“Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him.”
Solomon in Psalm 127 makes a declaration that children are a gift of God. Jesus later verifies this statement when he tells His disciples to let the children step forward and be included as the faithful in that moving Gospel story. Jesus also teaches us we need to turn our lives around and have the faith of a child to see the Kingdom of Heaven.
On Father’s Day we celebrated the Confirmation of eleven young people. Truly a day of celebration as shown by Luke Wright and Collin Dechen as they pulled the balloons out after all the vows were spoken and the church welcomed these young people who had stood up to declare that ‘YES, we believe in Jesus Christ! YES, we will do all we can to build the church of Jesus Christ here on earth!”
We began Confirmation with the young adults creating a visual image of God. Some were incredible works of art, but each teenager invested thought into putting something special on paper. Little did I know during that first week, but art would play an important role in the class members’ verification of their faith and commitment to Confirmation!
The class members were required to choose a Psalm that hopefully they will hold onto in the coming days. We did a quick overview of Scriptures and dug into some Wesleyan theology. The three simple rules for life: Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God. And the class members learned from an online video.
These young people enjoy being competitive and we flew paper airplanes to celebrate Pentecost, determined to prove who had the best airplane design. And during perhaps the essential moment of the class, the boys competed against the girls to create a “work of art” on the floor of Hickman Hall that represented my favorite verse. “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say rejoice!” Their creative work was judged by a friend of mine who was online, but the class was surprised when each one of the class had to explain why they find joy in the Lord. It was such a moving moment as these kids were caught off guard, but they responded in a way that affirmed to me that they each were ready to be confirmed into the United Methodist Church.
It was an honor to confirm this group of young people whose ages ranged from 7th grade to high school graduate. These young people are now members of the United Methodist Church and of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church; they are the foundation for our future.Congratulations to all our our Confirmands, and to St. Paul’s for embracing faith in our young.
Blessings,
Pastor Dave
Photo: On Sunday, June 16, Pastor Dave brought into church membership ten young people, and the 11th on June 30. The kids, ranging in age from 13 to 18, attended class with PD for months and learned about what it means to be a Christian and a Methodist. Shown are: (inset) Zack Beidle; (front) Luke Wright, Mikayla Wright, Pastor Dave, Logan Sierocinski, Mary Sierocinski; (back) Collin Dechen, Olivia Ferrara, Cailyn Houghton, Scarlett Hartnett, Ellie Luoma, Harley Sierocinski.