Confirmation

I have been through 12 confirmations in my lifetime. Of course, I was there for my own and my brother and sisters, then there was one on vicarage and 7 in ministry. Every year of ministry I have been highly involved in the confirmation process. While as a youth pastor I may not have done other pastoral jobs, the title did make sure I was always involved with confirmation. As I came to Mt. Calvary, we tried to take the culmination of all the things I had learned over the years and put together a class we felt could truly benefit our youth. Confirmation Sunday is the pinnacle of all that work.

Work is something our world requires. From the classroom to the work force, we are required to work. While it is changing, work often earns its name, and we find it to be challenging and exhausting. This does not help me as a pastor convince the middle school students that the work done in confirmation is something worthwhile. Thankfully, like I mentioned earlier, work is changing in some ways. People are trying to find work that that they like and that is beneficial. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen, and even less when you are dealing with youth in middle school. Rarely do I find middle school youth happy with their schoolwork and life. It is just an awkward time. While people may argue that they would go back to high school, it is rare that I find anyone that wants to go back to middle school. Yet ironically, middle school is the beginning of some of the most foundational moments in our life, as we move into high school and prepare for adulthood.

This is exactly why we do confirmation at this time. This puts us at a challenging place to help youth separate from their school life, and see their faith as truly important for their eternal life. The readings and work we do in confirmation bring us to the foundation of who God intended us to be in relationship with him. That relationship is only possible because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which has taken away our sin and defeated the sin of the world. At Mt. Calvary we use the Action Bible in confirmation class, a Bible that takes the words of Scripture and puts them in comic form. There are many ways we criticize our technology and how fast paced our world is, but let me tell you, we have some amazing and unique ways to read Scripture. In the adult world, there are many different Bible plans and applications that take you through the Bible. Right now, I am reading with a plan called Old and New Testament. It allows a section of the Old and New Testament to be pulled up everyday. These tools are helpful to keep us in the Word, and see the Word in unique and different ways. The Action Bible does that for middle school students in confirmation class. We use it and connect it to the catechism, which helps us understand Scripture. At the end of the class, the only way to truly to see what the students have learned is to have them share some type of faith statement. This weekend we will hear a faith statement based on Psalm 91.

Psalm 91 is a very important Psalm that reminds us of the shelter of the Lord.  I have to admit, I use this Psalm mostly when I am with sick or dying people. At first, looking at it as a confirmation verse seemed different, until I thought about the reason I read it to sick and dying people. It is because the Psalmist is struggling with the enemy in this world. The enemy is real and present, and attacks us when we least expect it. Sick and dying people are truly feeling the attack of the enemy and the effects of their own sin. The Psalm then brings comfort as God promises to protect and defend us. A promise fulfilled when God sent His Son to defeat sin, death and the devil, and therefore protect us from all the evil of this world. While this seems to make sense for a sick or dying person, the reality is, to a middle school student looking at a scary world, a passage sharing that Jesus won the victory over evil brings comfort to him too. As life challenges them and their own failures confront them, confirmation students are confirming they are trusting in the very saving and protecting power of Jesus in any and every situation.

It is not just confirmation students who need this. We need this too as we face the devil in this world and our own sinful failures time and time again. This weekend we take time to celebrate with Lucas as he gets confirmed. We also take the time to reconfirm our faith in our Lord, knowing the very protecter, defender and Savior that He is.