April 29, 2018

Confirmation Sunday

John 15:1-11

Acts 8:26-40

Based on the Confirmation Class of 2018 Statements of Faith

In worship and in Christian community, we nurture each other with Christ’s love. We nurture each other by sharing God’s Word from the Bible. We nurture each other through the gift of music. We nurture each other through acts of kindness and service. We nurture each other through the sharing of our beliefs – as Philip did with the Ethiopian man in our Bible passage from Acts.

This morning, we, the Confirmation class of 2018, would like to share with you our beliefs. For two years, we have journeyed together through Confirmation classes with Kristen and Mrs. Katsaounis. We have read the Bible together. We have learned about the Christian Church, the United Church of Christ, and the First Congregational Church together. We have learned about Islam and Judaism. We have practiced our Christian faith: making a meal at St. Vincent DePaul, praying together whenever we gather, and even doing guided meditation in the Chapel.

And our journey together began long before that. We were all baptized at the First Congregational Church and have attended Children’s Ministry together. For years, we have been nurtured by the vine and branches that are God and this community of faith. As you have nurtured us in Christ’s love, we hope our words this morning will nurture your Christian faith journeys.

We believe:

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is Creator of all. God is an eternal being that is always speaking to us, that extra voice in our heads, always trying to point us in the right way, the right path.

God can take on many forms: sunrays that beam down through the clouds or flowers that grow in the spring. God is everywhere, guiding us, loving us, and giving us strength and hope. God can make anything possible.

Jesus is the Son of God and our Messiah and Savior. Jesus loves God and loves all people and came to show us to do the same. Jesus is our friend, always with us throughout our journeys, in good times and in bad, when we are little and when we are grown.

In Jesus’ sacrifice for us, God showed us that God is even more powerful than death.

The Holy Spirit is another form of God, that is all around us. The Holy Spirit is peaceful like a dove, inspiring like the wind, calming like water, empowering like fire. The Holy Spirit guides us along our journey in life.

As Christians, God calls us to gather for worship, praising and loving God with our whole hearts and souls and minds, and God calls us to love our neighbors – helping others, putting them first, giving an extra hand to the person in need. God put us on this Earth for a reason, to do good.

We attend worship and participate in this church’s ministry to stay connected to the vine, to hear God’s still speaking voice, and to be strengthened in our faiths and relationships with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The church is a place of comfort, a place of welcoming. It is a place of love, of happiness. Even if you feel like there is no place that will accept you, the church always will.

Our personal faith journeys have changed throughout Confirmation classes and throughout our lives. We have come to believe that God is not only here for the adults and Jesus for the little kids; God and Jesus are here for all of us. There is great truth to be found in the Bible, God’s Word. And we have come to know the importance of being a good Christian, volunteering, being good to others, and making the world better.

“As my Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:9-11)