I am part of the leadership team (a very small part) for the Confirmation Camp retreat/week-end at Luther Springs this week-end. Last night, in our first session, we talked about the promises that are made at a person's baptism, promises made by family members, promises made by the church community.
Here is what ELCA Lutherans promise when we baptize; we will help/guide/direct the baptized one to do the following:
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Live among God’s faithful people
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Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper
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Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed
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Serve all people, following the example of Jesus
·
Strive for justice and peace in all the earth
Last night, we had each small group take one of those promises and talk about how we could fulfill this promise outside of the church building. It was interesting to see what these middle school age confirmands came up with. For example, in the justice and peace area, the confirmands talked about ending bullying, which wasn't a topic that was widely discussed, back in the late 1970's when I went through the confirmation process.
Some of the confirmands had some trouble paying attention when we presented information as a large group, but when we broke into small groups, every confirmand became intensely involved. I haven't always seen that dynamic in adult settings.
We ended with our group leader reminding the confirmands that at the end of this process, the confirmands will take on these promises as a commitment for themselves. She reminded us that we've taken a great first step in thinking of ways we could do that. It was a great overview of what is coming as part of the process and a good way of working through that transition.
It seems that this process could be a great retreat exercise for an adult group too, a great reminder of how we begin our life as Christians, a great way to think about what we're doing well in our faith journeys and where we might want to think about a course correction.
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