Baptism is one of the biggest things affecting our life of faith. A lot of times we need to fill or forgive something or someone. People look for this from the world but the world doesn't fulfill it right away. We look to God to help us and show us the way.
Forgiveness can be the hardest thing. But it's the base of everything we do thanks to Baptism. Baptism helps me forgive my parents when maybe they decide something I don't really like. I'm sure Baptism helps them forgive me when I may frustrate them.
Life is full of ups and downs. People break up with you, hurt your feelings, go behind your back, and all sorts of other things. But people also make you smile and laugh! I experience plenty of competition in sports and sometimes even in school. But no success or failure can define us or set us apart like grace can. For example, grace gives us way more power than beating someone in sports!
We should always remember to keep our gifts close so we stay full of these great things. And even when we forget, God will cover us.I mean...my goodness. What a statement of faith, simple and direct! As I said when we started sharing these sermon notes with you, it's not a surprise to me that these youth come up with such thoughts. The surprise is that everybody doesn't! Would you rather think about the world in the "normal" way--full of stress and demands and tasks and judgment--or would the world be better if we all held onto these simple-yet-deep theological affirmations that our own children are sharing with us? Where do we learn to think of the world differently than this young person has, and why do we allow it to happen?
We all choose what we learn from, which lessons we keep closest to our hearts. You can learn from whatever you wish, but I'm choosing to learn from this kid!
Thanks to all of our confirmation students and all of the work and thoughts they put into these sermon notes!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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