OT- Anyone of the Luteran faith? I have a question regarding Confirmation?..

[Pat in MI]

We do not have Confirmation at our church so I am asking the HIVE this question since I am unfamiliar. My son's good friend (I was his babysitter also) is having his Confirmation in a couple of weeks and we received an invitation to the church service and a reception after the service. So my question is, do we attend the church service as well as the reception? Also, is it customary to bring a gift and if so what is an appropriate gift to bring?

Blessings,

Pat

 

Oops sorry it should read "Lutheran faith" . I should really have checked spelling better before posting. I apologize for the error.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Pat in MI

[Chris in VA]

Yes, if the invitation was to the church service and reception, you go to both, if you want to.

An appropriate gift might be a small doodad that has an encouraging bible verse on it, or even a gift certificate of some sort (but maybe not to Wally World...). There are Confirmation cards at any Hallmark or even Walmart. A little cash is fine, too. If you are close to the family, there are lots of good books aimed at young teens--even Do Hard Things would be appropriate.

Close family usually gives a new bible or something like that.

[Dmmetler]

One thing on Lutheran churches-in LCMS, at least, communion is limited to church members (in fact, part of confirmation is that the confirmand takes communion for the first time), so be prepared for that. I know it's thrown a few people in my church since their assumption is that protestant=open table.

[Pat in MI]

Chris,

Thank you very much.

Blessings,

Pat

[emubird]

One thing on Lutheran churches-in LCMS, at least, communion is limited to church members (in fact, part of confirmation is that the confirmand takes communion for the first time), so be prepared for that. I know it's thrown a few people in my church since their assumption is that protestant=open table.

 

But I think ELCA tends to be open. And as the ELCA is about twice the size of the LCMS, it's more likely that's what you'd run into.

[forty-two]

The actual Confirmation rite is generally done during the church service ,so you'd definitely want to go to the service, and not just the reception. I'd ask your son's friend's parents about the church's communion practices - it can differ from church to church within the same denomination, let alone between denominations. Or you could look up the church's website - they might have their communion beliefs posted.

 

As far as a gift goes, it's up to you. It's common for the baptismal sponsors to give a gift; also the church and the parents generally give something. Otherwise it kind of depends. At my church, it was traditional to hold open houses, and I received quite a few cards and gifts. But it hasn't been like that at the churches I've attended as an adult. A card would probably be fine, but if you wanted to get a gift, Christian jewelry and books are typical. Some book suggestions (if you have time to order from Amazon): Spirituality of the Cross and God at Work (they are both awesome books, but my dh is somewhat cynical about the odds of them - or any book - being read by a teen any time soon :glare:, so probably not unless you know he is a reader). And if you want to do more than a card but are unsure about what gift, money is always acceptable :lol:.

[J-rap]

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Edited September 7, 2023 by J-rap