“Unlocked“, by Rev. Mike Holly
Today is Confirmation Sunday for our sixth graders. They are professing their faith and declaring their desire to join our church as full members today during the 11:00 am worship service. This decision is one of the most important that they will make in their lifetime. Their decision is vital, but it is also something that they did not achieve on their own. Their parents and families have brought them to church and to Sunday school. They have encouraged them to serve in missions and to attend youth group activities. They have personally taught them about our faith. These confirmands have families that have poured encouragement, information and love into them their entire lives.
At the same time, these students have also had the love and support of our church family as well. They have had nursery workers and VBS volunteers nurture them in the faith. They have received kindness and love as we pass the peace in worship or as they attend a Midweek Meetup meal. And they have had wonderful volunteers in Sunday school and other ministries where they have been guided and mentored in the faith. It takes the whole church to pass on the faith to the next generation.
So this morning we want to celebrate these wonderful young people and the decision that they are making. We welcome them into the faith and into our church family. But we also want to say thank you to everyone who made a difference in their lives to help them to be able to stand and kneel before us today.
~Mike
The Word
John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
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