Dear Friends,
Today, eleven of our Trinity youth will be Confirmed at St. Paul's in Bedford by our Bishop Alan Gates. It has been such a blessing in my ministry being able to accompany these amazing young people into this wonderful sacrament. For several months we have gathered every Sunday to discuss the meaning of our Episcopal faith and how best to live it out, with God's help.
Every one of these teens brought such honest and enriching questions to this journey. Their commitment to having a deeper, more mature faith is truly astounding to witness. Alongside Walter Birge, we were blown away each week with the penetrating questions these young people asked, and it's such a joy to be with them as they faithfully discerned their sacred decision to be Confirmed in the faith.
As many of you know, I found my way into the Episcopal Church back in 2018 and I will be formally received into the church during the Confirmation service alongside our youth. I am so excited to be received into the Church I have come to call home for the past several years! The pandemic prevented my formal reception the last two years and I am thrilled to be received alongside our youth as they are Confirmed!
The Episcopal Church captured my heart a few years ago because I have come to find the Spirit alive here in a way I have never experienced before. There is an openness in our Church that fully welcomes every person who comes through our doors. Church is not a building, but rather is the community of believers who gather in the name and love of Jesus. Our Church makes God visible every time we gather as that community and I am overjoyed to be a part of this Living Community!
As you read this, I invite you to reflect on what it is that draws you into our Episcopal tradition. What is it about this community that fills your heart with the Love of God? As our young people take the next step into their life in the Church, I ask that you hold them in your prayers, and most of all, by your witness to the love of Jesus made known in our beloved Episcopal Church!
In gratitude,
Karl LaClair
Director of Youth Ministry
image: By Jakob Häne - Originalbilder von Jakob Häne, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38636740
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