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25 young people celebrate confirmation in the Kreuzkirche in Fulda. A WhatsApp-related sermon causes a surprise. The church appears digital and modern.
Fulda – 25 young people celebrated their confirmation in the Kreuzkirche after completing around eleven months of confirmation. The festive service was organized jointly by Pastor Stefan Bürger and the children, youth and family advisor Valentina Riebel, similar to the entire confinement period, which was organized on a multi-professional basis.
The confirmation candidates entered the church to the sound of pop music. In front of almost 400 guests, including parents, siblings, relatives and friends, the young people presented themselves in a good mood and festively dressed. Pastor Stefan Bürger's sermon focused on the image of a WhatsApp message.
WhatsApp from Jesus: Young people celebrate confirmation in Kreuzkirche
The familiar look at your cell phone in the morning, lots of new messages. And then the surprise: a new contact in the list. Jesus is writing to me? “Jesus added a contact for his group. You got a new profile picture: Belonging to Jesus and his community through baptism,” explained Bürger.
Confirmation confirms this commitment through the personal confession of the young people. Another focus of the sermon was the biblical picture of faith the size of a mustard seed. Citizens took up experiences in which faith, church or religious questions often take a back seat in everyday life.
“If your faith is only as big as a mustard seed – one and not five bars – then you can move mountains. Then your faith, your trust will carry you,” he encouraged the young people. He asked them to get involved in the church even after confirmation, for example in team training, in confirmation work or in a new youth group with Valentina Riebel.
#WhatsAppvonJesus: A red heart emoji
A strong community has emerged between the young people and the youth officer, which can be further cultivated. “Community with one another, being here – that will strengthen your contact with God and the church, give you support. It's like increasing your data volume from 10 to 50 gigabytes,” says Bürger.
At the end of his sermon, the pastor summarized the message in a simple image: If Jesus were to send a message today, it wouldn't need many words. A red heart emoji would be enough. This motif was also found on the specially printed song sheet. The hashtag that citizens gave the young people was: #WhatsAppvonJesus.
The names of those confirmed in alphabetical order:
Mia Bär, Flora Brandtner, Johannes Braun, Percy Enwerem, Pharrell Enwerem, Shan Enwerem, Mia Fauth, Vivien Klippert, Johanna Kracht, Josephine Kracht, Hannah Leitschuh, Kalle Mader, Stella Mahr, Emma-Sofie Naumann, Emil Schad, Leonie Schmidt, Maja Schmidt, Ellen Schmitt, Sophie Semler, Juri Sippel, Ben Prais, Jana Töws, Carlos Usbeck, Ira Wansleben and Constantin Weismüller
The musical accompaniment was provided by Christopher Schnell on the organ, a small parent project choir under the direction of Friedgard Flache and parts of the Kreuzkirchen band. The service was broadcast live on the Kreuzkirche's YouTube channel and can still be viewed there.
The collection was traditionally intended to provide educational assistance to young Christians in Africa and Asia. In addition, donations could be made for the Kreuzkirche's children and youth work – also digitally via QR code and PayPal. The service is still online YouTube stream available.
