On Sunday, May 27, Our Savior’s Lutheran celebrated Pentecost. On that day, two of our young people, Jazmine Rathbun (pictured left) and Alanna Plesants (pictured right), were confirmed. These young ladies have been studying the word, sacraments, creeds and commandments for the past two years. They have grown in their understanding and in their faith. The following are their faith statements.
MY FAITH STATEMENT—ALANNA
My name is Alanna Pleasants, I'm 14 years old. My intrests include animals, photography, music, and making jewelry. I like to be around my friends, but I also enjoy being by myself. I can be funny, helpful, empathetic, and introspective.
Before moving to Lansing I went to an all Lutheran church and a Christian school.Once we moved here, Our Savior’s was the only Lutheran church around so we came here.
Pastor Laura has been very encouraging, and she's the only pastor I've ever seen in such a variety of costumes such as an aligator and clown!
Confirmation is fun when we get to move around and do activities, but I can't say anything bad about it because my mom's the teacher! The chairs are really comfortable! And this year we got new curriculum with funny videos and interactive stuff in our “anti-workbook” and that was a lot of fun.
Confirmation answered a lot of my faith questions, but definately not all! I still don't understand the three in one of the Holy Spirit, God the Father, and God the Son. Although it's hard for me to understand, that doesn’t mean it's not true.
Although it can be hard to trust God sometimes, he's always there loving us. I plan to keep coming to church and learning more about God and growing in my faith even though I've finished confirmation.
MY FAITH STATEMENT—JAZMINE
I am Jazmine I’m fourteen and some of the things that I am interested in are; music, books, animals, singing, dance, and writing books, songs, and poems. What makes me so unique from anyone else is my imagination to think about things differently from what they are. When I talk to people the words that they say to describe me are; energetic, talkative, exuberant, fun, bubbly, and loveable.
I have been involved in this church for about four years now, and I am involved in this church, because I’ve known Pastor Laura since I was seven years old. Pastor Laura baptized me at the Waterville Lutheran Church. She gave me my first bible and I still have it. This church is helping me develop in faith and love. By that I mean that everyone at this Lutheran church is helping me to believe more in God, and everyone is helping me to work through my problems with love and not hate.
I have had many experiences during confirmation but my favorite experiences would have to be; making new friends and having Carla as my teacher. Carla has made it possible to be in confirmation by going beyond the curriculum and taking the conversation to a teenage level so that we can understand the things we need to. In confirmation I have learned that not everything we do or think is a sin and that not knowing what you believe faith is, is okay. During confirmation I have grown not only in my faith, but also as a child of God. Confirmation has answered some of my questions in life.
Being in confirmation has helped me figure out what I believe faith is. I believe faith means freedom; the freedom to choose who you want to be in the name of God. It means having the freedom to choose how strong you want your beliefs to be. That’s what faith means to me, but everyone has a different opinion.
My beliefs in God the Father are very few, because I am still in the process of learning. My beliefs are that God is with everyone, every second of the day, all the time. I believe that God created us, because he needs us. I believe that God wants us to believe in him, because he believes in us. God relates to me like nobody else does, because God knows how I feel and what I think. In some ways I relate to God, because as a person so small in a world so big, I’m lost and at some point in time God was lost too.
My belief in Jesus is that he did die on the cross for all of us to live. Jesus did and still does love everybody. Jesus relates to me, because he wants to be loved by people. I relate to Jesus, because just like he was once, I am a child trying to find my way.
My belief in the Holy Spirit is that it lives in every one of us whether baptized or not. The Holy Spirit lives in me through my baptism. The Holy Spirit is giving me faith, courage, and wisdom by reminding me that God looks after me, which helps me to be who God wants me to be.
I will live differently, because I have the knowledge of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. After being confirmed I plan to learn more about God and not just give up on my faith. My faith will help me in the future to choose what I want to be, because I know that when nobody else choses to support me, God will.
