The secondary title of this blog entry is: "How I survived teaching Confirmation"

So since I'm the "youth" pastor here at Central, I teach Confirmation. I actually love it. I love sharing stories and getting kids to ask questions.

I love kids, especially middle school kids. It's a rough age. You're either getting picked on or doing the picking. Having a (somewhat) captive audience each week is a way to let them know I care about them.

But I also try to teach them some stuff, like Biblical stories, what it means to be Lutheran and how we can use faith in real life. I sure hope something sunk in.

I gave them a "final test" last week. They all failed. Seriously. Now maybe I made the test too hard or didn't do a review. But really, most couldn't identify Joseph, Moses or King David of Old Testament fame (or infamy). Ack! I've failed!

But, then again, every last one of them could tell me the difference between a Lutheran understanding of Law and Gospel.

(For those who don't know...or don't care :)... the Law shows us our human weaknesses and gives us boundaries, the Gospel is good news of what God has already done for us...Lutherans believe we need both and the Bible shows both)

So I confirmed them on Sunday, May 20. All seven of them. I was so proud of them. They read excerpts of their faith statements (I'll post in another entry). Then they came back later that night for a final Confirmtion party.

It pained me to watch them leave that night.

I wonder how many I'll see again in church. I felt sad and kind of defeated. There was so much more I wanted to tell them, so much more I wanted to learn about who they are and what they think.

I wondered if this was what it was like to be a parent, to cast your bread upon the waters and wonder if it will ever return.... (this poetic phrase is from Old Testament sage in Ecclesiastes)

I wonder.

I wonder if anyone else reading this has wondered that too....