"Confirmation Day"

Sunday October 25th was Reformation Day in the Lutheran Church.  It is also a traditional day that we confirm our youth that have gone through a few years of "church instruction."  This year there were three 10th graders that were recommended to be confirmed by the previous pastor at Peace Lutheran Church.
I am not sure if they want their names published and out in the web, so I will give them alias names for their picture.

On the left is Farley, the middle is Renee, and on the right is Spade and of course Pastor Jay in the middle.

It was a great day to celebrate with the parents and families, and it is really too bad it only happens one time a year.  But as important as Confirmation is, it is also just the beginning of their young lives in Jesus Christ.  The following is a letter I gave them the night we met to go over Sunday's procedures.

"Greetings from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ….

So you’re going to be confirmed? What does that mean?
 Honestly, it is just the beginning of your journey as a Christ-filled individual. You may have heard that once you are confirmed, you do not have to come back to church, but that could not be further from the truth. Once you are confirmed, you assume a larger response-ability to the church. You may notice I said response-ability. That means that you now have the basic tools that the church has provided you to talk about your faith, and you have the ability to respond to God better now.

Your faith is a key to who you are as a person. Your faith will ground you as an individual, and it will be there to fall back on if you ever run into life situations that seem too hard or too stressful to handle. Your faith is just beginning to grow. Coming to worship on a Sunday is just a small part of who you are as a professed Christian (which you will do on your confirmation day). You will confess to the church body and to God that you believe in your baptism, and that you renounce the forces of sin, the devil, and all his empty promises. You are making a statement of faith, proclaiming your belief and asking for help from your God.

You assume a response-ability; or, you now have a better ability to respond to the gifts that God has given you, and you give back to God in that ability that you have been given. Coming to worship builds that response-ability each and every time you are in the house of God. It is not our church, it is God’s church; God’s mission, and we come to this building to worship and give thanks to God weekly. When you worship God, you affirm your baptism. You can also do this every day, and I hope you wake up in the morning and give thanks to God for another day. I also hope you give thanks to God for sending Jesus Christ into our world to free us from our sins and provide room for us in eternal life.

Confirmation is more than just three years of your young life spent in a classroom on Wednesday nights. And now that you are done with the “bookwork,” you begin the “lifework.” This is more important that anything you will have done in a book. “Lifework” is how you share with others who God is to you. “Lifework” provides you the ability to respond to God in thanks for all that he has given you. You have the ability to share that gift of life with everyone you encounter, and you are now free to serve the Lord by sharing your faith.

Confirmation is special, but it is just the beginning. I hope and pray that you will continue to share your God with everyone you know, and invite them to worship God with you in church as well.

Although we do not know each other very well, we are linked together in the Christian faith. I was confirmed 26 years ago, and it is the same rite that you will be taking part in, and that links us together because we have affirmed our baptism, and we are children of one eternal God. I offer myself to you in God’s service. If there is ever anything I can do for you, or any question I can help you walk through, or anything you struggle with in your life, I want to be there to help you find God among it.

I will pray for you daily, and I hope you find great comfort and joy in serving your Lord as I have. Don’t ever be ashamed to mention Jesus Christ to anyone. It may be the only time they hear the name of Jesus, and you are helping spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ whenever you mention what he has done for you. (Died, buried, and rose again so you can spend eternal life with him.)

Peace and Prayers,
Pastor Jay Jackson"

That is what it means to me.
 
Peace and Prayers,
J