Climate Change and Confirmation

This past Sunday my oldest granddaughter was confirmed.  Along with five other young women, all around fourteen or fifteen, she took vows affirming her desire to follow the way of Jesus as an active member of her church.

Each one of the confirmands offered very thoughtful statements of faith.  I was especially impressed by their honesty.  No one seemed to pretend that they had all the answers.  One of the young women even began her statement by saying "Christianity is confusing."  And so at times it is!  Theological explanations are often rather circuitous.  And stated beliefs are not always realized in actual practice.  Confusing indeed!

My granddaughter shared some of her classmates hesitancy.  "I am going to be honest," she said, "at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to be confirmed, I went back and forth on it multiple times.  I didn't really know why, but I figured out it's because I don't necessarily believe all of the religious stuff."

We didn't have  a chance to unpack what she meant by "religious stuff"--I suspect it has to do with Virgin Births and walking on water.  But despite her questions, her doubts, I think she's got what it takes to be part of the church.  "I believe in the human race," she said.  "I believe in what we can do as a whole . . . if we all come together to work."  And that, she says later, in her statement, can happen in and through church.  Working together.  Being community.  "[A] welcoming community," she says, where "everyone takes care of each other."

There's not a lot of God talk in her statement--but from where this proud grandfather/preacher sits, there is all sorts of religious stuff.  And, heavens, this child's statement even includes a word about climate change!  It's a problem, she says, "and [it's] not going away unless we take action fast."

Today I feel better about the possibility of that happening because my granddaughter, and others like her, just got confirmed.