This Sunday is the Child/baby dedication service, and as I was communicating with some of the young families and preparing for the service, I became flooded with memories. It was 24 years ago that Carah and I did this very thing.
We were new to the church after attending Foothill for the first time in 1998. I am not even sure I could tell you why we dedicated the kids other than this overwhelming feeling that we wanted to do things differently. We found a community of people who helped us navigate parenting pitfalls and partnered with us in that task.
We found people who encouraged us when things looked helpless. Spoke hard truths with us when our ideas were failing. They gave us tips when the things we were doing no longer worked, and when things got hopeless, they helped us stay the course.
So, what is baby/child dedication? It is not salvation or baptism. It is simply a commitment to raising a child in the ways of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6 has some instructions about this.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
These instructions seem simple as you read them, but the application is more complex. Carah and I are so grateful for all those who stood with us in that quest. I hope you are prepared to help this next group of parents who will stand up this Sunday to dedicate their children to the Lord and walk this path in these unsettling times. See you Sunday at 9:30
In Him,
Pastor Chris