Catherine, who commented on her iConfirm service experience on our Facebook Page, reported that the week after her class was confirmed her youth minster asked her to do the sermon that Sunday and to talk about the program. She has graciously allowed us to post her sermon here. Thanks, Catherine!
SERMON
When I first heard about the confirmation group I was all for joining it. But inside I was really, truly, extremely, awfully, nervous. I’ve always felt close to God, but I’d never really been good with all the bible and scripture stuff.
I was relieved to know that my older brother John was going through the process, too. That helped ease some of my anxiety. I was told that Austin was going to be teaching the class. Now, I knew who Austin was, but I didn’t know him personally. All I knew about him was that he had long hair, a beard, and liked video games. From a teenager’s point of view, he seemed too good to be true.
Well, the first day of class came along, and I found out that Confirmation was truly going to be one of the greatest experiences I had ever had. We were embarking on a 6 month journey of Spirituality, and Love. My class started the whole experience off great, with all of us coming up with our class name, which is “The Legit Sunday Group”.
A couple of weeks into the class I learned that we were going to assigned mentors. I was particularly eager to find out who my mentor was. I was informed that day that my mentor was going to be Connie. After church that Sunday I met Connie. We didn’t get that much time to talk, but she seemed like an exceptionally kind person. That week Connie and I exchanged emails. We decided we were going to meet at star bucks. As I mentioned before, Connie seemed very nice. But, in her emails she wrote very professionally, which made me feels as if, she was maybe going to be a little uptight, or not humorous. I had thought completely wrong. She and I met and hit it off instantly. Connie and I never ran out of things to talk about, and even shared a couple of common interests.
It turns out Connie and her daughter, just like me, are both very interested in Musical Theater. I also learned that Connie was an outstanding seamstress and liked to quilt. During out conversation, I talked to her not only about the things we liked to do, but about religion and church. Although Connie and I only met outside of church once, I felt a strong connection to her, and I know that she (you) will always be there for me to talk to.
One of the other things we had talked about was my friends and how they felt about religion. Most of my school friends don’t believe in God. So that day, I took the Liberty of asking one of my friends why she didn’t believe. My friend told me this: It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in God, it was just like she saw no proof. She also said that she felt as if he had made no effort to be present in her life.
That statement really appalled me. I mean, this friend of mine is very smart and quite scientific, so I knew she was going to say something about proof, but that “he had made no effort?” I mean it just didn’t make sense. To this day I believe almost the opposite of that. I think that for God to be present in someone’s life, you are the one who believes, and finds God and Jesus. You don’t just sit around, wait, and hope that something will happen that makes God present in your life.
It’s almost like finding a Job. You wouldn’t just sit around, and hope that magically you’ll get a job. You fill out an application or resume and send it in. You are the one who goes to church, who prays, and who believes. Through the Confirm not Conform program I feel as if I have sent my personal resume to God and was lovingly opened to God, Jesus and my religion.
I have become such a better person and Episcopalian throughout this program. In contrast my cousin is also being confirmed this year into her church, which isn’t Episcopalian. She is kicking and screaming her way through the process and told us that all they do is yell at the students.
I want to thank Austin, for not making this experience like my cousins. In fact, the confirmation kids have nicked named Austin, our Superhero. Without him, this whole process would never be able to come together. Austin made learned about religion enjoyable, and I hope that all of you get the chance to work with him at some time or another. I also want to thank Connie for being such a good role model for me.
Well, in summary of my Confirm not Conform experience, I got the chance to relate Indiana Jones, and The Matrix to religion, go to a Muslim Mosque, attend a Jewish Shabbat, write a small report about Scientology, make a ton of new friends, grow closer to other friends, learn so much more about my religion, and get blessed and confirmed by the Bishop of California in Grace Cathedral. I have had the time of my life and wouldn’t change anything about the last 6 months. It was hard work, but it was definitely worth it.