Calvin Synod Herald, 1983 (83. évfolyam, 2-4. szám)
1983-08-01 / 4. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 7 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Why do I want to be Confirmed? At the beginning of our Confirmation Class each member of the class wrote a statement as to why he or she wishes to be confirmed and what their expectations were. Here are some quotations: “When my sister got confirmed I was saying to myself, wow, imagine if that was me! So, now I have my chance to make everyone proud of me for becoming a member of the Hungarian Church. I want to be confirmed because of I would like to be member of the Hungarian Church. I can’t wait until I am confirmed. ” “You learn what God is. You learn about what Jesus Christ did, what happened to Him. You learn about the New and Old Testament and how the church’s history helps us to understand ourselves. Young adults go to confirmation classes to learn about all these things to understand life better.” “I expect confirmation to be a meeting of young people of my age, weekly, to learn and understand together, gaining knowledge about the religion they share. I joined this confirmation class, willing, and eager, with curiosity, to come to understand and learn what my religion is and what it means to me.” “The main reason I want to be confirmed is simply because I am curious, but there is another reason, and it is just as important as the first; to please my grandfather ... I think the confirmation lessons will be fairly easy, except for the confirmation itself; that will be extremely difficult because I’ll be shaking like a leaf, just like I will be on my wedding day, whenever that will be.” “I want to be confirmed because I want to become a member of my church . . . Another reason I am excited to be confirming is that I could finally have the Lord’s Supper, which I always watch my family having. There is only one thing I have to give up due to confirmation is my ski lessons. It is a sacrifice which I feel is worth making ... I look forward to my classes because of my teacher, whom I have known since November, 1968 when I was baptized.” “I came to confirm because my whole family went. But I also came to confirm because I am curious to find out what it is all about . . . and I also expect to meet new friends.” “I take my religion seriously and Jesus plays a very important role in my life each day. Everyday I pray and ask the Lord to forgive my sins and help me. I hope I can learn from this class and I am hoping I will be confirmed and I’ll be very thankful to the Lord.” “I want to be confirmed because I feel that everyone should at one time or other in their life be confirmed. I feel that being confirmed is part of man’s obligation towards God.” “You asked us to be truthful in telling exactly what we feel about the confirmation of a person, well I do not find it a necessity. I am taking these classes just to develop and increase my knowledge. I may change my mind from now to the confirmation day ... I am not against it, but just do not find the meaning and use of it.” “I would like to be confirmed because my religion calls for it and also because it is a very good and important experience. Another reason why it is necessary because when you are older you cannot get married if you are not confirmed and I want to get married one day. I look forward to my confirmation ...” “The reason I would like to get confirmed is that whatever religion you are, you have to know your faith. You can’t just sit home and don’t go to church. When I heard my parent saying that I had to be confirmed I thought it was going to be boring . . . and I would feel kind of shy because I don’t know any of the girls and boys there. But so far it has been a lot of fun ...” “My first reason to attend the Confirmation Class is curiosity, wanting to know about my Church and when there is Communion being served I would like to participate by eating the bread and drinking the wine. For many years I looked forward to this event. Last year during confirmation classes I sat down very quitely behind the door at the entrance of the church and listened to what was being said. The other reason is because I stand by my religion most definitely and I always stick up for it in public. I would like very much to know more about it . . .” “When I first heard that I had to go to Confirmation Classes when I was thirteen, I wasn’t too happy. I thought it was going to be a waste of Saturday mornings. I couldn’t sleep in any longer than 8:30. My parents wanted me to go, but my grandmother would cry if I didn’t go. It also meant that my father would have to get up early to take me. So as you can see I wasn’t too crazy about the idea. I also thought it would be boring and a waste of time. It sounded like another day of school. My parents went to Toronto the weekend it started so my grandfather took me. I was the second one there and as it turned out, it wasn’t so bad. I found out you would learn a lot of things from the Bible and it would be very different from school. I’m glad I went and my parents and grandparents are too ...” The above statements are literally the same as the members of the Confirmation Class voiced their opinions on October 24 and 30. A few spelling mistakes were corrected, and due to lack of space we could not reprint the entire text of the compositions. But these excerpts are all genuine and original. Reading them the first time it greatly helped me to understand the feelings of the members of this very lively and interested group of young people. I hope they learned as much in this confirmation class as I did from them. _ _ ,, , From Dr. Aladar Komjáthy s Monthly Newsletter I THE PASTOR’S JOß| The pastor heals, but does it without pills, medicine, or scalpel. He is sometimes a lawyer, often a social worker, something of an editor, a bit of a philosopher and entertainer, a salesman, a decorative piece for public functions, student, scholar, janitor, painter etc. He visits the sick, marries people, buries the dead, comforts the sorrowing, and encourages the weary. He plans programs, and spends considerable time helping people with their difficulties. On top of all this, he prepares a sermon and preaches it on Sunday to faithful members of the congregation. Then on Monday he smiles when some person slaps him on the back and says: "One day a week. What a job! (Los Angeles Newsletter — Rev. Patocs)
