This week I managed to sit down and listen to the recording of Susannah's baptism. It was nice to be able to listen to it again without the distraction of holding a squirmy toddler in front of the whole church (not naming any names here...). In an effort to help me teach my children about their baptisms I have written out the messages and prayers for each of their services. Amelia's baptism is posted here. And now Susannah is our newest covenant member:
For I will pass
through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in
the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will
execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the
houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the
plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. – Exodus
12:12-13
This is God’s promise of His Passover, where He expresses His
redeeming love for His people, Israel. His
love for each household, as the blood was put on the door of each household, His
love for each one, for each member of those households. Pharaoh of course would
not let the people of God go, and yet he did try to, at times, negotiate with Moses.
Remember he said, “You can go out but you can’t go very far” or, “You can go
out but you can’t take your cattle or your livestock with you”. And the final
time he said, “You can go out but you can’t take your little ones with you. May
your God help you if you try to take your little ones with you.” And yet these
conditions were refused because God claims children for His own, and they also
were to worship, and they also were a part God’s promise. God’s promise
belonged to all the people young and old, infant and child. His promise was to
be their God, and they would be His children. They would be sealed with the
right of circumcision.
Now, of course, after Christ has shed his blood, and after He
has risen again, there is no blood shedding rights in the church. Blood has
been shed once, atonement has been made once, for the forgiveness of sins. The
promise now is the promise of baptism. The apostle Peter says that promise, that
sign, is for you and for your children. Just as those Israelite households were
spared from the destroying angel by the blood on the door protecting all inside.
Not just the adults, not just those old enough to know what was happening, not
just the ones who were old enough to drive or who had gotten to some age of
accountability that is undefined. God claims them all. He claims them all
within the household as His own: to protect them, to keep them, to save them
from the destroyer. Baptism is a promise of safety. Baptism says that the Lord in
heaven and earth, He is our kind father, He is our protective father. In fact, He
is so near to us in baptism that He actually engraves His name upon us. Baptism
is our Father’s pledge that He will give His angels charge concerning you, to
guard you in all your ways.
Clay and Elissa, today God’s promise to you is to guide and
to guard your daughter Susannah Ruth. Your daughter is a daughter of the
covenant. And she has a special name. Susannah is a Biblical name, it is a Hebrew
name. We are told that one of the women that followed Jesus and supported him
from her own livelihood was a woman named Susannah, one of the first disciples.
In Hebrew Susannah means “lily”, it is the flower, the lily. In the Song of Songs
the scripture beautifully describes the lily as the bridegroom’s beloved, the one
who is the lily among the thorns. She is the one that he loves especially. It
indicates the beauty that she has, the favor that she has found with her lord,
her bridegroom. In the temple lilies were carved on the laver of cleansing,
they were associated with holiness with being clean, with being able to be standing
in the presence of God. Lilies have their place in the garden, which is God’s
presence. And Susannah, your daughter, has been granted a place in God’s
presence, she has been granted a place as a daughter of the Most High. So teach
her to remember her baptism, because it is her baptism that signifies her
cleansing by God Himself, the living God is her God. Teach her to trust in
Jesus as a beloved daughter of the covenant. Teach her to walk in newness of life
that is the path for all of Jesus’ disciples. And discipline her patiently when
she goes astray, or when she disobeys. Teach her that rebellion is the way of
sorrow and death, and faithfulness is the way to life.
Parental Vows
- Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?
- Do you claim God’s covenant promises on her behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation, as you do for your own?
- Do you now, unreservedly commit this child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before her a godly example, that you will pray with and for her, that you will teach her the doctrines of our holy faith, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
Congregational Vow
Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of
supporting and assisting these parents in the Christian nurture of this child?
Prayer
Father, we give you thanks for your grace to the last and to
the least, and that you did not send your son to save the healthy and the
strong, but the weak and those who are in sin. We thank you for all you have
done for your saints, and for little Susannah. We thank you that for her, Jesus
Christ has come. He has fought, and He has suffered, and He has entered into
the shadow of death and the horror of the cross, and for her He uttered the cry:
“It is finished”. For Susannah He rose
from the dead. We thank you that for her He ascended into heaven and intercedes
there for her, even though she does not yet know Him. But you show that your
word is true by doing this. We love Him because He first loved us. Father, may
this daughter of the covenant walk in faith all the days of her life. Give
faithfulness and wisdom to Clay and Elissa to teach her your ways, to raise her
to believe and to live the gospel. May we, as a congregation, pray for them and
encourage them in this holy work. In Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.
Susannah was able to continue the tradition of wearing the family baptism gown and here she is posing in it with her Granny and Auntie Laurel Susannah.
This old thing? I only wear this when I don't care what I look like!
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