Confirmation class is still happening. All the students are home doing online schooling, and confirmation has gone online too! The confirmation process started back in September, and we were nearing completion when our world was upended. We had about six weeks left before our culminating celebration of our year together. We have eleven students going through confirmation this year, and an adult mentor for each student. The year has been going strong. Now the confirmation ceremony is postponed until the fall. While we are waiting for that, we are still moving forward with students writing their statements of faith. They have a unique challenge: writing out what they believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the church in a time of global uncertainty. How would any of us do at writing a statement of faith in such a moment of upheaval?
This is the question I posed to the confirmation class last week: what does it mean to be the church, especially during this time? With all of us joined together on a Zoom call, with each student on his or her own screen, we ask them to respond. Here are some of their replies:
The church is community.
When I think of the church, I think of the building. I think of Pinnacle.
The church is a place where we worship God.
The church is a place where we help others.
The church is a place where I feel safe and welcome.
The church is a place of learning, learning how to be better people.
The church is community.
If these are all part of what it means to be the church, the next big question is: can we be the church even when we cannot gather together in the building? Can we be community where we are? Can we worship God in our homes? Can we create moments of church through the internet? Can we still serve our neighbors in Christ, although we are keeping our distance?
These are important questions for any of us. Yes, it’s unsettling not to be in the physical building of the church and to gather in the sanctuary together. Yet we can choose to be church where we are…to create community through reaching out to others. Discovering ways to serve and be served. We can create welcome in our hearts. Though separated from each other, we are still the Church. Bible study is still going on. Fellowship and prayer groups are meeting. People are supplying food for others. Many of you are joining the worship services online. We are learning to be the church in new ways. We can all model how it is possible to be the church. The confirmands are paying attention to how we be the church. The world is watching…and waiting…to see how we live out our calling in Christ to live our lives as Christ’s church.
