Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of working with our confirmation age students in the church. Confirmation is a special time that commemorates the journey of faith, and it is an opportunity for people to declare their trust in God. Usually this takes place in 9th grade, but after the pandemic we are opening the experience up to anyone who is interested.
I love working with this group of kids, and I love having honest conversations that guide and encourage us. Each person's story is sacred. Everyone is on a journey with Jesus. The only thing I wish I could change about confirmation would be the age limits we often put on it. I would love it if we all took a little more time to dig into our faith journey wherever we are at in life. So often, confirmation can turn into a class we feel like we have to take in Middle School or High School. We have a ceremony on a Sunday, and then we move on. We check it off the list, and people can feel like they are done.
My hope is for confirmation to be a continual practice in our lives. Everyday we face different trials, and we see different blessings. The ups and downs of life are going to sculpt us. We can take time to talk to God and open our hearts to what Christ is doing along the way. It is often easy to ignore Christ's calling for us. We can become stressed out by the everyday forces that push us forward through the rat race.
Jesus tells us to stop and listen. Just as Christ called to his disciples in their fishing boats long ago, Jesus still calls to us. He is telling us to stop what we are doing and look at the opportunities we have around us. God is near. It is my hope and prayer that we would all take time to listen and remember that our lives are sacred and holy.
Blessings!
Brian Ward
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