SuperPizzaBoy has been taking Confirmation Classes at our church since last Fall. A group of about a dozen boys his age with two adult leaders met almost every Sunday evening. They learned much about Faith, Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the history of the Church and leading a Christian life. They also played a lot of football and ate some ice cream. It was a lot of fun. I sat in with SPB to help him out so I got to see some of the dynamics. I quickly figured out that Confirmation Class was a safe place for son, so I bowed out.

So a few weeks ago we had the Confirmation Ceremony at the church. According to the United Methodist Church the Confirmation Ceremony is:

“Confirmation refers to the decision a person makes to respond to God’s grace with intentional commitment, publicly reaffirming his or her baptismal vows before the congregation.”

It was also the first time that SPB had ever worn a tie.

He didn’t like it too much

I don’t blame him. I hate them also.

I wore one in solidarity. I didn’t get a pic of me, wished I had.

So, kind of two rites of passage in one day. It might have been a little much. He got through it ok.

He felt a little better when we arrived and found out that everybody else was wearing one also. His group had a fine group of boys and two dedicated adult leaders.

There were well over a 100 kids confirmed. The minister lays his hands on each person and says a little prayer. It takes a while but this is a big deal in our church. The kids at about 12 years old are very vulnerable to the various influences in our culture. The church wants to be one of the bigger influences in these young people’s life.

(I have to tell you, something about this photo makes me tear up. He’s growing up but he has an awesome innocence about him.)

So it was over, and we are very proud of him. He got to take his tie off and we all went off out to dinner to celebrate.

I Tim 4:12

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Go check out my friend Baloney’s Perfect Pairings for more matches of photos and scripture.