Icicle River Confirmands 2021
Dear Trinity,
Last Sunday on Pentecost our church sang the oldest benediction in the Bible, “The Lord bless you and keep you . . .” extending our hands in blessing toward the confirmands gathered beneath tongues of fire. Two weeks ago (pictured above) confirmands remembered their baptism into Christ’s life, death, and resurrection by taking a freezing plunge into the swollen Icicle River!
Who are these strange people? The 2021 cohort of confirmands are children of God (ages 13 – 70), who this Sunday will publicly declare their faith in Jesus, their need for his Spirit on earth, and their gratitude to our Father in heaven! These 16 siblings in Christ are . . .
McAlister Buchanan, Nate Kellogg, Iona Canlis, Amie Kate Canlis, Ilsa Groff, Nicholas Silva, Aidan Shattuck, Tage Madson, Simon Madson, Violet Madson, Ben Madson, Carol Ann Turner, Charlie Atkinson, Julia Barger, Mike Andreini, and Kay Andreini.
Each confirmandhas chosen two people to stand beside them as witnesses. These two people are representatives of Christ’s Body to remind the confirmands that in Christ, we never stand alone. In fact, the first question the bishop asks the confirmands is God’s first question in the Bible: “Where are you?” and instead of each person answering “Here I am,” we together answer “Here we are.” Since it is the Triune God who asks, it is meet and right that we first answer God together! Additional questions follow which each confirmand answers “I do” in order to make personal our common faith. (See these 7 questions footnoted below).
On the night of the confirmation service, the two witnesses for each confirmand have several roles:
Stand beside
Sing with
Pray for (silently or out loud)
Remember / write down important words or moments.
Like bridegrooms or bridesmaids at a wedding, the confirmation witnesses are there to help PRAY for, REJOICE with, and later help the confirmand REMEMBER what happened. There will be 3x5 notecards to help the witnesses write down any Bible verses, song titles, or inspiring words spoken that night. Then, as at a wedding, a dessert RECEPTION follows at my house to share stories, celebrate, and relax into the goodness of the Lord and one another.
Since many of you will not be there for the Sunday night service, please take a moment right now to give thanks for last week’s Pentecost service, and to pray for this Sunday’s Confirmation service and those named above. This is the first time our church has done this! I wonder how many of you will be joining us next year?
With no expectations . . . but growing Expectation !
Father Matt
PS After talking with Bishop Ken, Pastor David Morrow, and the Board of WBBC, we have decided to make Sunday's 8:00am Mask – Optional, and the 9:15am Mask – Required. Thank you for your patience and resilience as we all keep discerning these last stages of navigating COVID.
PPS It is still essential that you register for worship services { HERE } as we are at capacity and cannot currently fit surprise visits from people who forget to tell us they are coming :)
PPS 7 Questions
Pastors:Where are you?
Confirmands: Here we are.
The Bishop then addresses the confirmands:
Do you turn away from sin and turn toward the love of God?
I do.
Do you reject Satan’s lies?
I do. His words are empty promises.
Do you trust the Word of God?
I do. His word became flesh.
Do you turn to Jesus Christ and name him as your LORD and Savior?
I do. Jesus is LORD.
Do you entrust your life into the hands of God?
I do. I trust God’s pierced hands.
Will you obey God’s commands and walk in the way of the LORD?
I will, the LORD being my helper.
Ministry Teams Update
AV Team: We need some more people on our audio/visual team. It would be great to have 2 more sound techs and 3 more people running slides/video. Are you gifted in this area, or do you want to learn? Please contact our tech lead, Noah Porter, to get connected to the team at noah.porter509@gmail.com or (509) 460-3247.
General Teams Update: Our Sunday teams are slowly being rebuilt as people return to regular services. If you're ready to re-engage with serving on a team after a time away, please contact me at carson@trinitywenatchee.org or 509.881.7737 to get re-connected. (This also goes for people that have been here longer than 6 months, and need to find a team for the first time!)
Upcoming Dates
May 30: Trinity Sunday w/ Bishop Ken ( + Confirmations in the Evening)
Bishop Ken Ross will be preaching at our services on May 30th. In the evening from 6-7:30pm, he will be confirming 18 people. Because there are so many friends, family, and supporters of the Confirmands attending this service, we have already reached our size capacity for the sanctuary. We wish we could have everyone here!