The Best of Church

I do love my church. It's got its wild and wacky moments but that just highlights the prevalent sense of family at St. Anne's. Today was family at its best.

Each fall for the past ten years I've looked at the group of kids who come into the confirmation classroom and wondered if maybe this year we should have waited until they were older to prepare them for confirmation.

Here is what the Episcopal prayerbook says about confirmation:

Q. What is Confirmation?
A. Confirmation is the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop.

Q. What is required of those to be confirmed?
A. It is required of those to be confirmed that they have been baptized, are sufficiently instructed in the Christian Faith, are penitent for their sins, and are ready to affirm their confession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Each year for the past ten years, as one of the class teachers, I've been proud to present the group to a bishop for their confirmation. Today was the day for the class of 2008. I felt confident in presenting a sufficiently instructed group of confirmands to their bishop. What an exceptional day this was.

Bishop Jones met with the 26 young people before their confirmation. They were uncharacteristically quiet in front of him. The bishop wanted them to remember that Jesus is the friend that will always be waiting for them and will never let them down. He challenged them to spend just ten minutes a day with Jesus. (I needed that reminder, too.) They processed into the church and were very well behaved as they sat in a group for the service. They even paid attention during the sermon... well, mostly, anyway.

The service was infused with a sense of comfort; I think the bishop felt it, too. After he laid hands on and prayed for all 26 of the youth being confirmed, the kindergarten kids trouped into the sanctuary. Father Jim greeted them as usual. Then, the bishop grabbed the loaf of communion bread from the altar and said to the little kids, "Look what I found!" Bishop Jones gave an impromptu lesson on the eucharist and invited the kids to stand in front of the altar as the communion prayers were said. One of the hymns during communion was "Wade In the Water." We clapped and sang; the bishop gave the choir a thumbs-up sign! I've always been happy to have a bishop visit us at St. Anne's. This was the first time I've felt like the bishop was more than a visitor - he was one of the family.

Bishop Jones remarked, "This is the happiest confirmation class I've ever seen. They must be well loved." Isn't that really the very best of church?

See a compantion post at Progressive Pragmatist's Blog.