The first cross I ever owned was gold. It was small, with a delicate design embossed on the front, suspended on a fragile gold chain. I have had it as long as I can remember. It held a place of honor in my first jewelry box — a white case with a red interior and a tiny ballerina that twirled to music when the key on the back was wound. I don’t know where it came from, but it was pretty and looked nice around my neck when I wore it to church on Sundays.
I bought the second cross myself. It was simple smooth silver on a long sturdy chain. I borrowed the money to buy it from my Confirmation teacher on the last day of a weekend retreat. Its purchase marked my realization that I both was and wanted to be Christian.
For me, that first cross, the gold cross, is the kind of faith we “inherit.” It is given to us… and we may even recognize it as a gift.
Or maybe, like mine, that “gold cross” is something that’s just always been there. And so we put it on because it looks good… because it looks like something we should wear.
But the second cross? The “silver cross” – the one we choose for ourselves? That is a particular treasure.
At SCC, high school students in Grade 9 or above are asked to commit a full year to Confirmation. We explore the Trinity, the Bible, church history and the spectrum of religious beliefs. We cover theology, ecclesiology, eschatology and polity… although we tend not mention those names. We consider our church’s way of doing things and compare it to other approaches. We ask questions, push each other to ask questions and call our own assumptions into question. There are high expectations for participation – a commitment made somewhat more convenient and simultaneously more challenging this year because our sessions were all on Zoom.
At the end of that long yet never-long-enough process, each student is asked to decide if the mix of practices, beliefs, commitments and continuing questions that we call the Christian life is something they want for themselves.
My prayer for the young people this congregation will confirm on Sunday, June 6th, is that they find their own “silver crosses” as they carry on the good work they have started. As they continue their journeys, may they grow in a faith that will resist the tarnish of life’s distractions; a faith that is more resilient than any passing fad or fascination; a faith that is stronger than every burden they might come to face and more sustaining than they will ever have reason to know. May we all.
Confirmation: The act of affirming for one’s self the vows of Christian Baptism