The gospel for Easter’s seventh Sunday is always taken from the long prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John’s gospel on the night before his departure from them. His words resonate in a profound way as our 8th graders celebrate their Confirmation by affirming their baptismal promises. What words of wisdom might we give them on this special day as they are growing up? Perhaps “Study well.” “Make good choices.” At the heart of such wise words is a simple prayer: “O God, be with them.” In the final portion of Jesus’ great prayer for the disciples (John 17:6-19), he asks the Father to love and protect the disciples as a parent who knows their time for direct supervision is coming to an end. In this preparation we hear his pleading like a loving parent who wants the best for the ones he has sheltered, taught, loved, reproved, and sent. Jesus begs for God to hold them so that they can follow the model established for them, be protected, and not be lost. Likewise, as the Confirmands make their promises, so we say, “And we ask God to help and guide them… and us.”
“Rainbow Lutheran Rose” by Alice Weber © CC0 1.0. In the public domain. “Rainbow Lutheran Rose” is a confirmation project designed by one of our students.