I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other. John 13:34-35
Watching the reality of the pandemic settle on my high school students expectations for how they would celebrate the culmination of their 4 years of high school was hard. They had already experienced a great amount of loss and were grieving the experiences they had dreamed of. I knew our church community would be able to give them an experience that would be meaningful for them and help them regain some of the excitement they had been anticipating.
CUMC stepped up in a big way on Sunday evening when we gathered safely in our cars and cheered our seniors on with signs, and car horns as they walked through the parking lot to “Pomp and Circumstance”. They got to experience a graduation ceremony complete with moving their tassels from right to left and throwing their caps in the air. They beamed, they giggled, they blushed, and they felt the love and support that this congregation has continually given them.
When our youth are confirmed we as a congregation are asked if we will… “nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include these persons now before you in your care?”
We profess that…
“With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.”
You have nurtured them as they have grown up and grown in their faith. Everyone of these graduates have participated in our youth mission trips and some have gone on to teach Sunday school or have been in service to the church as ushers and acolytes.
Sunday evening we surrounded these youth in a community of love when we came together to support them and celebrate this milestone with them. In doing this we lived out our profession of faith… “We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.”
Dear God, We thank you for all the people who have shared their faith with our youth, for those that have nurtured them and given them a safe place to discover, learn and trust in you. We ask that you guide them as they begin this new chapter in their lives and we pray that they stay close to you. Amen
With much gratitude,
Marty