Last Sunday was my last real Sunday with the Confirmation class. Next Sunday they will be confirmed. After that they will move on to the youth group. I will miss all of them. And I am glad to see them go. It is time.
We started together last August. They were small, frightened sixth graders. They had many questions, but not the courage to ask them. Their world had turned upside down. One minute they were the biggest kids in elementary school, the next they were the smallest kids in the school and noticeably smaller. They wanted so much to be part of the bigger group, but had no idea how to get there.
In April, they are wild colts and fillies, open to asking any crazy question they think of. Spending an hour with them is like being on an interview for Jeopardy. They are confident in what they do know and understand, and are aware of people to ask when they don’t know or understand. Some of them are still small, that may take another year, maybe two, but they are physically, emotionally and spiritually, very different people. They still have difficulty thinking of themselves as a team, a group, but they are more cohesive than they were in August.
And mostly, they are done with me. They are ready to move on. They are now able to join the youth group. They are committed Christians, equipped with an understanding that it is not enough to confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart and head, but you also must exhibit with your hands and actions that belief.
They are lots of thin places.
searchingforthinplaces 