“To Be Completely One”
John 17:20-26; Luke 24:44-53
Confirmands Mac Kester and Lindsey Vanderbilt
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Seventh Sunday of Easter -
Confirmation Sunday
May 20, 2007
Mac Kester:
~~We don't know all the reasons
we go on a journey, but life compels us to go.~~
Unity, the Webster's new world dictionary says
this, "Unity, the state of being one or oneness, several individuals acting as
one." This can describe many things in many ways. There are hundreds
of examples of this around us right now. This church, the families sitting
in the pews, or us as a community.
We all have a place to go and a way to get there.
Faith and spirituality are all paths on this road to life. The paths of us
all are very different, some are smooth and gilded, others are unpaved
gravel--but we all have a road. The road is always forking and we must
choose which way to go, but parts of us go down all the roads. Faith can
act like a map leading us to our destination. Sometimes that map is
confusing and sometimes it is outdated leading to other paths that aren't right.
As stated in the text today, John 17:20-26, we need
to act as one to achieve some goals Groups can have goals as can teams.
One of the goals of this church is to spread the word of Jesus. While the
goal of an academic team might be to win at state. Reaching a goal in life
is like reaching a destination in the road of life. Some are common goals
like getting a car, graduating high scho9ol or going to college. Some are
uncommon. Once you get to these destinations you can stop and enjoy the
scenery but then you must keep going on your path. Sometimes you get stuck
but a destination is always in sight.
Keeping a goal in sight is an important thing.
It can be easy to be sidetracked. However, sidetracking can sometimes have
unseen rewards. It was through sidetracking that I found out about Science
Olympiad, an academic competition. Since 6th grade I have been involved in
this group.
Goals can act like directions in this great road of
life. They can move you in different directions. Sometimes you don't
realize this is happening. Family and careers can collide in this way.
My family life is pretty smooth and gilded. But always remember that the
goals you miss will always come up again.
~~I pray for all of us, oppressor and
friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human
understanding and love.~~
~The Dalai Lama~
Lindsey Vanderbilt:
Everyone here in this service is here for one
reason and maybe more. That reason you have just might be why you are
the way you are, or maybe certain things have happened and that is why you
believe in God.
In my life, I've had many difficult events happen
that made me the way I am today...
-
I've moved to three different schools which was
always hard because I was leaving my friends, but at the same time I was
making new friends.
-
My step-dad struggled with alcoholism which was
a very hard part of life for me to understand. Why did he do it?
Was he sad? Was it anyone's fault? All these questions go
through my mind each day. He ended up passing away up into God's arms.
But, at least I now know that he is happy and safe up in God's hands.
-
This is about one of my friends who had a drug
problem. She got caught at school with drugs which made her get
expelled from school and even at that point she thought it was still all fun
and games. But, something hit her hard, and that was if she wanted to
go back to school she had to go to rehab and stay clean. At first she
wasn't happy because she has been to rehab before and didn't go through with
it. After encouragement, we got her to go. Rehab ended up
changing and saving her life. Now. Today she is a happy, 17-year
old girl who is just enjoying her life the safe way now.
All of these events that I just told you are the
reasons that I believe in God because the way I look at it is, if God wasn't
here I wouldn't have made new friends, my step-dad would have suffered more and
my best friend could have been dead just because of drugs. But, nope, God
had a reason for what he did/does and we all got to accept it.
Being confirmed today means a lot to me. Even
though I'm the oldest in our group I think it is a good thing because I chose
myself to get confirmed. No one made me; it was all my choice.
Church is a big part of me and being confirmed will make me very happy. I
can finally now say that I am a member of this church.
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