|
Confirmation Invitation
As the years have gone by since Confirmation instruction don’t you wonder what you’ve forgotten or what you missed? I hear comments periodically from people who say, “Why not offer Confirmation classes for those of us who went through the instruction years ago?”
Your time has come! Well, sort of.
During the month of January and February the Confirmation class is welcoming your visit. You are welcome to attend class on Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the meeting room in the Hope Center. The classes will be covering information from Luther’s Small Catechism. If you choose to attend the class you will be included in all of the same activities in which our 7th and 8th graders participate. As with the 7th and 8th graders you may be invited to respond to questions but if you choose not to respond your wishes will be respected. (The 15th of January and the 19th of February are not available for your attendance since those are mentoring nights and involve a different format for the Confirmands)
I have no doubt that if you attend some or all of these classes that you will not only be refreshed in what you hear but you will also grow in your appreciation of the young people who regularly attend.
Sundays in January
Members of Emanuel will be invited to sign-up to attend a potluck dinner to be held sometime in February. Instead of one large potluck dinner there will be several dinners for 12-15 people. The first part of the process will be to sign-up and show your willingness to participate. The second part will be to discover where you will be going and with whom you will be attending.
Does this sound mysterious? It’s really not planned to be mysterious. The dinners are being planned as a onetime event for people to meet more of the members of Emanuel in a congenial, friendly way and enjoy the fine cooking always present in the congregation.
Again, sign-ups will be invited starting the second Sunday in January with the actual group dinners starting in February. There is no hidden agenda. The dinners are simply a way to get to meet and enjoy brothers and sisters in Christ in smaller than usual gatherings.
Pastor Laherty
++++++++++
“Pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
The confirmation class has been studying the Lord’s Prayer. They have been memorizing all the petitions and reading Luther’s explanations. There is a lot to learn from this prayer. It is the prayer that Jesus gave as an example of how to pray. It is the model for all prayer. It shows us how we should thank God when we pray and how we should ask God to provide for and protect us.
Prayer is one of the most central practices in our Christian faith. It is no surprise that the Bible says to pray continually. Much of our worship service is prayer. We open and close meetings with prayer. We pray before we eat. The church has a prayer chain. These are all ways that we pray continually. They are also all ways that we pray publicly.
But Jesus tells us that we should not pray so that others can see us, but we should go into our room, close the door, and pray to our Father who is unseen. Despite all of the prayer that we do at church and with other people in public our individual private prayers can easily become few and far between.
One way to keep ourselves praying continually is to develop a routine. Spontaneous prayer is great, and we should pray as often as possible, but if we only pray when we feel like it or when we think about it, we may find ourselves hardly praying at all. Make prayer a part of your daily habit. Some good times to pray are when you get out of bed in the morning, before you eat, before you drive in your car, and before you go to sleep at night.
Sometimes it seems difficult to pray because we don’t know what to say. If that keeps you from praying, then use prayers that are already written. It is important to speak to God in your own words sometimes, but you don’t have to extemporaneously compose every prayer. You can use prayers from the hymnal, from the catechism, or even use the Lord’s Prayer. The catechism has a really good morning prayer. You can easily memorize it, it takes less than two minutes to say it, and it covers all the bases. When you get in your car and put the keys in the ignition you can say a simple prayer, “Almighty God, protect me as I travel and be with me always in my journey. Amen.” (Here in Southern California you might want to pray again before you get on the freeway.)
By developing a routine and prayer habits we can find ourselves praying continually. There are definitely times when we should pray spontaneously and extemporaneously, but if you have to choose between a prewritten prayer and not praying at all use something you already know. And if nothing else, use the Lord’s Prayer, continually. It is the way that Jesus taught us to pray.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for listening to our prayers. Thank you for giving us the faith to boldly speak to you and ask you to work in our lives. Give us the courage and diligence to pray continually as you have taught us. Amen.
Vicar Scott Egbers
|
