Dear All,
Today we celebrate the confirmations and receptions of six folks in our midst. Ian and Rachel Moore were confirmed by Bishop Perry Saturday in a liturgy with several other neighboring churches. To be confirmed simply means that one is reaffirming the baptismal vows taken in their name as a child. Usually, we are baptized at such a young age we have little to no memory of it. Today, the church offers us as adults (anyone 16 years-of-age or older) an opportunity to say “Yes! I affirm all that was said and belief it to be true today?”
This is wildly different from when I was confirmed at the age of 12. Way back then, young ones left the service at the Gospel Hymn to attend Sunday School classes. The understanding was we were not old enough, or knowledgeable enough, to stay for the sermon, prayers and certainly not the Eucharistic Prayer. We did not receive Holy Communion until confirmed as we could not/did not understand what we were doing. (I would suggest that we still aren’t fully aware of what we are doing, but you have heard that before from me.) Instead, Confirmation preparation consisted of memorizing The Apostles’ Creed, The Confession, The Ten Commandments, etc. which was all quite boring to a 12-year-old. And I guarantee you it did not prepare me to understand the receiving of communion.
Also, we had four folks received into The Episcopal Church as part of the service. When one wishes to be a full member of The Episcopal Church and they have been a member of a different faith tradition (i.e. Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Disciples of Christ, etc.), they are officially received into The Episcopal Church by the Bishop during a special liturgy. The four folks who have selected The Episcopal Church as their way of worshiping are Mike Sanders, Katie Wiley, Patrick Prebo and Danielle Hilliard. Congratulations to you also and welcome to TEC.
We congratulate and give thanks for these six persons who have discerned their worship home to be The Episcopal Church. We are even more thankful they have selected St. Paul’s to be the place to live out their faith life. Take a few moments today or in the near future and congratulate these six not only for their commitment but for their continued growth in faith and discipleship.
How is your prayer life? What would you say if I were to walk up and ask you that question during the next week? How would you respond? As your rector, I am concerned about your prayer life and your relationship with God. The more often you pray, the stronger the relationship. It is sort of like exercising and physical therapy to build the strength of your knee. Please add to your prayers the continued violence not only in war, but with guns both here and abroad. It seems that violence has now been normalized as the appropriate response when someone angers another. I pray for all of you each week and hope that I am in your prayers.
Blessings to you and yours,
Karen+