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Reflections from Our Confirmation Class A Visit from the Holy Spirit to Become The Body of Christ Ashland's 5 confirmands have been busy building and learning about life-giving relationships. This is, of course, ongoing work of the SPIRIT in the lives of our youth and in the lives of our congregation because Confirmation-Commissioning is "Being Called into Community, with all its rights, privileges, and responsibilities". Putting it another way, The Body of Christ, or the Covenant People of God, along with the mysterious work of the SPIRIT, confirm and commission those of the community that are ready to assume responsibility in their community for the work of the community. So this is all about COMMUNITY, and that's why we've been learning about relationships. We adult members are all involved in our youths' nurture in faith since Baptism: Parents, Mentors, Educators, Pastor, and All of YOU.
A Visit from the Holy Spirit to Teach, Prepare, Guide & Send Out Did You Know? Some FACTOIDS about Confirmation-Commissioning Confirmation means "to make firm, to validate, to strengthen". Commissioned means "sent out for service [?mission'] with others" [?com']. Confirmation is akin to the Jewish celebration of "coming into adulthood in community" [Bar Mitzvah for boys, Bas Mitzvah for girls] Our confirmands, Erin, Julia, Amanda, JP and Bo, are very musical. What better place to be musical than Ashland PC! But singing in the choir or playing in the Praise Band are only 2 of many service opportunities our teens can choose to do in the congregation. Who will teach them the why and how of being a liturgist, a deacon, an elder, or an usher at APC? We learn what we do. To guide interested confirmands in learning what Ashland does and why we do it, please contact Bonnie Clarke for scheduling your time with our teens.
A Re-Visit from the Holy Spirit After Baptism Make no mistake about it. The Holy Spirit of God has not been hiding or idle since our Baptism. When infants are baptized, they are brought by others to receive the sign and seal of God's grace. Then the whole community assumes responsibility for the nurture of the infant. The faith community incarnates the Spirit's work. Wow! In Confirmation, the community of faith affirms the Baptismal vows of commitment. Commissioning is both an invitation to participate in a community and to engage in the ministry and mission of the community. In an age driven by individualism, this is a verycounter-cultural thing. Is this counter-cultural image one you have of Jesus? If not, read your Gospels!
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit -Visible in our Lives & Witness Witness; the W word. To most Presbyterians, Witness is almost as scary as the E word; Evangelism. Witness and evangelism scare Presbyterians because we associate them with "those" Christians for whom the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a wild thing; the epitome of unbridled passion for God, and just unseemly for adults to carry on so! Hmmm, I wonder what we could learn from our Spirit-Wild friends? Witness comes from what one believes about God, Jesus, the Spirit, the Bible, and why each is here in this world. It continues with the way we live and act because of those beliefs. The Confirmands are learning to express what they believe in respectful ways because they already know that healthy relationships require honesty and respect for differences. And like Tom Hanks discovered in the film, The Castaway, relationships are essential to sanity, humanity, and life. During the May 17th celebration of our teens' confirmation and commissioning, they will share their faith in diverse ways. For God's People are One with God, but also unique and diverse; gifted by the Spirit in many ways for the building up of the Church (all God's people).
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