Confirmation Opening Retreat

See more retreat photos here.

We're back from a beautiful weekend at Blue Mountain for the opening confirmation retreat.  Here's an outline of all the stuff we did:

Friday night we got settled in Whitener and played "I've Never" and the candy-name game.  Then we broke up into family groups and the mentors interviewed each of their confirmands.  When we all got back together the mentors told everyone something interesting they'd learned about every confirmand.  Next it was the confirmands' turn to interview the mentors and present them to the class.  I have videos of them, they are hilarious.  I hope to find a way to post them here soon.

Saturday morning we got down to business.  Passed out the confirmation notebooks and went over the requirements.  It looks like a lot to do, but as long as you're coming to church about 60% of the time, there won't be any problem.

Next we spent a little time journaling, responding to questions like "Why am I here?" and "What are my hopes and fears about confirmation?"  I wonder what we'll all think of those at the end of the year?

The following is an outline of the rest of the Saturday sessions.

What Is Confirmation?

Confirmation is

• Ownership - claiming the Christian faith as our own.  Reaffirming the decision that was made for us at our Baptism.
• Transition - changing our faith from that of a child's into an adult's faith.
• A Journey - our faith journey is not done when confirmation is over.  We're just beginning.
• Fellowship - we're all in this together, learning from each other, sharing steps along the journey.  And every one of us is a gift from God, helping us hear His voice.
• Seeking - confirmation is a safe place to ask the hard questions about faith.  That is how we build a firm foundation so that our faith will not be shallow.
• Commitment - your faith cannot be given to you, and your questions cannot be answered without your effort.  You can only get out of confirmation what you are willing to put into it.

Who We Are, the Way God Sees Us

We started our journey we wanted to take a look at ourselves, to see honestly who we are, so that we can approach God the way He sees us.  Each confirmand used a shoebox and magazine images and words, and their own artwork, to create a little example of themselves.  On the outside went things they showed the world - hobbies, personality traits, whatever.  On the inside, they put things that the world couldn't see.  Then we discussed how God sees both the outside and the inside, as long as they are really us (God doesn't see the phony stuff we put out there if that's not really us).

What is Faith?

If we were starting on a faith journey, we'd need to figure out what faith is.  Some of the concepts we got from the Bible about faith were:

• Faith is believing without proof
• Faith is assurance of things hoped for
• Faith is conviction of things not seen
• Faith is trusting in God
• Faith is confident, expectant
• Jesus frequently responded to people's faith. See Luke 5:20, 7:50, and 8:48.

We discussed the "Three Dimensions of Faith"

• Belief - knowledge, faith of the head
• Trust - emotion, faith of the heart
• Commitment - action, faith of the hands and feet

Then the confirmands experienced the "trust" part by being blindfolded for their faith walk.  At first they had to trust in each other, walking all in line together.  Then, they were separated one-by-one and led to a rope that navigated it's way through the trees.  The confirmands had to keep hold of the rope, and have faith that it guided them safely between the obstacles.

At the break we took a nature hike to the top of Blue Mountain.  Saturday was a beautiful day for it, we felt lucky to have such weather in mid-January, especially after the snow on Friday.

Can We Really Experience God?

The first dimension of faith, believing, would be easy if we could experience God in our lives.  Can we really do that?  How, and what would it be like.  As Christians we believe that we can experience the living God in many ways.

• Seeing God in Everyday Events - we talked about how we live most of our lives "on the surface", kind of going through the motions.  But every now and then something happens that knocks us off the surface and we go deeper.  In those moments, God is at work.
• Hearing God's Word - God can speak to us directly, but only if we listen.  In our prayer life we shouldn't do all the talking.  We also have God's word in the Bible, and God's word became flesh and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ.  We tried meditating on the Word of God from the Bible - it was a powerful experience.
• Seeing God in the World Around Us - we reviewed our nature walk, all the places we saw God's hand at work in creation.  And we read Psalm 8, about how God created the natural world and connected us to it.
• Feeling God's Love - God's love is not expected, nor deserved, nor earned by us.  But He loves us perfectly.  Each confirmand received and opened letters of love from family and from the congregation, many discovering connections they did not even know they had.
• Meeting God Through Service - Matthew 24:34-40 tells us that when we reach out to help each other, we are encountering God.

God-Incidences

When we experience God, hear his word or feel his guidance, it is not coincidence.  It is God-incidence.  Sometimes we only discover them by reflecting back on what has happened to us, but when we do we can find them.

Testimony helps us remember and re-affirm the fact that we have experienced the living God, and it helps others understand what such an experience is like.  Several of us around the bonfire Saturday evening testified to the presence of God in our lives.

The rest of Saturday night was dedicated to fun and fellowship.  Lots of confirmands watched the movie Elf in the basement of Whitener, while others played cards or just ran amuck.

Asking Questions, Seeking Answers

Sunday morning after breakfast we talked about asking questions.  In Mark 9:17-27  we read how Jesus responds to our honest attempts to find a deeper faith.  And Matthew 7:7-8 promises that if we make the effort, God will answer.

The confirmands wrote their faith questions onto balloons, then shared them with each other.  We will look at these questions throughout the confirmation class this year.

Experiential Prayer

We broke into groups and read stories in the Bible where people experienced God.  Genesis 28:10-17,  Exodus 3:1-12, and 1 Kings 19:9-13 gave us insights into the ways God reveals Himself to us and the ways we should respond.

Then each family group gathered to pray, one-by-one, for each member of the group.  Thereby connecting the group together in fellowship, connecting their prayers to God in a way that allowed the person being prayed for to feel the love of God directly and through the caring spirit of brother and sister.

Worship

Sunday ended in worship of the Lord, singing and praising His name.  And we considered encountering Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35.  Meditating again, we asked Jesus to walk with us on our journey, and we felt his presence.

Wow, what an amazing weekend!  We learned so much, and let everyone take a step together on their faith journey.  And we have only just begun!

Steve   sjacobs01@earthlink.net