Baptism Story

            Well, as carefully as we tried to ensure that Ca wouldn't feel scared or confused by her baptism, she was. For many weeks preceding the scheduled Sunday, we chatted with her (and the other three) about what baptism meant, why we were baptizing her, and what the logistics of the ceremony would actually include. We spoke cautiously at first, watching carefully for any sign that she was uncomfortable or confused or not interested. Seeing no problems, we scheduled a date, and as the date approached, continued to talk with her about it. Everything was just fine until about 30 minutes before it was time to leave for church on Sunday morning. Ca pulled me (E) aside and explained that she was scared of being baptized. I did a little internal freak out and then calmly asked what part she found scary - and learned that she was exclusively afraid of being at the front of church and having everyone look at her. (Thank you, Lord, for 13 months of language development!!!)

            We talked about how the Bible is true and it says that God is always with us. We talked about how I (and the whole family) would be with her the whole time. We talked about how the people who would be looking at her were part of her church family and loved her. She was still scared. I was praying for wisdom...we had waited so long to baptize her because we didn't want her to be confused or scared!

            In the early part of the church service, she began asking could we please not baptize her. She was so scared to have everyone looking at her. Of course, at that point, we couldn't reschedule discreetly. So I kept praying in her ear that she would not be afraid and I told her I could carry her. I expected her to hide against my shoulder.

            And then.... we went up front. She held her head up and looked out at her loving church family while B and I took our vows to pray with her and for her, to teach her the doctrines of our faith, and to encourage her to come to her own faith in Jesus. She stood confidently with her hand on the table next to our pastor while he put a handful of water on her. She smiled a little while he prayed and she dried her face with Daddy's bandana.

            As the congregation sang a song afterwards, I leaned over to my sweetie and commented that she didn't seem scared during the baptism. She acknowledged that she hadn't been.  When I pointed out that God had answered our prayers, she shared that she knew that He had been with her, and kept the promise in His word. She connected the dots that the Bible is true and we can trust what God says! I saw the eyes of her heart opened a bit. And I realized God's perfect timing in having us wait until she could really understand what was happening in her baptism.

Baptism

            We are planning to have Ca baptized later this month. In order to work through our own thoughts and hopefully clear up any confusion for the rest of you, we thought we'd explain why we're doing it.

            First of all, why do we baptize any of our kids? We (B&E) believe God commands it. We believe that the Bible calls us, because we are Christians, to participate in this sign of God's covenant with his people. Starting in Genesis 17, when God establishes the covenant sign of circumcision with Abraham, we see throughout the Bible that when God calls people to himself, he gives the believers and their families a physical sign. In the Old Testament, the sign of being God's people is the sign of circumcision. In the New Testament, God uses the sign of water baptism. (A great example of a whole family being baptized because a parent believed can be found in Acts 16.) We baptize our kids because we are God's people and it is an outward sign of the covenant benefits our kids enjoy because we're raising them - teaching them to love and follow God and his word. Our kids are part of God's church and receive some of the blessings of his covenant whether or not they've yet made a profession of faith. The sacrament of baptism proclaims the truth of God's covenant and our commitment to our child.

            When I and Co were babies, they were baptized. Shortly after S was adopted, he was baptized as well. We are having Ca baptized because she is our daughter, and a part of our covenant family - a family that follows God. We are not baptizing her because she has made a profession of faith (she hasn't). We have waited until now because we wanted to make sure that she understood what was happening, and wasn't confused or scared by the ceremony. We have explained to her that the babies she's seen baptized at church were baptized when they joined a family that loves Jesus. She will be baptized because she too has joined a family that loves Jesus. She just joined the family when she was a lot older.

            Some Christian churches only baptize a person once they've made a profession of faith. A believer's baptism ceremony provides an opportunity for a new believer to publicly proclaim the change God has made in their heart. New believers as well as kids who have been raised in the church have an opportunity to make a similar public profession of faith at our church, but water is only involved if they've not been baptized previously. You can pray with us that Ca will soon understand the gospel. Pray that she will see how separated she is from God, how Jesus's death on the cross makes a way for her to be with Him, and the she will experience the joy of trusting solely in His blood to save her.