Different kinds of Affirmations
It's confirmation weekend in our house. My youngest is being confirmed or as we call the service, Affirmation of Baptism, tommorrow. I remember being confirmed in the catholic church. We had just moved to Hernando Beach and my mother didn't have the patience to wait until my class at St. Teresa's was being confirmed. She was sick of all of it. She took me to Tampa,
paid off a Priest and I was confirmed with a group of kids at some church that she knew someone. I was in eight grade and I didn't go back to church after that unless there was something in it for me.
I don't go to the catholic church any more. I go to the Lutheran church. I decided, when I got married, that since my husband was a faithful churchgoer, we could go to his church. I wasn't as tied to the catholic church as he was to the Lutheran church.
We got married in Denver at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Since I was married in the Lutheran church, my mother said I wasn't married "in the eyes of God". Thanks mom! Jim and I moved to the mountains and made it to church on Christmas and Easter for a couple of years. After the Queen was born, we have been an every Sunday family since then.
Tommorrow is "Confirmation Sunday" at our church. I have been teaching 8th graders about finding their own faith for about 15 years. I took a year off when the Queen was in 8th grade because I felt like I was in the way. Later, she told me she wished I had taught her class too.
This class of kids are amazing. They are smart, funny, silly and inquisitive. They all have really big hearts. They also know what is good, right and holy. Do they believe everything I told them? I am sure they don't. Sometimes, I have trouble believing everything that I profess to believe. But, they will continue to question...I know that for sure. They will ask the hard questions and find the answers they need to find. At the end of the day, I am sure the God that I believe in doesn't mind the questions because we are seeking something beyond us...
Tonight, we gather at church with the confirmands and their families and share a meal served to us by the other kids. They will set the tables and decorate the fellowship hall and then we will watch a slide show of how the kids have changed. They have spent three years in service to others, to each other and learning about using their gifts to look beyond themselves. They have done well.
I get to make a speech and tell them how much they mean to me and what they have done to change my life. I hope they know I mean it.
My youngest has a huge heart. Tommorrow, he will stand before the church and tell them what he thinks...what he thinks about God, faith, sevice and love. He wrote his speech without help from
me. I think I know how he feels but I am curious to see what he says. Like I told him when he asked me what he should write, "This is your deal...not mine. You know what I think about God and faith and how much service means to me...it's your life, your faith and your relationship with God."
Whatever he writes or says or thinks, my guess is that it will change over the years. He will figure out what is important in his life and who is important in his life as well. All I know is, whatever he comes up with, he knows what is good, right and holy and it may or may not be associated with a church. I also know that I am so proud of who he is right now and how he conducts his teenage life.
I also know that he is loved beyond measure by his family, my God and will be an asset to the world.
Can't ask for more than that...and I wouldn't dare.
We'll tawk tommorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
paid off a Priest and I was confirmed with a group of kids at some church that she knew someone. I was in eight grade and I didn't go back to church after that unless there was something in it for me.
I don't go to the catholic church any more. I go to the Lutheran church. I decided, when I got married, that since my husband was a faithful churchgoer, we could go to his church. I wasn't as tied to the catholic church as he was to the Lutheran church.
We got married in Denver at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Since I was married in the Lutheran church, my mother said I wasn't married "in the eyes of God". Thanks mom! Jim and I moved to the mountains and made it to church on Christmas and Easter for a couple of years. After the Queen was born, we have been an every Sunday family since then.
Tommorrow is "Confirmation Sunday" at our church. I have been teaching 8th graders about finding their own faith for about 15 years. I took a year off when the Queen was in 8th grade because I felt like I was in the way. Later, she told me she wished I had taught her class too.
This class of kids are amazing. They are smart, funny, silly and inquisitive. They all have really big hearts. They also know what is good, right and holy. Do they believe everything I told them? I am sure they don't. Sometimes, I have trouble believing everything that I profess to believe. But, they will continue to question...I know that for sure. They will ask the hard questions and find the answers they need to find. At the end of the day, I am sure the God that I believe in doesn't mind the questions because we are seeking something beyond us...
Tonight, we gather at church with the confirmands and their families and share a meal served to us by the other kids. They will set the tables and decorate the fellowship hall and then we will watch a slide show of how the kids have changed. They have spent three years in service to others, to each other and learning about using their gifts to look beyond themselves. They have done well.
I get to make a speech and tell them how much they mean to me and what they have done to change my life. I hope they know I mean it.
My youngest has a huge heart. Tommorrow, he will stand before the church and tell them what he thinks...what he thinks about God, faith, sevice and love. He wrote his speech without help from
me. I think I know how he feels but I am curious to see what he says. Like I told him when he asked me what he should write, "This is your deal...not mine. You know what I think about God and faith and how much service means to me...it's your life, your faith and your relationship with God."
Whatever he writes or says or thinks, my guess is that it will change over the years. He will figure out what is important in his life and who is important in his life as well. All I know is, whatever he comes up with, he knows what is good, right and holy and it may or may not be associated with a church. I also know that I am so proud of who he is right now and how he conducts his teenage life.
I also know that he is loved beyond measure by his family, my God and will be an asset to the world.
Can't ask for more than that...and I wouldn't dare.
We'll tawk tommorrow,
I love you all,
Terry
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