Confirmation Test Prep

Well, how the year flies!

We’ll be having our final Catechism class this next Monday, May 14th.  During that session each youth will take a comprehensive test that will encompass the entire year.

Below are some prep questions.  Some of the test will be multiple choice, some short answer, and there will be at least two essay questions.  I’ll make sure to provide an oral option for those youth that are better answering orally.

Here are some questions that are sure to be on the test in some form or fashion:

*Is God a male?

*Does God still create stuff today?

*Am I really supposed to believe Mary was a virgin?

*Why did Jesus go to hell?

*Is the Holy spirit a person or wind or fire or what?

*Why do we say we believe in ‘the holy catholic church’ if we’re not Catholic?

*Do cremated people go to heaven?

*Why should I follow Jesus; can’t I just say I believe in him?

*Why should I pray when God doesn’t answer all my prayers?

*Can someone lose their salvation?

*Can I be a Christian without going to church?

*Was Jesus of Nazareth God?

*Did Jesus know he was God?

*If Jesus was God, why did he have to die?

*Do I have to believe Jesus performed miracles in order to be a Christian?

*Why did Jesus get baptized?

*If there is only one God, why are there so many different religions?

*Why do Christians believe Christianity is the best religion?

*What are the Lutheran sacraments?

*What are the requirements for something to be considered a sacrament in the Lutheran church?

*What are the books of the New Testament?

*What are the first seven books of the Old Testament?

*What are the 10 Commandments?  What do they mean?

There we go!  Oh, and those of you who aren’t students but are reading this blog.  I wonder how you would answer these questions…

Memories…Like the Corners of My Mind…

I do make my confirmation students memorize some things.  I know it’s not “in style,” but I have to.

Like the 10 Commandments.  They need to memorize them.  Why?  So they’ll know them.

Duh.

And the books of the Bible.  They need to memorize them.  Why?  So when they open the Bible they’ll know where to look for things!

Duh.

And the Sacraments.  They need to memorize them.  Why?  So they’ll know, at the very least, two special ways that God touches and teaches us through elements and promise.

D…I’ll suspend with the “duh’s” now.

But there are other important faith questions I quizzed them on tonight.  Like how would they answer when I ask…

“Why should we pray when it seems like God doesn’t answer all our prayers?” Devlyn responded, “It’s more about relationship than getting what we want out of God.”

Great answer.

Or “Can someone lose their salvation?” Daniel responded that, “No, you can’t.  God gives salvation, not people, so if we can’t give it, we can’t lose it.”

Another great answer.

What about, “Can I be a Christian without going to church?”  Justin said, “You can, but it’s not very helpful.  You need other Christians or you won’t stay in touch with God.”

Good insight.

How about, “Why did Jesus get baptized?”  Sophie thought, “It was probably to get ready for all the work he had to do.” And Micheal chimed in, “Yeah, the ministry he was going to do.”

Excellent thought.

Finally, I asked, “Is God male or female.”  Ethan said, “I don’t think it matters.” And Maya added, “Yeah.  God is neither and both.”

So, reader.  These are responses from 6th-8th graders.  How would you respond?

Have you even thought about it before?

Might be time to stop and think about it now, you know, just in case you need to call an answer to memory…

“Letting the Days Go By, Let the Water Hold Me Down”

This past Monday the Confirmation students got together to ponder the question: “Why did Jesus get baptized?”.

You may not have ever put much thought into this question; I know none of them had (which is not surprising, it’s not a normal question).

But it’s a good question, though.  Why did Jesus get baptized?

If our theology tells us that baptism is a way that God cleans us on the inside, as symbolized by the cleansing on the outside, then is it true that Jesus had some dirt in his soul that needed to be cleansed?  And if so, does that call into question our ability to call him both human and divine?

It’s such a mind-boggling question that, even after watching a video about it, some of the students still said, “Yeah, I don’t get it.”

And that’s ok.  The point is not to “get it.”  The point is to ponder it together.

The Talking Heads composed this really cool song called “Once in a Lifetime.”  And, since baptism is a “once in a lifetime” event, I thought it’d be appropriate to quote and use as the title of this post and consider some lyrics.

The first verse goes:

And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.

How do we “work life?”  What do we do when we find out our success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?  That the things we thought would make us happy, don’t?  That we’ve accumulated more junk and dirt than we know what to do with?

Then, perhaps, the baptismal waters can hold us down.  Hold us down in the reality of a God who loves us enough to not let even those things get in the way of our relationship with him.

And maybe, just maybe, Jesus knew that in the course of his preaching, teaching, healing, and work, that he was going to be dealing with a lot of people who had a lot of spiritual dirt.  And maybe, if he was going to take that on himself by entering into relationship with them, maybe he needed to start off with some washing of his own, to prepare for that work.

And maybe that’s partly why we get baptized, and remember our baptism, too.

As one of the youth said, “It’s kind of like putting the bar down on the rollercoaster before you go down the hill, instead of after you fly out.”

Sometimes, you have to prepare, even just for life.

Miracle Madness!

So, the question being posed to the Confirmation students tonight is: Do I have to believe Jesus performed miracles in order to be a Christian?

This is such a good question, on so many levels. 

One thing to consider is if there is a litmus test to labeling someone a Christian.  What beliefs have to be in place, if any?  What practices have to be in place, if any?

Unfortunately I think that the recent history of Christianity has placed too much emphasis on belief, and too little emphasis on practice (totally ending up in a place that Luther would have hated, by the way…as the originator of “By grace not works” he was not suggesting that we STOP works altogether, but rather that grace would lead us to GREATER works.  It hasn’t worked.  I’ll stop using the word “work.”).

Another thing to consider is that there were many “miracle workers” going around at the time of Jesus.  Yes, that’s right, there were others.  Sometimes pastors don’t like to mention that fact, although I’m not sure why.  There was a very popular one at the same time as Jesus by the name of Apollonius of Tyana.

Yes, it wasn’t the miracles that made Jesus special; it was the message behind the miracles.  While Apollonius did it for glory, Jesus did it for God and to give people a glimpse of the kingdom.

Finally, we have to admit that we don’t fully know what the ancient writers meant by “miracle” because we aren’t really sure what they mean by disease.  Many diseases were labeled as “demons.”  Others were mis-labeled altogether, like the totally arbitrary label of “leprosy” for whatever skin rash one might have.  And identifying massive zits as “leprosy” certainly would ensure that the acne sufferer got leprosy because they’d then be forced to live in a leper colony.

So, we’re kicking it around at Confirmation tonight.  But what do you think?  Is the term “miracle” simply a descriptive for the type of work Jesus was doing, or did Jesus actually have the ability to change someone’s physical situation?  Or, perhaps, the message of Jesus had a way of touching people so much so that their physical situation didn’t matter anymore!

Hmmm…that last thought has a lot of merit for this pastor, I think…

Question: Did Jesus Know He Was Divine (God)?

Did Jesus know he was Divine (God)?

This is actually a very good question, and one we tackled at Catechism last night.  After reviewing the 4th and 5th Commandments (which the youth have to memorize and then explain in their own words…you’d be surprised by that 5th Commandment), we then started talking about what Jesus might have known about himself.

Did he know he was God?  In Mark it appears that he does not.  In fact, we have in Mark what scholars refer to as the “Messianic Secret” where some people call Jesus the “Son of God” or “Messiah,” but Jesus in essence says, “Don’t say that” or “Don’t tell anyone.”

But in the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to know he’s Divine, and knows everything that’s going to happen to him as if he can tell the future.

So, which is it?

Mark, which was written earliest, may be who we rely on to answer this question.  That being said, John was written later, and so perhaps with more thought on the issue the early church decided that Jesus truly did know who he was…but no one realized it.

When I polled the kids as to what they thought, they were split down the middle.  Half thought Jesus knew he was Divine; half thought he didn’t figure it out until after the resurrection.

In that way, they represent much of the church.  Marcus Borg, a controversial scholar and author, recently posited that he doesn’t think that Jesus knew who he was until after the resurrection.

But, really, do any of us know who we are all the time?  When I was 11 I was sure I would be a doctor.  Then when I was 17 I wanted to work in law enforcement.  If you had told me I would be a pastor I would have laughed at you and said, “Don’t say that!”

Hmmmm.

Anyway, to live out having only a limited view of ourselves, the kids made “anti-glasses” that we wore as we did a little walking around the church.  It was difficult to navigate the halls, according to the kids, because they had a limited view.  Only after they took the glasses off could they see things fully.

Perhaps that’s what the resurrection was like for Jesus and the early church: until the cross/tomb event, they couldn’t really tell who Jesus was.  But after that event, well, they could see clearly.

Here’s a pic of the kids and their glasses.  Pretty imaginative.

Oh, and if you wonder why you didn’t talk about stuff like this in your Confirmation class, worry not.  Next year there’ll be an adult Confirmation class where we’ll talk about this and so much more!

pt…

Back in Action with a New One: Was Jesus the Son of God?

So, the Bible is full of paradoxes and mysteries.  In fact, I would say that paradox and mystery are the bread and butter of our religious tradition.  Pure rationalists have found this disturbing while those who are pure artists find it irresistible.

Those of us who fall in the middle vacillate between disturbed and intrigued…which is a lovely place to be, actually.

One of the greatest paradoxes in Scripture is the claim that Jesus is both God and human.  We recite this in the Nicene Creed (formulated in 325 C.E.), we recite it in sermons, we sing about it in hymns; it’s a tenant of orthodoxy.

But what does it mean?

We talked about what it might mean tonight in Confirmation.  We talked about how “Son of God” and “Son of Man” are ancient titles from the Old Testament meant to indicate that someone was uniquely empowered by God’s Spirit, anointed by God (a “Messiah”).

We talked about whether or not Jesus knew he was God.  In the Gospel of Mark it appears he does not.  In the Gospel of John it appears he does.  In Matthew and Luke he seems to know at times and be clueless at others.

We talked about how important it was that Jesus be human, to go through what humans go through (from zits to sleep to love).  Likewise we talked about how important it was that Jesus be God: the embodiment of God’s good will toward humanity.

And then we left it as a wonderful, affirming, paradox.

Remember paradox and mystery aren’t meant to be solved.  Problems are meant to be solved.  Paradox and mystery are meant to be held, kept, and learned from.

Oh, and if you wonder if you have a paradox in your own life, think about the person you love to hate, the person you love and hate (interchangeably), or the person you hate, but who loves you.  You’re probably a paradox yourself.

Or just think of what Groucho Marx once said, “I’d never want to be part of an organization that would let me in as a member.”  That’s a good one, too.

Sometimes Eggnog Does the Trick

So, our Confirmation students are not of one mind when it comes to eggnog.

Some, like Mike, absolutely loved it.  Some, like Joe, think it’s pretty much the worst stuff out there.

We didn't use these to drink from...but I wish we had!

And some, like Devlyn, just want to know what “nog” is…and looked for it on the ingredients list.

But all of them like presents, even if they’re just wrapped up in newspaper and shared in a “white elephant” style.  The one that was most prized this year was a Santa hat that glowed and said “Humbug” on it.  Last year it was a hand painted picture of Big Bird and Cookie Monster.  There really is no telling what the kids will latch on to year to year…

But all in all, I always look forward to our Confirmation Christmas party.  The kids brought dishes that always appear at their Christmas table.  This year we had tamales and rice pudding, jello, cheetos, almond cookies, cranberry relish, an assortment of Christmas cookies, and, yes, eggnog.

And we played games.  Trivia games about Christmas movies, Christmas trees, Christmas hymns.

And after all of the treats had been passed out, all of the cookies eaten, all of the rice pudding consumed (well, maybe not all of it, but a huge dent…and a great deal of that by yours truly), I looked around and saw one half gallon of eggnog unopened.

At which point I looked at Mikey and said, “Merry Christmas,” handing him the nog.  And he jumped up and down.

Merry Christmas indeed.

I really enjoy teaching these kids, and I look forward to diving back into curriculum on January 9th.  Until then, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

pt…

Thanksgiving Service Project

Hi All,

For Thanksgiving the Confirmation students and their parents put together hygiene kits for the Night Ministry.  If you’re wondering what the Night Ministry is, you can find out more info on them here: http://www.thenightministry.org/

When I asked the kids why someone who is experiencing homelessness might need soap, toothpaste, or hand sanitizer, I got the answers: “So they don’t get sick and infected,” “So they can go on a job interview,” and “Because everyone needs to be clean.”

I think they get it.

We made over 50 kits!  Thanks to them, and to all of you who donate.  Take a look at some of the pics!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, pt…

And it begins!

Justin getting his hygiene kit groove on…

One of everything!

Michael and Thomas working hard.

Ayana helping out (OK, she’s too young for Catechism, but siblings are always welcome on service projects!

Daniel packing it up to get back in line

Devlyn. No, he’s really excited…that’s his “excited” face…

Matthew and Nick helping out!

We’re done! 50 kits for 50 hands!

Finally, with Maya and Sophie smiling…

Heading to the car with the cargo!

This is Thomas’s “tough guy” face…

Maya and Sophie doing some heavy lifting…

A full Ford Explorer!

Church: a Necessity or Optional?

Hi All,

 

For Confirmation this week we’ll be talking about the necessity of church.  Just to clarify a few things:

-Church is not about getting up on Sunday morning.

-Church is not about a particular denomination, necessarily

-Church is not a building

-Church is about community

-Church is about asking questions together where your perspective rubs up against someone else, and against scripture

-Church is about worshiping something bigger than yourself

-Church is about not worshiping all the other things the world asks you to worship.

 

So, Christian, is church necessary?

 

Homework: 3rd Commandment is on deck.  The youths should know it and know how to explain it!

Salvation Station

Tonight we talked a bit about salvation: what it might be, what it might look like, and addressed the question as to whether a person might be able to lose their salvation somehow.

Of course, the goal of this exercise is to learn to ask better questions.  For instance, in the Gospel of John salvation is less tied to some sort of heaven, and more tied to freeing people from those things that keep them from experiencing a full life (greed, poverty, malice, etc) here and now.

But ultimately, it should be stressed that the giver of salvation is God.  It is not our belief that saves us, nor is it some sort of prayer prayed at the right time.  It is God.  Therefore, as Luther says, to ponder too deeply whether someone has salvation or not is to ponder the ultimate unknowable…and therefore to waste too much time trying to know the mind of God.

Instead, go about doing God’s work, trusting God’s promises (including the promise of salvation), and then you might begin to see God in unusual places.

Homework: Finally, for homework, the students should know the Second Commandment and it’s explanation enough to say it, or at least write it in their own words.  Get studying!

See you again in November!

pt…