What I learn from teaching Confirmation again and again and again...

I just finished teaching my second Confirmation preparation class at our military chapel. The last four months have been filled with classes and conversations about what it means to live a Christian life. 

I have a long history of worshiping and volunteering in military chapels. It's always an interesting experience. In some places, I'm just another military spouse who happens to have theological training. In others, I have been invited to participate in ways that feel much like "doing church." This is our second time in Stuttgart and the first time we were here I came in anonymous. I was able to scope out my areas of interest and share my background on my terms. This time it was different. We walked into the same chapel eight years later and some of the people we had known from before were either still here or had also returned. So much for anonymity!

At the end of the first service, my friend Rick asked me if I would be willing to talk about starting a confirmation class. There were several youth who had spent the bulk of their middle and high school years in military chapels, where access to Confirmation classes is limited, at best. For the next several months, we had conversation and made a plan. And in January 2015, we started our journey with 8 high school youth - all of them baptized as infants - Methodists, Episcopalians, and UCC young people who gathered to learn about the theology and history of the church.

I've always taken the perspective that Confirmation is a rite of passage. It is a time when youth affirm for themselves the promises made at their baptisms. It is a time for them to learn in more detail what it means to walk on the Way of Christ. But has also been a time to affirm their home church traditions. 

Some of our religious communities ask questions like, "When were you saved?" and "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?" and those are good questions. But within many traditions, those questions are not a great starting place. I remember the lovely folks who visited my dorm room ?*&# years ago when I was a college freshman and asked those same questions. I didn't have a clue what they were talking about, because I never remember a time when Jesus wasn't a part of my life.

And I've always wanted the youth I know to have better answers than I did.  My desire has always been for these youth to understand that God chose them first and their faith in him is an amazing response to all the ways that we have been loved and nurtured, inside and outside of the church.

Some people say that once they've read a book, they never need to read it again. The same is often true of bible studies... we learn the things we need and keep moving forward to the next great lesson. But every Confirmation class starts with the same basic requirements that grow and change according to the needs of the individuals in the class. 

So we talk about God and Jesus, we talk about justification and sanctification, we talk about the history of the Christian church and we talk about liturgy and spiritual disciplines, acts of service and acts of mercy. I remind them often that confirmation is not a graduation but a beginning. I tell them that anyone who says that the Christian life is easy is lying, and this the work of being a Christian will be hard almost every day of their lives.

I hope they remember a few of the things we talked about. And I hope with them, as I have with every group I have ever worked, that my own successes and failures at being a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ hasn't confused them or messed them up too badly.

Teaching confirmation, more than anything, reminds me of the basics of what it means to be a Christian... to keep the main thing the main thing... Love the Lord and love your neighbor... and when you've mastered those, then go on to more complicated theological concepts.

I am so grateful for these wonderful youth, who have willingly shared their own faith experiences and their questions of what might be required of them. I am in awe of their parents, who made our classes a priority and reinforced our weekly lessons with family projects and discussions. And I am thankful for the opportunity to share some of my own gifts, just as God intended me to do.

Peace, Deb
May 2016