The Event ~ Confirmation

On March 2 we travelled to Lincoln to attend the confirmation of grandson Jonathan.  Confirmation is an important event in many churches.  However, many churches are choosing to eliminate this event, along with many other traditions, all in an effort to try to make God and religion and church attendance more appealing to the "new, trendy society of today's modern America".    Whatever is removed from the churches by man, the one constant is God who always was and always will be. 

Jon on his confirmation day.

Confirmation is a ceremony whereby young people proclaim and confirm their belief in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  Confirmation is defined as a sacrament, a ritual or service performed by man ~the shepherd, minister, priest ~ within a church, normally carried out through annointing and prayer for the purpose of confirming a young person's knowledge and faith in Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior.  In some traditions, the sacrament of confirmation is the ritual by which a young person also becomes an official member of the church.  Those who participate in confirmation believe it to be a personal, mature aceptance of their faith.

When one accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart and gives assurance that Jesus is present and that we are new creations in Christ.

That being said, it is not the act of confirmation that insures salvation, nor does it insure one will follow their confirmed faith through life.  It is the confirmation from within the heart acknowledging and accepting Jesus as Savior that one can confirm eternity with Jesus, a confirmation between the holy spirit and one's heart, not to be judged by any other.  This doesn't necessarily happen just from going through the rite of confirmation, because many go through confirmation as an obligation and expectation of the parents and the church.  The real  confirmation may not happen until a later date when it truly comes from desire within the heart to follow Jesus.  Only the individual can truly confirm his/her personal relationship with Jesus and can know with assurance the hope of eternal life in heaven.

In essence, confirmation is not to be taken lightly.  It is an important event in the life of a young person who is priviledged to participate in this sacrament.  We have previously attended the confirmation of our two oldest grandsons, Jakob and Joshua.  We pray they hold tight to the truths learned through this education.

Jakob's confirmation



Joshua's confirmation

I went through confirmation in the Lutheran church as an eighth grader.  That seems to be the common age of a confirmand ~ 7th or 8th grade.  It was a two-year class for me, starting as a 7th grader.  





My Godparents (sponsors) Uncle Arnold, Aunt Bertha Kilbur



Confirmation Day with Grandma and Grandpa Gallwas.



My childhood days of attending Sunday School, followed by Confirmation, gave me a foundation and instilled in me many Bible stories that I hold dear to my heart today.  However,  attending and going through the rituals didn't insure eternal life and salvation.  Only when I realized I was missing something in life, feeling empty and void, not complete and full, and a stirring within my heart and soul, did I learn I was lacking the personal relationship with Jesus that completes a person and makes one whole.   I accepted Jesus as my personal savior in 1981.  My life has been complete since.

Each of my children went through confirmation, also as eighth graders. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is older and departs from it, he will have the foundation to return to."  That is my version of  "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6

Confirmation ~ an event not to be taken lightly, an event to be reverent, an opportunity to latch on to the one really important element that brings fullfillment in life now and forever.