Confirmation for Students
Congratulations to the 35 students who were confirmed on May 13th, 2012!It was a privilege for your teachers to watch you grow in faith.
Student Confirmation for 2013
The catechism describes confirmation as "the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop." Our confirmation program for youth runs from January through May, concluding with the bishop's visit at the 8:45am service on May 5th. If your child is considering confirmation this year, please see below for more information, starting with the letter to parents
Confirmation Retreat 2013
at Dubose Conference Center, Monteagle, TN
It's time to register for our retreat April 19th-21st! You can read more about our retreat here, including a schedule and packing list.
Once you have read the document above, please register your confirmand for the retreat here:
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Before registering your child for confirmation, please read this letter to parents, which outlines this year's program.
Download and print this out for your own calendar! It contains all the dates for confirmation activities.
Once you've read the above letter and looked at the schedule, you can register your child here. You can also pay online for their book, My Faith My Life.
Give this letter to the person whom the confirmand chooses as their sponsor. It outlines their role and what we ask of each sponsor.
Once the confirmand has found a sponsor, please give us their contact information here.
If your child is going through confirmation this year, and you have not already filled out the Parent Permission Form for Student Discipleship this year, please print and sign it and bring it to the church office marked "Attn: Sarah Puryear" along with a photocopy of your child's health insurance card. Thank you!
Here's an overview of our schedule for 2013:
January 27th: Kickoff from 1-3pm
Feb 13th: Ash Wednesday Service, 5:30pm
Sundays from 3-5pm in Akers Hall: Feb 17th, Feb 24th, March 3rd, March 10th, March 24th, April 7th, April 14th, April 28th
March 28th-31st: Holy Week services
April 19th-21st: Confirmation Retreat at Dubose
May 1st: Rehearsal and Dinner with the Bishop
Click on the title to learn more about our curriculum, My Faith My Life.
What did students learn about during Confirmation 2012?
Baptism
What role does water have in our society? Which of those roles also serves a purpose during baptism? We read the story of Drucilla, a 2nd-century woman who experienced her own baptism as an adult. What were the differences between her baptism then and ours today? We each wrote a line of our communal psalm—the psalm will be presented at our next class for the first time, with one line written by each student.
Homework: Students should read Chapter 1 of My Faith, My Life before the next class. Don't forget that we will play Jeopardy based on our book!
Spiritual Gifts
This past Sunday we talked about spiritual gifts. As believers in Christ, we each receive the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit we receive spiritual gifts to use to bless others and the church: Administration/Ruling, Discernment, Evangelism, Exhortation, Faith, Giving, Helps/Serving/Ministering, Mercy, Pastoring, Teaching. In 1 Corinthians Paul compares the church to a physical body, which is made of different parts that each have a unique function, but they all work together to keep the body working. Likewise, God gives us gifts to share with the community to build up the body of Christ. During our small group time, we completed a spiritual gifts inventory that helps each confirmand identify some of the gifts that they have to offer.
Family Discussion Question: Can you guess your student's spiritual gifts? Discuss the traits your student exhibits for each spiritual gift he or she identified in class.
The Gospel
On Sunday we talked about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. How is Jesus good news for the world? To see the way that we talked through that question, watch this short 3 minute video about the "Four Circles of the Gospel": The Big Story, Part 1
We then asked the question, where can we see those "Four Circles" in our liturgy? Each small group studied one of the Eucharistic prayers from our prayer book, which the priest and people pray over the bread and wine, and found phrases in our liturgy that echo the 4 circles. Here are some examples:
Circle 1: "In your infinite love You made us for Yourself." (Prayer A)
Circle 2: "But we turned against You and betrayed your trust, and we turned against one another." (Prayer C)
Circle 3: "You in Your mercy sent Jesus Christ... to live and die as one of us to reconcile us to You, the God and Father of all. (Prayer A)
Circle 4: "Send us now into the world in peace... to love and to serve You..."
Family Discussion Question: If you were on an elevator, and the person beside you asked you to explain the gospel to them, what would you say in those 30 seconds?
The Bible
The Bible is God's word that tells us the story of God's great love for us, shown in creation, in Israel, and in the person of Jesus Christ. We talked about steps for reading the Bible and each small group read over a passage of Scripture together that is related to confirmation. Then we played a game where each group was challenged to put a list of biblical events in order so that we can see the big picture of the story of the Bible.
Family Discussion Question: Do you have a favorite Bible verse? What is it and why do you like it?
Church History
On Sunday, March 25th Chris Teel led us in an overview of church history. Then we played our first round of Jeopardy, which asked questions based on the first 3 chapters of My Faith, My Life. Two of our small groups, "TGIF" and "Ehhh," combined forces as Team 1, and they were victorious! As their prize, they became the new keepers of the St. George's dragon, pictured below with Rebecca Teel. Our next round will be played on the retreat in April and will be based on chapters 4-6.
Prayer Book & Creeds
On Sunday we learned about the prayer book, its history, and spent some time exploring the prayer book through a "scavenger hunt." We worked through a list of questions that asked students to locate things in the prayer book, such as Thomas Cranmer's Collect for Purity, a prayer for someone on their birthday, and the 4 things necessary for confirmation according to the catechism.
Confirmation Retreat
Our retreat at Dubose was a wonderful time! We learned about pilgrimage and how during confirmation we are deepening our spiritual journey. God is our destination and our companion on the way, just like Jesus was with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We had a lot of fun with games, a bonfire, and preparing for our communal Eucharist. On Sunday morning we attended All Saints' Chapel at University of the South. Thanks to all who helped out with the retreat, especially our adult volunteers!
Important Information for Confirmation Sunday
Dress Code for Students:
Boys - Please wear a blazer and khakis (a suit is fine too).
Girls - Traditionally at St. George's, girls being confirmed have worn white. We recommend that you dress in clothes you will be comfortable wearing in front of the congregation; low cut dresses and short skirts are discouraged. Please cover bare shoulders or spaghetti straps with a white sweater during the service. Please do not wear flip-flops or slip-on shoes, as they tend to fall off when you kneel in front of the bishop; sandals with a heel strap are fine.
Sunday Morning Schedule:
Please meet in Hampton Hall at 8:00 am with your sponsor. We will have some last-minute instructions about the procession and service. We will be sitting in reserved rows on the right-hand side of the church. Parents are invited to go into the church as soon as the 7:30 am service is over to find a seat near the front of the church. Immediately following the service, we will take a group photo with the Bishop in front of the altar.