Age of Confirmation?

[Melethiel]

What is the purpose of setting the age of Confirmation and First Communion so late, around 13/14? My church allows children to commune, and I don't see anything wrong with it.

[Qoheleth]

My church allows children to commune, and I don't see anything wrong with it.

There isnt, the early church communed infants. My parish will commune children as young as 7

Q

[BigNorsk]

If your confirmation class can't memorize anything beyond "Jesus love me..." you've probably set the age too low. It does have a bit of a flavor of reaching adulthood in the church, because your parents spoke for you in baptism, they shouldn't have to speak for the person being confirmed. I do wonder sometimes if a little earlier confirmation might give it a bit less of a graduation flavor and maybe the confirmands would be more established in their pattern of church attendance after confirmation. It is too bad that many take confirmation as a sign that they no longer need to attend church. Or maybe that means we should confirm later, when some of the turbulence of the teen years has settled down a bit.

That leads to this joke.

Why don't Lutherans perform exorcisms.
They don't need to, they just confirm the demons and you never see them again.

The practice of not giving communion until after confirmation I believe goes back to a misunderstanding of what it means to be unworthy to receive communion. The concern was that we certainly did not want our children to eat and drink judgement upon themselves so communion was witheld until after confirmation so that they would have knowledge and understanding of what communion was. It was really a bit of a misunderstanding of where we were told not to take communion in a unworthy manner, not that we needed to be worthy because then none of us ever would commune.

Interestingly, as some started to realize that and give communion to children who were old enough to behave properly. Those same people tended to move confirmation to younger ages as well. So it's been kind of a moving target.

So I think communion and confirmation have become linked more by "that's the way we do it" than anything else.

Marv

[SPALATIN]

Marv,

With all due respect those that never show up again are those whose parents never showed up before confirmation classes and only went to the church for those two or three years and then they never showed up either. The Pastor should be teaching that once they are confirmed they are now adult members of the church and will be allowed to serve the church in that capacity. If the child simply drops out of sight after confirmation it could be said that the Pastor did not do a thorough enough job of teaching his students well.

[KagomeShuko]

Marv,
With all due respect those that never show up again are those whose parents never showed up before confirmation classes and only went to the church for those two or three years and then they never showed up either. The Pastor should be teaching that once they are confirmed they are now adult members of the church and will be allowed to serve the church in that capacity. If the child simply drops out of sight after confirmation it could be said that the Pastor did not do a thorough enough job of teaching his students well.

Not necessarily. We were taught all these things when I was in confirmation. I can think of only one family where the parents did not come to church regularly. I also know my sister was taught the same stuff in her confirmation classes. It was the same pastor, still. It was the same curriculum.

Yet, many of these confirmands did not show up into the church was they had graduated from high school, and yes, they still live in the same city and no, they are not going to other churches.

In fact, the one mother of kids now around my age begged her children to "come to church" for her mother's day present.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[KagomeShuko]

I had first communion classes when I was in 4th grade and took my first communion when I was in 4th grade (though, I've nothing against communion for the young kids at all).

I had confirmation classes during 7th and 8th grade and was confirmed somewhere near the end of the school year during 8th grade. (April to May, probably).

We've had the age/grade level for first communion classes change constantly. We also have youngsters that commune (by request of the parents, firstly).

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[ctay]

I guess I did mine like the 7th and 8th grade but that was years ago