Welcome to the confirmation class page.  My hope is that this can be a resource as you make this journey.  I will post video clips that we use in class and weekly topics so if you miss class, this is the place to start.

Week 1 - Jan 8th

Week 2 - Jan 22nd

Week 3 - Jan 29th

Week 4 - Feb 5th

Week 5 - Feb 12th

Week 6 - Feb 19th

Week 7 - Feb 26th

Week 8 - March 4th

Week 9 - March 11/18th

Week 10 - March 25th

Week 1 - Introductions and Baptism

Through our baptism, we are brought into the body of Christ.  We are cleansed and made new, claimed in the water by God.  God acts first.  God calls us to a life in Christ and we remember this when we baptize infants because they are called before they can respond.  The confirmation journey is about taking over the promises made on your behalf, to make faith your own.  This is a time to ask questions, to reflect and to search for who God is calling you to be.

Cannonball Baptism video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5abEm1241kY

This is not how we baptize at Westminster, but many faith traditions use a baptistry.  Cannonballing into however, is maybe not the best idea.

On the homework sheet for this week there is a chart called "Growing in Grace and Knowledge:  Where do you fall at this point?  What questions do you have?

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Week 2 - Presby-What - What does it mean to be church?

What does it mean to be Presbyterian?  The word Presbyterian comes from a Greek word that means elders, it describes how our church is governed.  We have elders who represent the people and make decisions based on what they feel God is doing in the world.  We believe we are called by God and guided by the Spirit. 

We looked at the Presbyterian Church (USA) seal.

Check out this website for explanations of the variety of symbols that have been put into our seal.

http://www.infodn.com/class/screenshots/pcusa/WW34.html

Our church constitiution is made up of two parts.  The Book of Confessions and the Book of Order.  We looked briefly at the book of order as we looked at a section called The Great Ends of the Church.  F-1.0304

"The great ends of the Church are:
     - the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind;
     - the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God;
     - the maintenance of divine worship;
     - the preservation of the truth;
     - the promotion of social righteousness; and
     - the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world."

We watched a video called Me Church.  Take a look and see what you think is wrong with this picture?

The chart this week has to do with what Scripture says about Elders and their roles and responsibilities.

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Week 3  - God

We started with reflection sheets about nature, events, animals, etc and the answer was "God is bigger than that!"  God is our creator and is bigger than we can see or imagine.  We used the Joseph story to look at how God uses situations in our lives that the world may see as bad, but that are in God's reality, good.  It is a reminder that God is sovereign.  It is God who made us and God who is in charge of the world. 

We wrote a Cinquain Poem about God

_________________________
One word title

_____________________________   ________________________
Two word phrase that describes the title, or two adjectives about God.

_______________________  __________________________  _______________________
three word phrase that describes and action related to your title or three verbs (action words)

____________________  __________________  _________________  __________________
Four word Phrase that describes a feeling that relates to your topic or four feeling words

__________________________
One word that refers back to your title

Here is an example that I wrote:

Liberator

Sets free

heals the sinner

Creator, Redeemer, Protector, Deliverer

Source-of-Life

Some Metaphors for God

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Week 4 - Jesus

Who is Jesus?  This is a question that is asked on the streets in several videos.  Take a look at one here.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd97sp2i4Ls&feature=related

So who do you think Jesus is?

One of the names we use for Jesus is Immanuel.  It means God with Us.  It comes from the Christmas story in Matthew. 

Take a look at the following Scriptures.  What do they tell you about Jesus?

Matthew 8: 23-27
Mark 2:1-12
Luke 5:1-11
John 1:14
John 14:7-11
Hebrews 1:3a
Philippians 2:5-11
Colossians 1:15a
 

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Week 5 - Feb 12th - Holy Spirit and Trinity

This week we talked about the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  This is not generally a focus in most Presbyterian Churches, not because we don't believe in it, but it does not fit with our sense of "decently and in order".  The Holy Spirit can make things messy.   We talked about the Spirit appearing as tongues of fire in Acts 2 and as a rushing wind and as the dove.  The Spirit was a gift as a way for Jesus to be present with us as he was to the disciples.  The Spirit blows through us and helps Scripture, worship, the Sacraments, our faith come alive.

One of the activities we did was Lectio Divina, which is Latin for divine reading.  It is a way to meditate on Scripture and listen to what it is saying.  We used John 14:25-27 as our text. 

Read the passage aloud slowly. 
What word or phrase stuck out?
Read the passage aloud slowly again.
Think about that word or phrase.
Read the passage aloud slowly a 3rd time.
Draw a picture that represents why the word/phrase is important and what does it say to you at this time in your life.

We also talked about the Trinity.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the traditional language.  How is it that these 3 are one and the same?  One way to think of it is water, ice and steam.  All the same chemical make up but different states.  The problem with this is that it suggests that each "person" of the Trinity stays in one state all the time.  Think of it more in terms of a triple helix (strands wrapped around each other) or as a musical chord where each note sounds, but there is a sound made from all 3 and also leaves room for us to participate in the life of the God head.

We also talked about some different ways to describe the Trinity. 

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer

Rainbow, Ark and Dove

Giver, Gift and Given

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Week 6 - Prayer and Worship

We talked about prayer this week.  There are many forms of prayer.  An acronymn to help remember different types is ACTS - Adoration(praise), Confesssion, Thanksgiving, Supplication (Praying for others).  We looked at the Lord's Prayer as a model for prayer using Matthew 6:9-13. 

We look at this video of youth doing the Lord's Prayer in sign language.  We talked about different ways to pray.

We also watched a parady of a worship service as we began to talk about worship.

One of the times we pray is in worship.  The Confession is near the beginning of the service and allows us to say we are sorry for what we have done and to confess that this is a broken world.  We have a prayer for illumination before we read the Bible and hear the sermon.  There are prayers of the people and we say the Lord's prayer. Music can also be a prayer.  Hymns can have a calming effect on us as we sing familiar words. 

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Week 7 - The Bible

The Bible or the Holy Scriptures are at the heart of our faith.  Like a family album with pictures and stories that help us know where we have come from, The Bible helps us learn more about the people of God and about Jesus.  These are ancient stories, but they speak to us today as well.  

There are some videos to check out

The Bible in a minute

The Bible in 50 Words

Where did the Bible come from?

Here are some facts/trivia about the Bible

1. How many books are in the Bible?
The Bible contains 66 books, divided among the Old and New Testaments.
There are 39 books in the Old Testament.
There are 27 books in the New Testament.

2. What does "testament" mean?
Testament means "covenant" or "contract."

3. Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40 different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings. Despite these differences in occupation and the span of years it took to write it, the Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book.

4. When was the Bible written?
It was written over a period of some 1,500 years, from around 1450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to about 100 A.D. (following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).

5. What is the oldest book in the Old Testament?
Many scholars agree that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, written by an unknown Israelite about 1500 B.C. Others hold that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) are the oldest books in the Bible, written between 1446 and 1406 B.C.

6. What languages was the Bible written in originally?
The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.

7. When was the Bible canonized?
The entire New Testament as we know it today, was canonized before the year 375 A.D. The Old Testament had previously been canonized long before the advent of Christ.

8. What does "canon" mean?
"Canon" is derived front the Greek word "Kanon," signifying a measuring rod. Thus, to have the Bible "canonized" meant that it had been measured by the standard or test of divine inspiration and authority. It became the collection of books or writings accepted by the apostles and leadership of the early Christian church as a basis for Christian belief. It is the standard by which all Christians throughout the ages live and worship.

9. When was the first translation of the Bible made into English?
1382 A.D., by John Wycliffe.

10. What is the longest book in the Bible?
The book of Psalms.

11. What is the shortest book in the Bible?
2 John.

12. What is the longest chapter in the Bible?
Psalm 119

13. What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?
Psalm 117

14. What is the longest verse in the Bible?
Esther 8:9

15. What is the shortest verse in the Bible?
John 11:35

16. Which book in the Bible does not mention the word "God?"
The book of Esther.

17. How many languages has the Bible been translated into?
The Holy Bible has been translated into 2,018 languages, with countless more partial translations, and audio translations (for unwritten languages). (This is an enormous amount of translations. In comparison, Shakespeare, considered by many to be the master writer of the English language, has only been translated into 50 languages.)

18. Is the Bible still the best-selling book in the world?
Yes, indeed!

References:

American Bible Society, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY 10023
Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1927, 1965).
Maxwell, Arthur. Your Bible And You (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1959).
Mickelson, A. Berkley and Alvera. Understanding Scripture (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1982, 1992).
Unger, Merrill F. TH.D., PH.D. Unger's Bible Handbook (Chicago: Moody Press, 1967)

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Week 8 - The Book of Confessions/Symbols

There are lots of different statements about what people believe.  The Declaration of Independence is one and within the Presbyterian Church there are 10 statements that are a part of our church constittution.  The Book of Confessions contains these statements that are as ancient as the 4th century and as recent as 1983.  Each one speaks to something different.  Many of them were written to refute something specific, but they all make a statement about what the writers believed. 

There are times we must take a stand and defend our beliefs, but we must learn which ones are worth standing for.  We can agree with statements, argue statements with our friends, Stand up even if we are the minority, and if we believe in something so deeply, we may be prepared to give our lives for it. 

"Chocolate is the best flavor of ice cream."  This may be a statement you agree with and maybe even might be something you would argue with a friend, but most of us would not give our lives for chocolate ice cream.  "Recycling should be mandatory."  This statement is one that many people have and will stand for even when they are in the minority and for some, this is worth giving one's life to save the planet.  What do you believe so strongly that you would give your life up for it?  Tough question, but a good one to think about. 

The PC(USA) has adopted creeds and confessions that help us understand what those before us have believed and help us form statements of what we believe.  A list and links to the texts of the Confessions can be found here.

Each confession has a banner that goes with it.  There are symbols that represent different beliefs that are put forth in the particular creed.  Symbols are all around us.  From the golden arches of McDonald's to the Nike swoosh, we know brands by their logo.  Symbols speak to us in a variety of ways and often can convey deeper meanings that words alone.

This church website has pictures of the banners along with the descriptions of the symbols.

Video of early Church symbols

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Week 9 - March 11th/18th

We have been working on stoles.  There are supplies in the confirmation room in the Annex.

Page 1 Instructions

Page 2 Instructions

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Week 10 - March 25th

Catching up and beginning statements of faith.

Class handout is here.

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