I have been thinking recently about the promises we make when a child is baptized. In Lutheran tradition, promises are made by the parents, the godparents, and the members of the congregation:
- To live with them among God’s faithful people.
- To bring them to the word of God and the holy supper.
- To teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.
- To place the Holy Scriptures in their hands.
- To nurture them in faith and prayer.
That means all of us promise to keep in contact with the children who are baptized in our presence, to find out what they are interested in, to make sure they know the basics of faith, and to support them in whatever way we can. It is not always easy to do all of that, especially when we don’t see the children on a regular basis. However, I hope that we take the promises that we make seriously.
Sunday School begins again on September 20. As I taught last year, I was surprised how few of our members my students knew by name. When I mentioned someone’s name, the boys didn’t know who I was talking about. So one day I tracked down one of the members and brought him into class to introduce him to them. That gave me an idea. Maybe other members should pop in periodically to my Sunday school class to just say “hi” to them. Then you can interact with them more one on one. I would love to have people stop in periodically, so please do.
Often I hear our members say that we don’t have any children at church. That is actually not true. We don’t have a lot of children, but we do have some. So when they are at church events, it would be good for us to remember the promises we made to them at their baptism. Talk to our children. Ask them how they are doing. Find out what they learned in Sunday School. Get to know them.
Please remember the children that God has placed in our presence and support them.
Pastor Beth
