Worship Matters
Confirmation – aka Affirmation of Baptism
At Zion and in the Eastern Conference of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the ELCA we celebrate Confirmation on the Day of Pentecost. This year that will be on June 9. On that day we will honor our four confirmands (Sam Bundy, Isabella Hartman, Luke Leskovac, Mariah Schuller) at our Sunday morning service, and then they will officially be confirmed later that day at 6:00 PM when our Bishop Abraham Allende presides at the Easter Conference Service of Confirmation hosted at Zion.
We call it "confirmation" because it is the culmination of long educational process during which ordained Lutheran pastors teach the basic tenants of the faith.
The ELCA would prefer we call that day, the "Affirmation of Baptism" but it is difficult to give up our old ways. The thinking is that the faith we are "confirming" or rather "affirming" is the faith that their parents promised to pass on to their children at baptism. Of course, the church through its pastors takes on the technical aspect of that education, but the role of parents and sponsors and the larger church is critical to transmission of knowledge. And more than simply the transmission of knowledge, mentoring a life of discipleship. At the end of the day, having been made aware of the basic tenants of the Christian faith, each child must speak up for him or herself by saying, "I believe." When that happens, the child's pastor "affirms" their faith.
Baptized and confirmed in the faith, that young person is now eligible to take on a greater role in his or her church.
At Zion and in the Eastern Conference of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the ELCA we celebrate Confirmation on the Day of Pentecost. This year that will be on June 9. On that day we will honor our four confirmands (Sam Bundy, Isabella Hartman, Luke Leskovac, Mariah Schuller) at our Sunday morning service, and then they will officially be confirmed later that day at 6:00 PM when our Bishop Abraham Allende presides at the Easter Conference Service of Confirmation hosted at Zion.
We call it "confirmation" because it is the culmination of long educational process during which ordained Lutheran pastors teach the basic tenants of the faith.
The ELCA would prefer we call that day, the "Affirmation of Baptism" but it is difficult to give up our old ways. The thinking is that the faith we are "confirming" or rather "affirming" is the faith that their parents promised to pass on to their children at baptism. Of course, the church through its pastors takes on the technical aspect of that education, but the role of parents and sponsors and the larger church is critical to transmission of knowledge. And more than simply the transmission of knowledge, mentoring a life of discipleship. At the end of the day, having been made aware of the basic tenants of the Christian faith, each child must speak up for him or herself by saying, "I believe." When that happens, the child's pastor "affirms" their faith.
Baptized and confirmed in the faith, that young person is now eligible to take on a greater role in his or her church.
