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Pastor Thoughts

What is confirmation really? – Pastor Thoughts

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At our last council meeting, we briefly detoured into a discussion about confirmation. Several folks shared their memories of being confirmed.

Let me see if it sounds familiar to you: Confirmation classes began with two years of regular instruction with the pastor where long and boring lectures were combined with the requirement to memorize the entire Luther’s Small Catechism and a significant number of Bible verses. At the end of the two-year instructional period, the confirmation class was brought before the congregation to be grilled in pop-quiz style, only to be then confirmed if they passed the quiz. And finally after this point confirmands were allowed to commune and/or drink coffee and/or vote at congregational meetings. 

I have heard versions of this story from folks in every congregation I have served. Some have recalled their experience wistfully with nostalgia (and the observation that confirmation students today have it easy) while others have not been so positive about their experiences. 

To me, that version of confirmation classes and Confirmation Sunday sounds traumatic. No wonder the Baby Boomers (currently between ages of 57-75) were the first to leave the church in droves. I would honestly like to know what was being taught in seminary at that time and I would like to have conversations with professors and pastors of that era to hear them explain themselves. 

My own confirmation experience was much different. Our friendly and caring (though somewhat disorganized) pastor of that time had classes where we had the chance to have excellent conversations about faith. I remember reading our textbook, Free to Be, as a 12 year old. It was the first non-fiction non-school book I had read with interest. I wanted to understand God’s grace and how it had been freely given to me. 

We weren’t grilled in the front of the congregation; but I do think we played a fun quiz show style game against our parents. (I think we won!) And we shared faith statements at the potluck after worship on Confirmation Sunday.

In seminary, I had the chance to study and more fully understand just what Confirmation is as well as its historical roots, which may be surprising. 

Believe it or not, we will have had two Sundays of Confirmations and 3 confirmands over these past two Sundays. Last Sunday as two new members were baptized, they were also confirmed as a part of the baptismal rite. Isabella was already ‘confirmed’ as a part of her baptism.

Because technically, the act of confirmation is the laying on of hands and prayer (similar to ordination) that follows just after the dousing with water. In the Early Church, baptisms (and confirmations) were always done by a bishop. Then, as the Church grew, bishops began delegating baptisms to priests, though they retained presiding at confirmations. So baptisms would happen throughout the year, but confirmations would be saved up for the bishop’s visit once every few years. 

Fast forward a thousand years to Martin Luther and the reformers; pastors became the ones chiefly responsible for teaching and doctrine – sort of like mini-bishops in each congregation. So the baptismal and confirmation rites were re-combined.

Yet, we know that the technicality of the rite for laying on hands is only part of the picture. A big part of our hope for confirmands is not that they “graduate from church,” but that they enter more fully into the life of faith. Hence the other term we often use for confirmation: Affirmation of Baptism. As Lutherans we ardently assert that Baptism is an act of God – forgiveness, life and salvation freely given to the one baptized. And yet, we recognize that there is a place and time for us to acknowledge our awareness and gratitude of this gift given to us. We also combine this with a time of instruction and study, so as to come to a fuller understanding of the faith into which we have been baptized. This time of study is technically called catechesis. So two years of catechetical study, affirmation of baptism in front of the assembly of siblings in Christ and the laying of hands in prayer, all combine to make what we call ‘Confirmation.’

Our hope is that the young people who go through then process of confirmation will move from a Sunday School faith (“Jesus loves me, this I know”) to a more adult faith that deals with the questions of what it means to be in relationship with our siblings in Christ, what it means to live out our faith in the world, what it means to be loved, claimed and forgiven by God and how that changes us. 

In the end, it is my hope as a confirmation teacher that confirmation is not a traumatic hazing or an experience that causes confirmands to flee the church in droves, but a beginning of growth into a more mature practice of faith that lasts a lifetime. 

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Finally Some New Easter Life – Pastor Thoughts

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At this time of year, one of the things that I usually find myself on the lookout for are the first signs of the greening that happens in springtime; the brown grass and leafless trees begin to sprout new life. In the past few days, I have really noticed the grass turning green, the trees and plants beginning to show little buds and blossoms of life. Living in our new neighbourhood we are seeing all the things happen for the first time. We moved in one day after the first snowfall in November, so we barely saw our green yard. Now it is kind of like little daily surprises to see which plants are budding each day. 

But it isn’t just the plants and trees and grass. The whole neighbourhood seems to be coming alive. After being cloistered in our homes all winter, people are coming out into the streets, sidewalks and parks. Most evenings there are kids riding bikes or playing street hockey, families out for walks and playground adventures, schoolmates to be found at newly explored parks, soccer and baseball teams practicing at local fields. The Harte walking trail is so busy there could almost be traffic lights required. 

It is a wonder to watch the whole world seemingly come to life out of the winter depths. I know the same resurrection is happening all over the city, probably all over the prairies. 

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed it too at church. Maybe not as dramatic the transformation of our outdoor world, but this winter and spring there has been noticeable new life growing in our midst. There are a few more folks in the pews most Sundays; we now even sit on both sides of the sanctuary, instead of clumping all together on one side. Our online views have remained strong (often in the hundreds!) and yet there are just a few more folks consistently at church. Not to mention the life found in our Lenten study, our music groups picking up a great deal of our musical leadership, and the cautious optimism that we shared in our town hall. 

Of course, soon summer holidays, campground reservations and weekends at the lake will be calling out to us… but I suspect that we are taking a step into a new kind of stability (I won’t say “normal” just yet). Sure there is still COVID-19, inflation, war, Artificial Intelligence (like ChatGPT) taking jobs, forest fires, climate change and so many more things to worry about. 

But maybe, just maybe, in our fourth Easter since going into those pandemic lockdowns, we are actually experiencing a shift towards more tangible and visible signs of communal resurrection around us. I think that might be part of what it going on. 

As we come to the end of the Easter Season for this year, I have a feeling that the resurrection vibes and the feeling of being an Easter community might carry on.

Of course, after a couple years of pouring ourselves into coming out of the pandemic tomb and into new life, it is only after we begin to accept and come to terms with who and what we are now as a community of faith that God begins something new with us again. 

Whether we like it or not, I think this may be what it looks like to be an Easter People – a little bit messy but with new life appearing in surprising ways. 

Christ is Risen Indeed!

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

How can we know the way? – Pastor Thoughts

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“How can we know the way?”

This is the question that is asked of Jesus this week in the gospel lesson. 

When I was little, maybe four or five, my mother took me to the University of Alberta (UofA) for “an appointment.” We met a kind woman there who took my mother, sister and me on what felt like a long walk through the UofA campus. At one point, she just stopped and looked at me and asked, “Erik, do you think you can find your way back to the office?”

So I started leading our little posse back to the office where we had first met this nice woman. I know that I made a few wrong turns along the way, but I eventually figured out our way back to the office. All along the way, I remember the woman asking me questions about why I had chosen the path I was taking, landmarks I was using, my sense of direction, etc….

Years later when I recalled the experience to my mother, she told me that I was part of a study about directional sense in children. There were three groups. The first group was told they were going for a walk and would need to find their way back. They’re also given help and hints as they led their way back. The second group was told about the walk and the need to navigate their way back, but were given no help once they started to lead the way. The third group – the group I was in – were not given any notice about the task nor given any help finding our way back. 

I think both the kind researcher and my mother were surprised that I found my way back to the starting place. And in fact, my whole life I have been blessed with a pretty good sense of direction. I can find my way in new cities, find my way between towns out in the country, and navigate airports, malls or other large buildings pretty well. I even had a better sense of the horse trails around Wilderness Ranch (in the foothills of Southern Alberta) after a few weeks than some other staff who had been riding them for years. 

My good directional sense has been a blessing in other areas of my life, giving me the confidence to trust that most of my decisions will get me to where I am trying to go, whether it is personally, in my family life or in ministry. 

Now, my point here isn’t to brag. And in fact, my good directional sense has limits. Most cities I have figured out in a few days, but Winnipeg has felt like it has taken years to get straight (unnumbered streets that are named seemingly randomly, few roads that actually run true North-South/East-West, big thoroughfares that just end, streets that just change names, quaint little side streets that are actually main traffic arteries….) Don’t get me started on Winnipeg’s utterly confusing city design! 

But rather, my point is that we are like the disciples, who are asking Jesus “How can we know the way?” We wish that the path to find our way through ministry as a church, and in life in general, had a kind researcher reminding us to make note of landmarks as we travel, and gently correcting us when we make a wrong turn. Yet, we usually encounter the other experiences of not even knowing that we are getting lost or not knowing where we are going until someone turns to us and says, “Do you think you can find your way back from here?”

And when we are navigating blind, we don’t really know if we have taken the right paths and made the right choices until we get to where we are going. Providing a map, or turn-by-turn directions, or a guide we can hold onto, is not what Jesus is about though. Instead, Jesus has a very different idea of what it means to navigate our way down life’s paths and what it means for us to know the way. 

So… “How can we know the way?”

What that is, is something you will have to come on Sunday to hear more about. I hope to see you there. 

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Following the call to be a Shepherd – Pastor Thoughts

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Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

The 4th Sunday of Easter is the middle Sunday of the seven weeks of Easter. And for the past 50 or so years, it has been the Sunday we observe Christ, the Good Shepherd. 

Good Shepherd Sunday has a centuries-long history of being a Sunday to talk, not just about how Christ is our Shepherd, but about the call to ordained ministry, as well. 

In the ELCIC we are calling it Vocational Sunday, a Sunday to reflect on the ways in which all the Baptized are called to the ministry of God’s Kingdom. And also to lift up the particular call to ordained ministry. 

The idea of Call carries with it some sense of the holy or mysterious. I get asked quite a bit how it was that I felt called to be a pastor. I sometimes get the feeling that the expected answer is a story such as that of Martin Luther. The legend goes that Luther was out travelling in a lightning storm when a bolt struck near by. Sorely afraid for his life, he prayed to God that if he survived he would switch from law school to theological school and become a monk. Of course, many historians wonder if this might have been a story Luther concocted because he didn’t want to become a lawyer, and his father had saved money to pay for law school! 

Nevertheless, my own call story is not nearly as dramatic. I grew up in a family that already had some pastors in it. We went to church most Sundays and often to other programs during the week. My parents made sure to remind me that being a pastor was a true and viable career option. Then in university, I discovered that I really liked my history and theology courses. There were no desperate prayers to God, no voices from heaven, no signs that I should follow a certain path. 

I know that there are some with those kinds of call stories among my colleagues. But there are many others who have similarly mundane stories like mine. 

However, there is one thing that I think is often missed. Because pastors are almost always called from outside the congregation, there is a sense that we come from some special place. 

Here is the secret: We normally come from other ordinary congregations, where we were usually just ordinary people in the pews. Often those who become pastors were quite involved and leaders in their home congregations, but not always. The important thing is that pastors are raised up from the baptized, from the ordinary folks who sit in the pews, usher, sing in the choir, go to youth group (a key place!), work at bible camp, serve on council, etc…. 

But, most importantly, pastors and deacons and all clergy were most often encouraged and identified by other discerning lay folks as people with a potential call to serve. Maybe it is a confirmation student who actually takes interest in the material. Maybe it is someone who gets involved with leading music, reading the lessons, ushering or other parts of worship. Maybe it is a wise and thoughtful person who has been asked to serve on council. Maybe it is someone that there is just a hunch about (a feeling that might be from the Holy Spirit). 

As we take the time this Sunday to consider Jesus, the Good Shepherd, I encourage you to think about folks you know in our congregation and beyond who might be called to ordained ministry – and if you are comfortable, let them know. And maybe it is you!

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Emmaus and Hockey Night in Canada – Pastor Thoughts

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“Hello Canada and Hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland.”

I am not anywhere close to old enough to have heard Forster Hewitt utter that iconic phrase live, but I have heard the recordings. As many of us turn our attention to the NHL playoffs this week, (to watch the Jets, Oilers and Maple Leafs), it is easy to think back and remember stories of hockey games past and the Canadian cultural ritual that is watching hockey together on Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC).

I remember the old HNIC Theme Song – the one written by Delores Claman that ran from 1968 to 2008. (TSN owns it now, maybe you still hear it if you watch the Jets regularly). Click here to listen: Hockey Night In Canada Theme Song Original – YouTube. Those first few notes of the low brass fanfare that swells into the full band always remind me of watching Oilers’ playoff games in the 90s. (I am a little too young to remember the Gretzky dynasty years very well.) 

When I was going to the University of Alberta, I played in the Cosmopolitan Community Band. One year for a Christmas concert we played the HNIC Theme Song. It was so cool to play that iconic song and for it to sound almost exactly like it did on TV. 

Whenever I hear that song, it immediately stops me from whatever I am doing. I am transported back to Saturday nights watching hockey with family and friends. It feels like Canada’s second national anthem, or at least it did. It has the power of connecting you to all the other people humming along from wherever they are watching the game.

For a whole host of reasons, that song will always hold a special place in my heart and mind. And whenever I hear it, it will immediately bring back cherished memories and feelings. Maybe you aren’t a big hockey fan, but we all have songs or sounds, foods or smells, books or movies that, whenever we see them or hear them or taste them or smell them, transport us back to another place and another time. Memories that hold on to us as much as we hold onto them. 

This week, we hear one of my favourite stories from all Scripture, The Road to Emmaus story. The climactic moment of the story is kind of like my HNIC Theme Song moment. The disciples are pre-occupied with all that has gone on, trying to understand their new world. And then Jesus takes some bread and begins to bless it. 

For the disciples, it was as if the HNIC Theme Song started playing. A memory that held them as much as they held it. A memory that woke them up from all their preoccupations. And they were transported back to that moment when their teacher and friend was sitting with them, reminding them of who they were – who God had declared them to be. 

For us as people of faith, each time we gather for worship, we are surrounded by the sights and sounds, smells and tastes, words, songs and actions that break us free from all those pre-occupations that take up our focus. Memories, symbols and images that hold us. And in those things, God reminds us who we are and who God has declared us to be. 

So as we sit down to watch hockey this week or hear the story of the Road to Emmaus, remember that God is there, finding ways to cut through the noise of our lives and break through into our hearts and minds. Breaking through and transforming us into Easter people.  

Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!