Oreos and Pizza

Last night my confirmation class meet.  There are two long time friends from one school district and a brother-sister duo from another school district, all four of which are on the quieter shy side, at least when you first get to know them.  A few months ago when we met, as we were getting settled, I left to go to the bathroom and said "Talk amongst yourselves" as I was leaving, but after a few steps I realized they weren't talking so I said "or just sit and stare at each other."  When I returned it looked like no one had moved and my comment was "Glad to know that you went with the later option."

So last night as we were eating pizza and oreos talking about school stuff and then transitioning into talking about the sermon on the mount, stories were flowing.  A talking Bob the Tomato was implemented, there was tons of laughter and even a little bit of learning.

I saw God in this group of pre-teens as they were connecting with each other and Jesus' story. 

Affirmation Day

I realize that lately my blog has been quiet other than sermons and Monday Morning Church and while I could go back and post about some of my October adventures - Bishop's convocation, Blessing of the Animals, etc.  I won't cause well I'm just not that type of person.  But I can't let a week go by without writing about this past Sunday.

This last week we celebrated Reformation Day (the anniversary of the day that Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Chapel which is seen as the "official" starting day of the Protestant Reformation) and Confirmation of two of Bethlehem's young people.

Confirmation historically has been a period of time when teenagers study biblical stories, worship practices, and theology and at the end of a set period of time (normally between 1 and 3 years) affirm their baptism and take on for themselves the promises that their parents and sponsors made for them at their baptism.

For Bethlehem's two youth - Ryan and Tori.  They attended classes on Sunday mornings for about a year before I arrived as the pastor and this past school year we meet twice a month on Saturdays.  Our topics of conversation were everything from creation to afterlife, what are things called that are in the church to sex.

While the past two years have been wonderful, I wanted to share some of the things that we did during our worship service to make the day a little more special.

The confirmands came forward with their parents and their mentors (adult members of the congregation who the confirmation students picked last year that they have spent some time with and gotten to know).  After they affirmed their baptism, we had the entire congregation come forward so that we were all laying on hands while they were each individually blessed.

After the laying on of hands, everyone returned to their seats and Ryan and Tori faced the congregation and their mentors faced them and signed them with the cross with this saying:

Receive the + cross on your forehead, a sign of God’s endless love and mercy for you. Learn to know and to follow Christ.

Receive the + cross on your ears, that you may hear the gospel of Christ, the word of life.

Receive the + cross on your eyes, that you may see the light of Christ, illumination for your way.

Receive the + cross on your lips, that you may sing the praise of Christ, the joy of the church.

Receive the + cross on your heart, that God may dwell there by faith.

Receive the + cross on your shoulders, that you may bear the gentle yoke of Christ.

Receive the + cross on your hands, that God’s mercy may be known in your work.

Receive the + cross on your feet, that you may walk in the way of Christ. 

(From the Renewing Worship materials of the ELCA)

We then presented them each with a bible that their mentors, parents and myself highlighted with some of our favorite bible verses and individual notes written in the front covers.  

After this we then presented the new class of confirmation students and formally welcomed them into the confirmation experience (though they have already have had a few meetings).

It was such a wonderful worship experience.  And in one of those touches that happens at small churches and make things just a little more meaningful, both Ryan and Tori were baptized at Bethlehem and both of their moms were baptized here as well.  

Hammo Love

The other week, the confirmation kids, Bob and I went up to Hammonasset State Park in Connecticut for the New England Synod youth gathering.  

I went to Teen Encounter Christ as a youth and attended the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans in 1997 so I know how awesome youth gatherings can be.  And while on internship I brought some youth from that congregation to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod youth gathering, so I know that they can be a little worrisome for newbies.  But with much encouragement, I got our confirmation students to go and conned Bob into being the male adult.  

When we arrived on Friday, my youth were a little tentative, not getting into the band too much since all the music was new to them.  But by Saturday afternoon they were talking about next year and how they want to come back and bring friends, they were also talking about wanting to go to camp this summer too :-).  

For me the highlight of the weekend was during some congregational time.  I had planned on talking to them about planning their confirmation service, coming up on reformation day.  We talked a little bit about music on the way up in the car, but as we went through the service and what baptismal promises they were affirming, it was so heart-warming to see that they got it.  These two youth really know what it means to love God.  They can identify when faith has been important in their lives.  They can talk about Jesus like a friend.  It was a moment of "yeah this is what it is about!"  

This moment worked in so well with the overall conversation of Hammonasset.  The theme for the weekend was "Loved to Love" and our speaker talked about God love for us enables us to love others.  But the unofficial theme was "Free Hugs" as many people wore t-shirts that said such, God's love allowing them to show a sign of love to others.  I hope you all get a free hug today for we are Loved to Love.  

Saved!

This weekend the confirmation kids came over for a movie night.  We had dinner and watched the movie Saved! 

Saved! is one of my favorite movies for multiple reasons, let me count the ways:

1. It has a teenager get into trouble, and after a period of denial, she actually copes and handles the problem better than the adults.
2. It makes fun of the religious right
3. It shows people in a variety of paths in their faith journeys; the person who claims the strongest faith may not actually be the one with the strongest faith.
4. It allows there to be questions and doubts in faith
5. Any movie that Jerry Farewell condemns I have to watch!
6. It deals with many big issues (teen pregnancy, homosexuality, divorce, disabilities, religion, in & out groups, if all sins are sins, etc)  face by teenagers and adults but in realistic ways - not everything is solved and easily tiddied up by the end of the movie, like any episode of Full House.  
7. I love satire
8. Every time I watch it, I gain new insights into the movie and real life. 
9. And much, much more

This was the first time either of the confirmation students had seen the movie which always makes me worry if they will like it or not.  But they seemed to chuckle throughout various parts and looked like they were paying attention.  

Afterwards we had a discussion about the movie:  Who had the strongest faith?  How was each character's faith journey different?  What do you think the point of Hillary Faye's faithful actions were?  In the prom scene, did you agree with Pastor Skip or Mary more?  Was there any conversations about faith that you felt uncomfortable about?  

And it was amazing to hear their answers!  These high school students get that some people are "faithful" because it is popular or in order to gain power.  That the ones who were most visibly struggling with sin had the deepest faith.  That the people who are not Christian can be more loyal and caring than those who claim to be Christian.  That the bible is not black and white, there is a lot of grey, and we need to struggle with those grey areas because that is how our faith grows.  

I love Saved! and I love showing it to new audiences so they may learn new things about faith and our faith lives.  However I also dread the day when to show it to confirmation students will be the equivalent of currently dragging out the film projector, so Hollywood please continue to make movies like it so I never have to be the super uncool pastor dragging out a film that was made before the kids were born.