I realize it's been almost a week since I've posted anything. We've been so busy and my computer has taken a leave of absence so I rarely have access to my blog anymore. Plus, GG is still here and she keeps us all on our toes. (Or wait, maybe I am the one keeping her busy...) Whatever the case, a lot has happened in the last week.
Hannah was dedicated at church on Saturday. The ceremony was really beautiful and we were surrounded by almost 30 of our closest family and friends. Kenny, who prayed over Hannah and with us, noted that we "brought the village" with us. That we did. I was emotional and couldn't speak, but a number of people did and their words were very beautiful. And of course, Hannah looked precious in her white gown and bonnet. Kenny talked a little bit about the origin of Hannah's name, which David and I put a of thought into. You can read about our naming journey here. Hannah (Biblical Hannah) was actually a big part of the ceremony because of her story. She dedicated Samuel, her son, to God around the age of three (when he was weaned) but the difference between Hannah's dedication and our dedicating Hannah is that when (Biblical) Hannah dedicated Samuel she actually left him at the temple... we got to take our sweet Hannah home with us :) This was a good reminder though and food for thought. Our children are but gifts from God and we are given the responsibility of caring for them while we have them. Hannah knew that Samuel was God's to begin with and she was grateful to have bore a son, yet she was faithful to God and gave him back so he could do God's will and he became a pivotal person in the old testament.
Anywho...
After the dedication ceremony we celebrated at our house with lunch. My go-to mom and in-laws helped make it a successful party. I am always thankful for their help and contributions. The food was great and the fellowship was even better. Thank you to everyone that joined us and shared in this joyous day.
Showing posts with label Baptism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baptism. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Hannah's Dedication
We've decided to have Hannah dedicated at our new church. "New" as in we've been going to Gateway for over two years... but we started going after Blaine was already baptized in the Episcopal Church (which is also where D and I were married.)
The Dedication is going to be Saturday, November 13th, 2010 at 11:00 am.
We attended the required class and learned some pretty sobering and interesting statistics.
The book Revolutionary Parenting Workbook: How to Raise Spiritual Champions by George Barna is the source for these statistics:
64% of all parents admit to spending less than one hour a week playing with their children.
71% of parents admit to spending 15 hours or more a week watching television.
86% of children admit to spending more than 40 hours a week watching TV or playing video games.
WOW!
And this quote is not from this book but it's good:
"We can strive to give our children all the advantages the world has to offer, and motivate them to make the most of available opportunities and resources; but unless their spiritual life is prioritized and nurtured, they will miss out on much of the meaning, purpose, and joy of life."
And D and I find that to be very true in our own lives which is why we are starting now with our kids.
The chance a person has to become a Christ Follower:
32% between ages 5 and 12
4% between ages 13-18
6% of adults
If it's God's Plan that the parents should take responsibility for the spiritual development of their children... then D and I are going to do everything we can to make that happen.
What is Child Dedication?
(From the Gateway Church website.)
Every week we get phone calls and questions about Child Dedication. More specifically, people are usually asking about when and how they can get their baby baptized. Gateway is a church made up of people from all kinds of different traditions and denominations (or none at all). On this page we’ll try to clearly define what Gateway believes and explain the difference between baptism and child dedication.
Every year, hundreds of people are baptized at Gateway. Nearly everyone baptized are adults, teenagers or elementary aged children. Essentially, we believe that baptism is the action a person takes after becoming a Christ Follower. We see this many times in scripture as people believed in Jesus Christ and were subsequently baptized.
So, what do we do for babies? We hold a special dedication service. This is a very special and important service, both for the parents as well as the child. It’s a service where parents present their child/children to the Lord. They’re surrounded by family or friends (or others from the church). Together, they dedicate the child to the Lord.
Although this isn’t a required spiritual practice, we do see where children were dedicated to the Lord in the Bible. In 1 Samuel 1:27-28 we see how Hannah took her son Samuel to the temple to dedicate him to the Lord. Also in Luke 2:21-38 we see Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated.
In the dedication, we’re dedicating several things to the Lord:
The Dedication is going to be Saturday, November 13th, 2010 at 11:00 am.
We attended the required class and learned some pretty sobering and interesting statistics.
The book Revolutionary Parenting Workbook: How to Raise Spiritual Champions by George Barna is the source for these statistics:
64% of all parents admit to spending less than one hour a week playing with their children.
71% of parents admit to spending 15 hours or more a week watching television.
86% of children admit to spending more than 40 hours a week watching TV or playing video games.
WOW!
And this quote is not from this book but it's good:
"We can strive to give our children all the advantages the world has to offer, and motivate them to make the most of available opportunities and resources; but unless their spiritual life is prioritized and nurtured, they will miss out on much of the meaning, purpose, and joy of life."
And D and I find that to be very true in our own lives which is why we are starting now with our kids.
The chance a person has to become a Christ Follower:
32% between ages 5 and 12
4% between ages 13-18
6% of adults
If it's God's Plan that the parents should take responsibility for the spiritual development of their children... then D and I are going to do everything we can to make that happen.
What is Child Dedication?
(From the Gateway Church website.)
Every week we get phone calls and questions about Child Dedication. More specifically, people are usually asking about when and how they can get their baby baptized. Gateway is a church made up of people from all kinds of different traditions and denominations (or none at all). On this page we’ll try to clearly define what Gateway believes and explain the difference between baptism and child dedication.
Every year, hundreds of people are baptized at Gateway. Nearly everyone baptized are adults, teenagers or elementary aged children. Essentially, we believe that baptism is the action a person takes after becoming a Christ Follower. We see this many times in scripture as people believed in Jesus Christ and were subsequently baptized.
Acts 8:12Since we see baptism as something done after making a clear decision to follow Jesus, we do not baptize infants or young children. We absolutely believe that a child can make this decision. Statistics say that most Christ followers made a decision to follow Jesus between the ages of 4-14 (84 %). So, we see many kids baptized at our baptism services.
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Acts 8:13
Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Acts 18:8
Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
Acts 19:4-5
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
So, what do we do for babies? We hold a special dedication service. This is a very special and important service, both for the parents as well as the child. It’s a service where parents present their child/children to the Lord. They’re surrounded by family or friends (or others from the church). Together, they dedicate the child to the Lord.
Although this isn’t a required spiritual practice, we do see where children were dedicated to the Lord in the Bible. In 1 Samuel 1:27-28 we see how Hannah took her son Samuel to the temple to dedicate him to the Lord. Also in Luke 2:21-38 we see Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated.
In the dedication, we’re dedicating several things to the Lord:
- We’re dedicating the child/children to God. Our prayer of dedication is that they will grow in knowledge of God and his son Jesus and that when the child/children are old enough, they would make a decision to follow him. This isn’t the salvation of a child or a “necessary spiritual step,” but rather acknowledging that we want God to be in the life of this child.
- We’re dedicating the parents to God. God has entrusted the parents to spiritually train children. The church is here to help, but ultimately the responsibility is on the parents. So we pray to dedicate mom and dad’s efforts of creating a safe and healthy environment where a child can learn about God and grow in a relationship with him. So, in this dedication, mom and dad commit to do everything within their ability to point their children to God and help them follow him.
- We’re dedicating the friends and family to God. Children are rarely influenced by the parents alone. Family and family friends have significant influence. It is the responsibility of family and friends to hold parents accountable and encourage parents in both their marriage relationship and efforts to spiritually train their children.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Blaine's Baptism
What a wonderful weekend we've had. Today, Blaine was baptized at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church surrounded by over 35 family members and friends. Blaine's Godparents are Barbara and Perry Gotcher, David's Aunt and Uncle and Keith and Andrea Miller, good friends and mentors to David and I. We anticipated a rough day because Blaine got up at 4:00 am and then again at 5:00 am (and never went back to sleep!). Fortunately, he was a champ all morning - through the service, breakfast and pictures. A few highlights:- Blaine was sleeping very soundly when the priest held him and baptized him with water. The Rev. Merrill Wade poured water (and a lot of it) over Blaine's head and woke him up out of a dead sleep - - - and Mister Man screamed - - but surprisingly he recovered quite quickly and then Merrill continued to hold him through the next part of the service. This was quite entertaining because he had Blaine facing the congregation and Blaine was laughing and smiling to his "audience".
- We had a lovely gathering in the parish hall with our family and friends after the service. The other three families that took part in the baptism joined us as well.
- Family gathered at the Lyon household this afternoon for a good ol fashioned BBQ. Thank you to everyone who helped to bring it together. Blaine enjoyed playing with his new toys (thanks to GG and Great Aunt Ann) and all his Aunt's and Uncle's and cousins.
We had a beautiful day thanks to our family and God. Thank you to our family that couldn't be with us for your prayers, love and support.
Love, The Lyon Clan
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