Confirmation

Last night's Lenten study and Communion service couldn't have gone any better. I was really prepared for it, so I wasn't nervous. I had a guest Elder coming to consecrate the elements for the service - his name was Blessings, he was from Africa and he was AMAZING! The kind of man that just being in his presence made you peaceful.

I started out by talking about my varied Communion experiences in my life. I've probably been to about 10 different types of churches in my 33 years, and the all seem to do Communion a little differently. We talked about how in the United Methodist church Communion has only recently gone from a quarterly to a monthly celebration, and now with the 2004 General Conference we're starting to slowly move toward weekly Communion services, or at the very least, adding Special Communion Services. Then they shared their experiences of frequency of Communion and the way it was shared-- at the rail or intinction, or passed in the pew.

Then I passed out copies of the Great Thanksgiving for Early Lent and went through each section with them, talking about the Trinitarian nature of the prayer and how we have these special settings for special times of the year as reminders of the season we're in. I pulled out specific phrases for them to notice, and then we came together to have Communion. Blessings asked me to help consecrate the elements, which really excited me. I love doing that. It's been a very long time since I have, too, but it came back to me!

Overall, it was a successful night. My pastor sent me an email telling me what a great job I did -- a gold star, she said. But really, the best part was feeling like what I was doing was right. I am becoming more comfortable with my calling, and even though it will be a long time before I am ordained, I know there are many things I can do in the meantime to fulfill it.

Next on my agenda is planning the Easter Dawn Service. This will be the third year I have planned it. It's like my little baby now. I can be pretty creative with it, which makes it both fun and a challenge. What sorts of things do you do with your Dawn Services?