Fearfully and Wonderfully: Gabriel's Baptism

About a month ago Gabriel was baptized, which was a very important day for us. (Sorry it took me so long to write this, I have been slammed with studying and exam-taking.) We were blessed to have our families there with us and to have it done by Chris Robins--our pastor for the past few years while I interned at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. It was actually his last Sunday at the church because he will soon (Lord willing) be planting a church in San Francisco.

You might read this and wonder why a baby was baptized. Well, if you want the long explanation you can check out my blog posts on it or you can listen to the sermon I preached about baptism from Col. 2:11-12. In short, when God made His covenant with Abraham, He made it with his children as well (cf. Ge. 17:7). Part of that covenant is the consistent covenantal refrain, "I will be your God, and you will be my people," and that promise is given to believers and to their children (cf. Ac. 2:39). Does that mean Gabriel is saved? No, but it means the promises are for him, and Erika and I will do our best to raise him in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord, pointing to his baptism and teaching him the gospel, so that one day he will, Lord willing, accept the promises in faith made to him in his baptism.

It also means that we are not the only ones responsible for his growth in the Lord. One of my favorite parts about baptism is that it reminds us we are part of a covenant family, and Gabriel has covenant brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles who have vowed to assist us in that. Right before a child is baptized, the pastor asks the congregation, "Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of this child?" By affirming that oath, we affirm that those parents are not alone, never alone in the raising of a child. Derek Webb has a song about the Church, and at one point he sings:

So when you hear the sound of the water
You will know you're not alone

Erika and I know we are not alone. A recent example of this (minor but sticks out in my mind) was a picnic Erika and I attended in Blackburg, VA--a picnic for us, for our new church home to get to know us (Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church). While we were there, we handed Gabriel off to one of the elder's wives and then to our pastor's daughter, and he was passed around for a while. I did not see him for well over an hour, but I also was not worried. They are his covenant family, and they love him as a covenant brother/nephew. We are not alone, and when we hear the sound of the water at every subsequent baptism, we will know we are not alone.

So, I am sure you are interested in pictures, which is probably why you went to this post in the first place. However, if you know me, you should have known you were going to get more than just pictures. But, I also cannot deny you, so here you go: