My view
through is not only his alienation, but also his bitterness. Someone needs to reach out to this man who is living in a world he no longer finds acceptable, acknowledge his pain and see him as another human being trying to navigate his way in life. That is what “bearing one another’s burdens to fulfill the law
of Christ” is all about. The Rev. James DeLange San Francisco
Science and faith As a scientist and a Lutheran, I am pleased with the faith and science presentations in The Lutheran. Keep them coming, and I’d also recommend including articles written by scientists who are also Lutheran. The piece on evolution (April, page 18) was espe- cially valuable and produced a volumi-
nous amount of comment online. Robert Buntrock Orono, Maine
Mind the verbiage
The evolution article was humming along, living up to its own admonition that “it would do well for the religious believer to come to terms with it” (evo- lution) when bam!—the reader is hit with “It can also open new venues of dialogue about divine transcendence” and “divine immanence (as in the case of emergent novelty).” Who needs opaque, obscure and unexplained terms out of nowhere? I blame the edi-
tors more than the author. Larry Speicher Gaithersburg, Md.
Send “Letters” to: Letters to the Editor, The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631-4183; fax: 773-380- 2409; email
lutheran@thelutheran.org. Please include your name, city and state. Your letter will be considered for publication unless you state otherwise. The Lutheran publishes letters representa- tive of those received on a given subject. Be brief and limit your letter to a single topic. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Letters must be signed, but a re- quest for anonymity will be honored if the subject matter is personally sensitive.
“My view” submis- sions should be 400 words on a societal event or issue or on issues in the life of the ELCA. All submis- sions are subject to editing. Send to: “My view, ” The Lutheran, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631; email: lutheran@
thelutheran.org; fax: 773-380-2409.
Hess is coordinator of music ministries at Trinity Lutheran Church, Boulder, Colo.
I
By Valerie E. Hess End ‘shotgun’
confirmation Work with parents, children
was chatting with a friend the other day when I heard one of the most horrifying stories of my life. This person was sharing how a very unhappy teenage child was forced to go through confirmation. The reasoning shared with me in a quite angry voice tone—though the incident happened years ago—was “since I’m paying the bills, you’re going to be confirmed.” This now-adult child no longer goes to church and the
parent seemed surprised and confused as to why. I found my heart in my throat with these questions:
• Isn’t confirmation a time when people of all ages affirm the promises made at their baptism for them by parents and sponsors? • If we force young people to affirm (confirm) promises they have no intention of keeping, are we not as a church doing a version of the “shotgun wedding,” an event that forces two people into marriage because one of them is pregnant?
Statistics on the longevity of those shotgun kinds of arrangements are dismal. I believe the statistics would be equally pathetic on the long-term involvement in a church of those who have experienced a shotgun confirmation. Do we not believe that God loves our children more
than we do? If they are in rebellion against God (or the catechetical system), why do we panic as if this is their last chance to confirm those baptismal promises ever again in their life? If they don’t go through the rite of con- firmation now, does that mean they are forever abandoned by God?
Forcing a child through confirmation is, it seems to me, more about the potential embarrassment to the parent than it is about the faith formation of the child. A child who is very unhappy in confirmation should
cause all the adults in that faith community to engage with that young person. The adults should seek to iden- tify what is missing, and then walk in love with that child until she or he is ready to either say yes to God’s prom- ises given in baptism or leave to try to find other ways to answer his or her questions. Let’s commit to ending shotgun confirmations and work with both the embarrassed, angry parents and the frustrated, angry youth to find what piece of the story of grace each has missed. God can handle both. The question is, can we?
June 2013 49
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