Friends,

We finally have a plan in place for confirmation classes at St. Luke’s! Our community has seen a lot of new faces join us in the last two years, and we are determined to make these classes and the opportunity to be confirmed or received available to anyone who feels called to go through the process.

First of all, what is all of this stuff?

When Christianity was growing in the first centuries of its existence, Bishops gave priests the authority to do baptisms, and then the bishop would visit and seal all those who were prepared to join the Church with the gift of the holy spirit and strengthen them for ministry. This would be done after the person studied scripture and felt called to join the Church.

We live into this tradition, so only the Bishop can confirm people as members of the Church, while I have the authority to baptize under their authority. When Bishop Stevenson joins us for the Easter Vigil on March 30th at 7:00 pm, he will be doing one of three things:

Confirming new members of the Church. This is for those who have not been through confirmation yet, but have been baptized. Fun fact: if you are an adult who has not be baptized, and the Bishop baptizes you, then you are already confirmed!
Receiving new members of the Church. This is for people like me. I promptly stopped attending the Roman Catholic Church after I was confirmed as a teenager. When I wanted to join the Episcopal Church, they would not re-confirm me. Instead, I was received into the Church.
Reaffirming existing members. Let’s say you were confirmed into the Episcopal Church decades ago, and want to go through the process again, then your confirmation could be reaffirmed by the bishop.

If you would like to be confirmed, received or reaffirmed by the bishop, then you will need to attend all six confirmation classes, or make up the class during our Lenten Evening Programming. If you are not able to attend these classes, then reach out to me, and we will discuss doing an independent study.

We are trying very hard to make the classes as accessible as possible, and to be sure they are meaningful and enjoyable. The main section will be on Sunday’s immediately following worship, and it will be taught by Professor Ross Kane of Virginia Theological Seminary. These will start on February 18th and will last six Sundays. I will teach make-up classes on Wednesdays starting on February 21st as part of our Lenten program. The topics and a specific schedule of these classes will come out as it is ready. The nursery, childcare and meals will be provided for the main class and the make-up class. Feel free to drop off your kids, and dig deep in your faith!

I also want to make it clear that these classes are open to everyone. If you are interested in just attended one or two, that is great! Feel free to drop in. Keep in mind the classes are for those who are to be confirmed, received or reaffirmed, but I encourage you to come, make relationships, and get to know our new members.

A bit about Professor Ross Kane. Everyone seems to know this guy except for me. He taught the confirmation class for two families that currently attend St. Luke’s and even married some of our members! He reputation proceeds himself, and I feel confident he won’t mess it up too bad. I googled him, and I’m not sure which picture is him. Come join us on February 18th and find out!

-Nick