Yesterday we went to Mankato. As we were approaching it brought back memories of many spring trips to Mankato at this very time of the year. For some reason when it was Confirmation time, Dad, Mom and us kids got into the green Plymouth for a shopping trip to Herbergers department store to shop for the one of the four of us kids who would be confirmed. I am safe in saying the car was green as Dad usually had a green Plymouth.
Hmm. Herbergers are closing, I should have been a better patron. As you get older, clothes are needed to have one set on as the other set is in the laundry and then switch.
I am sure Hutchinson had stores, but it didn’t have a Herbergers. My confirmation dress was a light blue with pink flowers on it. It could have been described as a sun dress as it had a light blue shrug to wear over it.
Confirmation was such a huge deal. It was the culmination of four years of what was called “Catechism.” Every Saturday from 8:30 to noon and every Wednesday with “release time” from the public school. Sundays we had to write the sermon. It was actually outlining it with the major points highlighted and numerous points under each. Pastor Schultz geared his sermons so that we could easily get the outline. We handed them in on the next Wednesday’s class and Pastor Schultz graded them.
Every good boy and girl dreaded “examination Sunday.” It was always the Sunday before Confirmation. Standing before the congregation during the morning service Pastor Schultz grilled us on what we had been taught in regard to the theology of our faith as well as the Sacraments. Whew, we were glad when that day was over.
I don’t know why it was important to have a new set of clothes for Confirmation as we wore white robes for both of the Sundays during the services. Red carnations adorned the robes. The song that we had as “our” song was “Master Let Me Walk with Thee.” The class sang it in lieu of one of the congregational hymns. All of this may have been 59 years ago, but it is very much a clear lasting event. I have ripped by sewing studio up one side to another making it more organized . . . somehow the blue worn “Senior Catechism” book usually ends up just a reach away. What’s up with that.