Easter Greetings
We have so many exciting things happening over the next few weeks in worship as we enjoy celebrating Easter for the entire season. Every week feels special. This Sunday is Confirmation Sunday and I have been meeting with each of the students preparing them for the ritual, discussing what they learned and entering them into membership. It is very important for me to make sure that this is their decision and that they are not feeling pressured into joining. I once had a woman ask me to convince her daughter to join confirmation and I had to disappoint her by saying that it goes against the very point of confirmation. These students have been learning for months in preparation for this day. I always describe it as laying the foundation for their faith to grow upon. It is not the end of everything that they need to know, it is simply the beginning. Confirmation provides the information necessary to make an informed decision about what they are choosing for themselves. I have always felt that we do this extremely well here at Faith. I give thanks for Dave and Amanda who volunteer to teach our eighth graders. We also have an outstanding group of adults who mentor these students and forge relationships that are based on faith and give each student safe space to process life.
May 4th we have two families joining the church and then the Faith Welcome luncheon for others considering joining. I am very excited that I am scheduling appointments with folks again who have chosen this to be their place where they can thrive in growing as a disciple of Jesus. We are also commissioning our mission team to Puerto Rico. This is the first international trip that we have scheduled since the pandemic. I ask you to pray for them as they represent us and work for Jesus in another culture. We are so blessed that our office manager, Patty, has helped us plan this event because she was raised in Puerto Rico. She and her mother have paved the way for this trip to happen. Then on Mother’s Day, we are being led in worship by our Seniors who are graduating from high school. I love that we are a church that allows our young people to lead worship. I know that my call to ministry happened because I was raised in a church that allowed me to lead and speak in worship. Then the very next Sunday, we are presenting the 3rd Graders with new Bibles. They will promote into our Bible Explorers class for 4th and 5th grades where they will be learning about their Bibles. I have asked our new student chimes director if they might be ready to play that day for the very first time. We will see!
These next few weeks we will be considering our faith in Jesus moving to faith like Jesus. It is a compelling consideration to reframe how we approach God and I hope that we will all grow in understanding as we explore deepening our own foundation.
I love you and God loves you,
