Lesson One: The Beginning
Day One: What is confirmation?
For the next several weeks we will be joining in a journey - a journey of faith. Just as you begin a vacation trip knowing your destination, we begin this journey knowing where it will end. Confirmation is a journey that leads you to the place where you can make a decision to live for God. The results of this decision will last for the rest of your life, and will affect every other decision you will ever make. Living for God will affect your decision about the person you marry, your job, even the place where you live.
Of course we will look at the life and teachings of Jesus to see how they affect us who follow him. We will look at how the church began and what it has believed. We will look at our own beliefs and see how they influence our behavior. We will see what it means to be a member of the United Methodist Church. At the end of our journey in the spring, you will be given the opportunity to declare your intention to follow Jesus Christ and to become a member of his church.
The word “confirmation" means “to make firm"‚ “to make sure." When you were a tiny baby, your parents probably brought you into the church to be baptized. Although you may not remember it, God started doing something very important in your life at your baptism. He accepted you as His own child, and started the process that would lead to your accepting Him as your Lord, your leader, your boss. If your parents did not bring you for baptism when you were a baby, you don't have to worry. You will be baptized when you and all of your fellow confirmands join the church in the spring. In confirmation you complete what God began at your baptism. At baptism God said “yes" to you; at confirmation you say, “yes" to God.
Your parents are an important part of the confirmation process. They are here to help you, and to answer some of your questions. Your pastor also leads you through the confirmation process, and is ready to talk with you at any time about your relationship with God. Together they will help you come to understand what it is to become a Christian, and to show Christ's excellence in every part of your life.
Sometimes living the Christian life will be easy; sometimes it will be difficult. There are some ways in which a Christian is like everybody else, and some ways in which we are different. We will touch on some aspects of what it means to be a Christian man or woman, examine a Christian approach to sex and dating, and look at what the Bible says about how we use our bodies. Of course the question of the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs comes into the discussion as well.
So get ready for the journey. Together we will grow and learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century. Each of the lessons is divided into day-sized chunks. After you finish the lesson for one day, tell your mom and dad what you learned.
Here is a link that will start you off on your discovery of the Christian faith. Read the page, and follow any of its links that interest you.
http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/christianity/intro.htm?tqskip1=1
Day 2--Christianity Begins with Jesus
The Life and Teachings of Jesus
What we know about the life
and teachings of Jesus comes to us from the four gospels (Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John). We really don't know how Jesus looked, but
here is an artist's idea of how he might have looked. About the time
of the beginning of the Roman Empire, approximately 2000 years ago,
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea in
Many people in Jesus' time thought that bringing in this kingdom of God meant overthrowing the Roman oppressors. Jesus taught, however, that the kingdom of God is an inward attitude of obedience to God and acceptance and love toward other people. Using Bible texts from the Hebrew Bible, Jesus taught that one should love God with all one's heart and others as oneself. In fact, Jesus did not see himself as starting a new religion. He merely wanted people to return to the true teachings of the Hebrew prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. One good summary of Jesus' teaching is contained in what has come to be known as “the Golden Rule" - do to others, as you would have them do to you. He taught that people should not retaliate against those who wrong them. Jesus used many stories called parables. Each parable teaches one important spiritual lesson. For example, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 15) Jesus teaches against racial discrimination. In the parable of the Adulterous Woman (John 8) he teaches that there is no sin so evil that God cannot forgive it, if the sinner sincerely asks to be forgiven. He showed unusual compassion and concern for women, slaves, and others who were despised.
It seems that Jesus was strongly opposed to the wealthy class of Jewish
priests (the Sadducees) who controlled the temple through their alliance
with the Roman authorities. Some of these priests were guilty of skimming
extra money from the offerings the people made at the temple, and of making
religious rules so complicated that the common people could not follow them.
In an incident known as the “cleansing of the Temple," Jesus
overthrew the moneychangers' tables and declared that they had taken
the house of God and made it a “den of thieves." He overthrew
the tables and declared that his Father's house was to be a house
of prayer for all people. This demonstration occurred at the time of the
annual springtime Passover, a feast of Judaism, when thousands
of Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem. Some of them, at least,
may have interpreted Jesus' demonstration as a statement calling
for a political revolt against Rome. Some people felt that in referring to “my
Father," Jesus was claiming to have a special relationship to
God, maybe even claiming to be God's Son. This claim was considered
to be blasphemy (a serious insult to God.) It may be that the crowd
that had welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday turned against him
because he failed to begin a political rebellion against Rome. The gospels
suggest that some of the very people who acclaimed Jesus as king on Palm
Sunday shouted, "Crucify
him!" later that week. Perhaps it was because at such a volatile
time, the authorities could not risk a riot or rebellion. They arranged for
one of Jesus' own disciples to help them arrest him. He was turned
over to the authorities and was crucified. 
When Jesus was arrested his disciples all fled Jerusalem. The only followers who stayed with him to watch him die were a few women and the disciple John. Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb and it seemed that the movement he began would soon die too. They had to bury his body quickly before the Passover began. The Jewish law would not allow a dead body to lie unburied on the holy day. Early on Sunday morning these women went to embalm his body because they had hurriedly buried him. How surprised they were to find that the tomb was empty! The gospels say that other disciples came to the tomb and that angels told them that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Some disciples soon reported that the risen Christ (the Greek word for Messiah) had met them and had spoken to them. It is difficult to say exactly what happened; the gospels differ in the exact details of the events on the first Easter morning. However, all agree that Christ was raised from the dead. The followers of Jesus were convinced that in Christ, God had done something wonderful for the world. God had shown Himself as One who loved the world so much He would even die for it.
God loves us that much too. He loves us with a love that can never stop; it can never die; it can never be turned off. Even when we do and say things we shouldn't God never, never leaves us, nor stops loving us.
Day 3--Something To Do
Many Bibles have maps of Palestine and the Roman
world. Often these maps are found in the back of the Bible, or in the very
center. Find a Bible at your house or in the church library and look at a
map of the Roman world. Then find a map of Palestine (also called
Get a modern translation of the Bible and open it to the Gospel According to Mark. Take about fifteen minutes and read silently any sections of Mark that catch your attention.
Day 4--Some Study Questions (feel free to get help from your parents)
Print out these questions and fill in your answers. Bring your completed form to class on Sunday.
1. The name of the great empire that controlled Palestine in the time of Jesus was _______________.
2. The religion that Jesus and his family followed is called _______________.
3. The Hebrew word for God's special messenger is ______________. The Greek word for the same thing is _________________.
4. Jesus announced the coming of the ________________ , not as a political revolt, but as an inward attitude of the heart.
5.Jesus saw himself as continuing the religion of the Old Testament _________.
6.One who is a very close follower of a teacher is called a ___________.
7. Name the four books that give us information about the life and teaching of Jesus __________, __________, __________, and _____________.
8. The Jewish priests who controlled the Temple through an alliance with the Romans were called ________________.
9. Jesus taught using stories called ___________________.
10. What is the main point of the story of the Good Samaritan? What is the main point of the story of the Adulterous Woman?
Click on this link to see how some Christian artists have depicted Jesus.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/icons/
Day 5--Questions to Think About (We will discuss these in class. Come ready to express your views.)
1. Some
of the powerful people in Jesus' time used their power to get more
money than they should fairly receive from the poor. Can you think of some
examples where this happens today?
2. If
you had been a follower of John the Baptizer, do you think you would have
changed and become a follower of Jesus? Why or why not?
3. Would
you have liked to be a disciple of Jesus (one of the close followers, one
of the special Twelve)? Why or why not?
4. Do
you think that there should be one central place of worship like the Jewish
Temple, or do you believe that a person can worship anywhere? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of having a church building in which to worship?
5. Are religious rules good or bad? What kinds of religious rules did Jesus oppose? Do you think he was against all religious rules? Did Jesus keep some religious rules?
Looking Ahead
Since Jesus died right at the time of the Jewish Passover, it is easy to see why some of his followers thought of him as God's “Passover lamb." Just as a sacrificial lamb carried away the sins of the Jewish people, early Christians soon came to see Jesus as carrying away our sins. Because Jesus rose from the dead, not even death could hold him. It is easy to see why early Christians concluded that Jesus the Christ was actually God in human flesh. Followers of Jesus almost immediately began to reflect and think about what God had done in Jesus the Christ.
1. Review your Study Questions and your Thought Questions.
2.See a live picture of the wall of the Temple where Jesus worshiped in Jerusalem at http://www.aish.com/wallcam Many Jews still go there to pray.