Pentecost - May 15, 2005
Youth Confirmation & Communion - Food Bank Sunday
The Holy Spirit makes each child of God, and each part of creation, distinctive through the diversity of gifts bestowed. From this diversity, the Spirit then weaves communities and creation in a common life enriched by God’s presence. What signs of God’s Spirit are emerging or exploding in your own life and in your faith community?
Click here to see photos of the congregational picnic.
Confirmands:
Emilie Sena LeClair
Danielle Elyse Skogen
Kristen Dawn Skogen
Offertory “Holy Spirit, Wind of God” (Soloist: Glenn Marr)
Faith Statements
Being able to participate in confirmation has been a wonderful experience. I have learned many new things about the United Church which has made me feel more understanding of how it works. Confirmation answered a lot of the questions burning in my mind and has given me a lot of ideas to base my faith on. It has taught me that it’s alright to have different beliefs and opinions about God. I believe confirmation has made me grow more spiritually as a person and I now feel more accepted in the United Church family.
- Emilie LeClair
I have always known that faith was an important part of life, but until now never really knew why. After taking confirmation classes, I know not only what the United Church believes, but also what I personally believe. When my parents baptised me into the United Church I figured all the religions were the same, all having a faith and following what they believed. I now know how unique and different each denomination is. I am so happy that I have the chance to become a member of the United Church. I now have my own vision of God and how in the form of the trinity he is present in the world. I have learned, over the past few months, not only where I fit in the United Church but also the world.
- Danielle Skogen
The past few months of confirmation classes have taught me many things I wasn’t even aware I didn’t know. I was able to learn more about our church and the beliefs and values of the United Church in general. Throughout this experience, many of my questions about the church and God have been answered. It has allowed me to explore and discover how I feel about God and what exactly it is that I believe. I now feel like I am truly part of the United Church family.
- Kristen Skogen
by Jane Clarke
Today’s scriptures are talking to us about words and speeches. They are saying that the disciples began to teach others what Jesus had taught them. I believe that it was the Spirit within each of them that gave them the confidence and power to speak out. Jesus had told them that they would be able to do what he had done and more.
Collectively they decided not to be fearful any longer and to go out and communicate with people. To share their stories. I believe that we encourage each other to use the gifts we have been given. There may be times when we don’t feel confident about our gifts until we are given affirmation.
I wonder what is meant by different languages? Could it be that the words they used to state the gospel were over some people’s heads? The words that I choose for the conversation time are different than the words that I use for my reflections for adults. The words I may choose to speak to the youth would be different again. I do not use terms in my everyday language that I would use in a paper to be written for my teachers of the Lay Pastoral Minister in Training program because some people aren’t familiar with theological terms that I have learned from text books. There are words in some of the books that I don’t understand without a dictionary! Maybe the disciples finally got the fact that everyone didn’t know about Jesus and had to change their speech to understand what they were talking about.
It is always a wonderful experience for me to work with youth preparing for their confirmation. Confirmation is a time when we reaffirm our faith as adults. At baptism our parents introduce us to our church family. As the child grows up, hopefully with some spiritual education they can then decide for themselves to further their faith journey. So today we confirm three young women who are continuing on their journeys and my prayer is that they will always ask questions and seek answers.
There were terms and words that weren’t clearly understood so we talked about them and put them into language that actually meant something to these young people.
Kristen, Danielle, Emilie and I have been meeting since January. They are three bright souls who have done some thinking about who God is for them and who is this man we call Jesus. We shared faith stories and how we see our faith fit into the “everyday”. We all do not have the same stories or questions or faith yet we have affirmed each other in our quests for the truth.
The one truth that we all shared is that God is within each of us. That which is in us is the image of God, our spirit. The places where God is most evident to us seemed to be in the presence of others and in nature. We learned about what it means to part of the United Church of Canada and why this church fits our faith.
Today being Pentecost is always an appropriate day for confirmation to take place. Our readings today are about the spirit. The way it is described today is that the spirit is poured out upon the disciples. If what we in our confirmation group believe to be true, that the spirit is within and that we are born with spirit, what does this mean then that the spirit was poured out to the disciples?
For me it is that there comes a time when we allow that spirit within to come alive. It is hard to believe that God decides when the time is right for us to receive the spirit. At least for me it is. From what I have experienced in myself and others it is our choice to be in touch with our spirits.
I believe that our discussions and our sharing sparked that which is within each of us. If someone were watching and listening to us they may have thought we were a little too excited at times but that would have been caused by someone consuming too much sugar! I won’t mention any names. There may have been times when we appeared to be bored with the whole subject as someone slept through part of the Diary of Ann Franc or had a nap during a guided meditation. The simple fact is that youth have such busy lives these days that it was a good time for them to relax and rejuvenate.
A few weeks ago the Ministry and Personnel committee led the worship service. I was out of town that weekend, but I did listen to the taped service. (For those of you who don’t know, each week we record the worship so that people who are not able to attend may get a tape from the church office and listen to the service.)
Each member of the committee told a personal story of faith that had made their spirit come alive. A time when they could pin point the presence of God that was awesome to them.
I was moved by their stories. It took courage for them to stand up here and say how has God worked and is working in their lives. I was also struck by how God spoke to them in different ways. God spoke through other people, through nature, through song.
They are moving stories of God working in their lives and it is a privilege for us to have heard them. Hopefully it will make us think about how we see God working in the ordinary. For us to be aware of the beauty around us whether it be in nature, people, or song.
These are the every day things we talked about in confirmation. We talked about God in everyday life. Today these young women will stand before this congregation and profess their faith. Hopefully now they will recognize the God in the ordinary and be able tell their stories to others to help them know the God that is within each of us.
How do you see God working in your lives?
Amen