The story of Doubting Thomas has always been a personal favorite of mine. I have empathy for this man who cannot and does not want to believe in the resurrection without proof. This is a man who loves Jesus so much, he can't bring himself to believe that he is risen from the dead because it would open him up to feel the grief of his loss all over again. This is man who has given so much to the cause of Jesus that his death means the complete destruction of his world, and he's built himself a wall so that he does not lose anything else.
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
Doubting Thomas is often an example of doubt and wandering. We are called to believe without seeing, follow without questioning, have faith without proof. So when I went to my college course on the gospel of John, I was astonished to find a lecture on John 20 entitled, "Thomas: the ultimate example of faith." In this lecture, my professor displayed for us that nowhere in this passage does Thomas actually put his finger in the nails or his hand in the side of Jesus. Moreover, Thomas is the ONLY person in the book of John to call Jesus by his true title: my Lord and my God.
A week later the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
Rather than being an example of what not to do, Thomas is an example of going through true and honest doubt and questioning in order to confess a true and honest statement of belief.
The Confirmation Journey
This is true of our Confirmation students too. The journey of Confirmation culminates with the student's statement of faith and official membership to the PCUSA. We are asking students to make an individual decision about what it is they believe about God and the church; we are asking students to make a commitment to a lifetime discipleship. This is the first (and in some cases the only) time we invite students to really think for themselves, outside of their parents' expectations and social pressures about what it is they believe. The difficult part about being a spiritual leader of teenagers is that we can no longer simply give them the answers, but we have to give them tools to figure out what it is they believe. In this story, Jesus doesn't stand say, "Thomas, here is the metaphysical and biological research about resurrection." or "Thomas, I know you think you need to see my wounds to believe, but too bad. You just need to believe." No - Jesus actually gives Thomas exactly what he needs: to proof of his wounds, the visual evidence of his resurrection and identity.
As we gather with Confirmation students, I often read to them this story, reminding them that in order to get to our most honest confession of who Jesus is to us, we have to ask hard questions, face confusing facts, and seek profound evidence that Christ is among us in everyday life. I think of the Confirmation journey as an emulation of the journey of Thomas: we begin in a place of seeking answers, and we end in a place of ultimate confession. This is what we discussed at the Confirmation Retreat this past weekend.
Methods...
It was a beautiful weekend to spend at Bethelwoods Camp in York, SC. Of course, many retreats include speakers and flashy worship bands, and mud football. Ours was far less flashy but full of wisdom and relationships.
When we arrived, we played games and got to know one another. We had a small worship service, roasted marshmallows over the fire, and took a spiritual gifts survey to learn how to use our gifts to Christ's service.
In the morning, we arose bright-eyed and bush-tailed (sort of...), and we headed out to the Initiatives course for group building and process games. These initiatives were used to help us debrief and understand some of the concepts we were studying.
{by working together, we talked about why we need the church, and we can't just be spiritual on our own.}
{by learning about listening, we talked about how we deal with conflict with in the church and we discussed how we can respect one another's opinions without agreeing with them}
{on an element involving balance, we discussed balancing our faith life with our other responsibilities. We also talked about being balanced within our faith journey, not just leaning on one spiritual discipline or another}
{we talked about some of the obstacles that face us in our Christian life.}
{This task seemed easy, but was actually very difficult. We talked about how sometimes people and things in our faith are different than they seem.}
{On this element only 3 voices could be heard, and we learned that sometimes we miss other great ideas when we are focused on ourselves and getting our own message heard.}
{For a couple activities, we even had to be blindfolded, and we talked about the difficulty of trusting God even when we can't see him.}
In the afternoon, we shot some archery to relax.
{Some of us had some serious beginner's luck...}
Finally, we ended the day with a long time of reflection on our spiritual journey: we created a timeline to reflect on where we have been, both good and bad, and to consider where we are going. We prayed while walking the labyrinth, inviting God to command our lives.
It was a truly reflective weekend which I hope will renew perseverance and energy for each student toward the confirmation process. It is my hope that each student left feeling hopeful and energized, and perhaps even challenged and a little contemplative. I hope that as parents, teachers, and sponsors, we will all follow up to find out if there are any concepts or issues that students did not understand. I am available for further explanation or conversation as needed.
Thank you for sharing your children for the weekend. It was worth it.
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