A Fabulous Celebration May 02, 2013

Confirm- Origin: 1250–1300; Latin confirm?re to strengthen; to make firm or more firm; add strength to; settle or establish firmly.
 
Confirmation is the decision to strengthen and establish firmly. In the church, it is what happens when we have done our work.
 
 Nine youth will be confirmed on Sunday. None of them remember the day their parents carried them before the congregation and put them in the pastor’s arms who then washed them with water and the Holy Spirit.  All of them were baptized as infants. While recalling the event is not necessary, recalling that such an event took place is nonnegotiable.
 
 Infant baptism is a collaborative effort between God and his church.  God claims the child. The parents and congregation remind the child he or she has been claimed.
 
Countless things claim our children: some of them healthy and good, and some of them destructive. On the upside are school, home, athletics and lessons of all sorts from piano to dance. On the downside there many:  among them are improper use of the internet, gaming, addiction, and incessant messages of unhealthy human sexuality and body image. 
 
 What will claim our children?  Who will claim our children? The only certainty is that our children will be claimed.
 
In the service of baptism the congregation responds with a prayer.  “With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Jesus Christ. We surround this child with a community of love and forgiveness, that she may grow in her service to others. We will pray for this child, that she may be a true disciple who walks in the way that leads to life.”
 
Confirmation is a consequence of faithful work done, some of it as hidden and quiet as prayer in a closet.  There have been nursery volunteers, Sunday school teachers, youth counselors, pastors, and anyone who gives in such a way that the church is a place where Christ lays claim on us.
 
Confirmation means to strengthen. It means to make firm, to settle on, or to establish.  Nine young people have chosen to settle on Christ.  They hope to be strengthened for a journey that has just begun.
 
Sometimes consequences are good. This Sunday is such an occasion.  Come and join us. It will be a fabulous celebration, a time to rejoice for what God has done, and that we have been good and faithful servants.   
 
Our 2013 Confirmation Class
Camille Boulware
Hayden Ford
Anna Mesibov
Sam Morgan
Will Owens
Ethan Richardson
Anna Sheridan
Grant Snelson
Cameron Wakefield