Wednesday, October 22, 2008

We're Dedicated to Him Now

Our church has a lovely tradition of dedicating new babies to God, dedicating new parents to the spiritual upbringing of their children, and dedicating the church to the education of its newest members. We dedicated Sam when he was all of two months old, and we had been in the church for all of two months as well. People barely knew us, but it was reassuring that as we were going through rough patches with Sam and his reflux that we had a church family at our backs.

The weekend of Sam's birthday we dedicated Noah. We figured that all the family was already around so they could participate without making a special trip. And as meaning as Sam's dedication was, Noah's held particular significance because we are fully ingrained in our church now. We know these people, we love these people, we are part of their lives and they of ours. That's why we cherish scenes like this one:
Our pastor is extolling the wonders of children and their place in the church while our music minister, with whom we've grown quite close, stands to the side ready to lead us and the congregation in the words of dedication. My favorite part? Our pastor takes each child dedicated and walks up and down the aisle with him, speaking directly to him about how unique and important he is to the life of our church. I call it the Lion King moment because she holds the child out for the church to see and to pray for, and invariably it feels as though the sun whips through the high windows and illuminates the moment.

So, I suppose we're now stuck with Noah. We've dedicated ourselves to rearing him in front of God. There's no backing out now, not that we ever would.

4 comments:

Liz said...

wow is that a Baptist church? I'm impressed there's a woman pastor.

Andrew said...

Evidently when she was called (a few years before we joined) there was animated discussion and some among the church who didn't want to call a woman, but having been in church with her now for three years, I can certainly attest to her particular to pastoral ministry.

Liz said...

oh I have no doubt. I am Baptist, but I think we have it wrong when it comes to women. That is, if you look at the original language of scripture and not the translations by groups of patriarchal "experts." Have you read "Why Not Women"? Good book.

Andrew said...

I agree. I haven't read that book, but I have read, I think the name was "Men and Women in the Church" which our friend Jaime gave Joy a few years ago.