation. Confirmands need mentoring and nurturing from their community of faith to grow, question, appreciate, learn from and live into a baptismal way of life; a Christian way of life. In other words they need you; yes, you! 

This year’s confirmation instruction will be guided by a curriculum called Chosen Together. I like the name because we are in this together. Confirmation is not just for the pastors, confirmands and their parents, but the whole congregation is encouraged to be part of their faith formation. Throughout Chosen Together confirmation, the students will be expected to talk with others in the congregation about their faith and they’ll ask you questions that help us to reflect on what we are learning in class. Typically this would happen in the pews after worship, but because of the pandemic, they’ll need to do phone calls or zoom. It would be helpful to have a long list of people who say “yes” to being contacted by our confirmands. If you're open to 10-15 minute conversations with our confirmands, please let me know. 

Confirmation is a “team sport,” meaning that confirmation is only ever as strong as the surrounding community. Thank you for being part of the Holy Trinity “Confirmation Team” and committing to engage with others in the Christian faith and life through words and actions.

What does this mean?

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

Acts 2:1-4,6,12

Teaching the confirmation class for Holy Trinity this year was so much fun! Joel Cruz and I were the main fixtures in the St. Mark’s Room every Sunday at 10am with nine confirmands. Pastor Craig and Pastor Michelle joined us frequently for special sessions and to chime in on Ask a Pastor? questions (which ranged from queries about heaven/hell all the way to “flavors” of communion bread). Parents provided us with snacks (a necessity for this hungry group!) and faithfully supported our efforts. Our class really bonded, especially over our confirmation mascot (a stuffed, orange alpaca we named Dominic) and during our confirmation retreat at Lutherdale in February….where I learned that a toboggan is not a hat but a sled. We enjoyed collaborating together for our group participation in the Epiphany festival and our interpretative reading of the Noah story for the Easter vigil.

One of the questions that appears frequently in Luther’s Small Catechism, our main text for confirmation is, “What does this mean?” We asked this question as we studied the articles of the Apostles’ Creed and learned more in-depth about the sacraments of baptism and eucharist. We asked this question as we explored our faith convictions through themes of care for creation, boundaries and bodies, ethics, vocation, peace and politics. We asked this question to discern what does this mean, to live out our Christian faith in the world?

This same question, “What does this mean?” appears in our reading for Pentecost this week as the Holy Spirit descends on the new church. Amazed and perplexed, they ask one another, “What does this mean?” What do we do with this? How will our lives be changed by the power of God? What action must we take as a result?

Our confirmands have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in this community. For them, “What does this mean?” will be a lifelong question. It’s not a question that is answered easily or simply. It’s a question to be lived into and then asked again and then revisited throughout their lives. It’s not a question that they will answer alone. It’s a question they will continually explore together in their communities, with those who are brave enough to stand in the mystery with them.