Youth confirmands picked produce at Shalom Farms for distribution to those experiencing food insecurity. Service is an important component of Confirmation preparation.
A year of living faithfully Youth confirmation at St. Stephen’s By Allison Seay Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from the fall 2019 edition of Seasons of the Spirit. After the first year of the approach to Confirmation preparation it lays out, we went into “lockdown” during a worldwide pandemic. We continued to stay as close to this vision as we could, given the limitations posed by virtual gatherings. As we continue on the “glide path” to reopening, we are excited to return to in-person gatherings, teaching, and outreach as part of Confirmation preparation, following the principles articulated in this 2019 article. Helping young people prepare to be confirmed is a privilege and a joy for us at St. Stephen’s Church as we honor and celebrate a new generation of Christians, connected in spirit to all those who have come before, and all those who will follow. At their child’s Baptism, parents are asked, “Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?” For 14 or 15 years, parents honor the vows they made on behalf of their baptized child, and then that responsibility is lovingly and faithfully transferred through a process known as Confirmation preparation. At St. Stephen’s young people often prepare to be confirmed in their 9th grade year. While this convention works well for many, 12 403073_Newsletter.indd 12
it is certainly not a rule. Confirmation is most meaningful when the young person is truly eager, sincerely desiring, and ready to claim his/her Baptism. Of course, confirmands do need support and encouragement, but not force or coercion; while parents may certainly require their children to go through the process of preparing for Confirmation, it is important that the ultimate decision belong to the young person. It is an opportunity to say “Yes! Amen!” not only to the gift of Baptism but “Yes! Amen!” to a faithful continuation of the journey and “Yes! Amen!” to a widening and deepening relationship with God which often includes doubts, questions, and hesitations. Ideally, we hope that young confirmands will have been faithfully attending weekly services at St. Stephen’s (or another Episcopal church) for a year or more. Ideally, we hope for confirmands to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion at least once a week for the year in which they are preparing to be confirmed. And ideally, confirmands will attend several presentations over the course of the academic year that will address elements of liturgy and the Christian life that we hope will be of interest to those considering this sacramental rite. Perhaps not surprisingly, the question I get most often is this: “How required is attendance?” And, “Do I really have to be there continued on page 15 SEASONS OF THE SPIRIT
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