In the weeks leading up to William’s confirmation at church, we talked a lot about what it meant to stand up in front of a group of people and profess to believe things about God and sin and the Bible and the church.
Like many young people (and like many adults, myself included), William still holds so many questions about the authority of Scripture and whether miracles really happened and what any of that has to do with everyday life here and now in the 21st century.
As we were discussing these things, I heard the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, mention that he became a Christian when he realized that the most important question was not “What do you believe?” but rather, “Who do you follow?”
At the center of the Christian faith is not a set of doctrinal propositions, but a person. A person who walked on this earth and laughed and cried and prayed and told stories and had friends and drank wine and was betrayed and healed and forgave and loved and loved and loved and hung on a cross and later appeared, again, as a person, to those who followed him. A person who repeated the words countless times throughout his ministry, “Follow me.”
I do not know what I believe about all sorts of important questions. I do know who I want to follow. On Sunday, our son joined his confirmation class and said the same.
More with Amy Julia:
- Continuing the Conversation: William and Growing Up to Be a White Man
- Why I Need to Follow Black Jesus
- Slowing Down in Our Family’s Fast-Paced World
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