Confirmation

Tomorrow New Church will confirm a small class of two young women.

I love confirmation. I love rites of passage, in which we recognize that, people grow and they become more than they were before. This is one of those rites, when young people get to confirm the promises that were made for and about them years before (now I'm quoting my own homily).

This confirmation comes at the end of a week that has been wonderfully exhilarating for me. I am privileged to be able to participate in an annual conference for folks who are in the first three years in ministry. (I'm a group facilitator; my group started last year as 1st year ministers; next year will be their third and last in the program.) It is so, so, so exciting to me to be with other people who are in ministry, people who take seriously this odd business of preaching the gospel and being in leadership for faith communities.

It's no bed of roses, for anyone. I heard and shared some hard stories this week. But being with these folks gives me such hope-- not just for the church as a whole, but for my own ministry. It provides a kind of confirmation for me, a moment in which I can say with them, Yes. I love this work. I am called to it. I am so happy to do it. I am so privileged to be a part of it.

What can I say? God is good.