Confirmation

Pastor's Desk Blog for Connections: Confirmation this Sunday 9/29/24

This Sunday we have the honor and privilege of confirming two delightful young men in our congregation: Estevan Arazan and Charlie Sommers. Estevan and Charlie are 9th graders who have walked with me and their classmates through two years of Confirmation classes in their 7th and 8th grade years.

Confirmation in the Lutheran tradition is the time when a child of God makes public Affirmation of their Baptism. Often in the Lutheran church a person is baptized as an infant or young child and therefore will learn to trust God and grow in their faith as they develop. We baptize babies and small children in the Lutheran faith not because we believe they will be in danger of losing out on the promises of God if they are not baptized.

To baptize a child is an act of faith and trust in God. It is a way to publicly start a child’s journey with the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It places the responsibility in the hands of the parents and sponsors to raise the child in the faith.

However, if we notice, there is also a wonderful place where the congregation pledges to walk with the child and their family in their faith life. This Sunday, we get to witness the continued journey of two of our children who have grown up in this church. We will also hear from Estevan about what this church means to him and how he understands what it is to be a Christian.

When I speak with the 7th and 8th grade confirmation class throughout our time together, I make sure they know the reason they’re attending confirmation classes is not to go through the motions, but rather, it is to dig deeper into their own faith and ask questions of their tradition. It is to practice walking with Jesus in a safe space by voicing their wonderings, by reading the Bible for themselves and getting curious about what they find there. It is to be guided by their parents, their Pastor and other trusted mentors to seek a relationship with their Creator and to see the face of Christ in the faces of the people they encounter in their lives.