Big Thoughts

Sunday is the day we will "dedicate" Rebekah at church. This is awkward to me since I attended churches that practiced "infant baptism" my entire life up until 2006. I've felt really weird about it. Mostly because I'm not super sure why we "dedicate" babies, since I've never ever ever heard it explained before or if I heard it, I wasn't listening. It seems that many churches just do their thing and don't explain why. Explanations are good. They help visitors and new Christians understand what is happening. More than that explanations remind us why we do things so that we don't get stuck just going through the motions and forget what the motions symbolize.

As a child, I was in and out of Episcopal and Presbyterian (P.C.A.) churches never consistently attending either until my highschool years. I missed learning bible stories and verses. I didn't know the church as a community of believers or as family or as a group of people that loved me until I joined a church during college . I wouldn't change anything about my childhood church experiences. It is because of them that I can embrace my faith as my own and not as something my parents pushed on me or something I followed my parents or others into. It is mine. I believe what I believe because I asked God to show me things and He did. Matthew 6:33. James 4:8...It's all true!

Obviously, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches believe in infant baptism. I know why they do it. And I'm beginning to accept why my current church doesn't. I've been puzzled. And when you've been criticized by numerous people for asking "theological" questions before, you sometimes hesitate before asking questions again. I emailed my "most perfect as a FIL can be" FIL and he made me feel that my ideas are on target, so I'm not ashamed or embarassed to share them here (or there, or everywhere) At the end of time, what truly matters is we are all batting for the same team. I know on this earth I cannot know or understand all the ways of God, but I do find contemplating them and learning why different denominations do what they do brings me closer to my God and makes my faith stronger.


To me, dedicating Rebekah is a symbol of our faith and therefore her inclusion(Acts 2:38-39) in the Covenant family (until she is old enough to claim this right for herself through her own profession of faith/baptism. It is us saying "here is our child and we want to raise her in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), will you as a church make this committment to her and to God with us..." It is us recognizing we can't do it without help. And also recognizing that it would be better for us to tie a millstone around our necks than to cause Rebekah to stumble/sin (Luke17:1-2). It is us, claiming Christ on her behalf with hope that she will later claim Christ for herself.

All that said, please join me in my prayers for our Rebekah's heart, for us as her parents and for all the other people in this big world that will influence her. My prayer for her is that she will be a warrior for our God; that she would always know Him, love Him, serve Him; and that God would include her in and use her for the goodness of His kingdom. My constant prayer for J.R. and myself is that we would set a good example in all we do, that we lean on God and not our own understandings, and that God would guide us as we raise this child of His.