Baptismal Promises – The Ones We Make

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
~Ephesians 4:4-6

This Sunday is the day my daughter Hadley will be baptized! I already talked a little bit about the baptismal promises that God makes to us, but like any covenant, there are two parties in the promise. God makes baptismal promises, and so do we.

Covenant of Faith

If we are baptized as adults, we make baptismal promises ourselves.

If we are baptized as children, then parents and/or sponsors make promises on our behalf. On Sunday, we will be promising God and Hadley that as we are entrusted with responsibilities, we will raise her in her new life of baptism.

We will promise to live with her among God’s faithful people (which honestly would be difficult for us to avoid with my profession). As parents we promise to bring her to the word of God and the holy supper. We promise to teach her to pray, the creeds and the commandments. We hope to nurture her in faith and prayer. So there’s a nice little list of responsibilities that we promise to uphold – our side of the bargain.

But my favorite, the one I am most looking forward to?

“Place in her hands the holy scriptures (in whatever form is most appropriate…which right now might be a teething bible).”

In whatever form is most appropriate

To be fair, the part in parenthesis is not in the hymnal, but adapted from a church I used to work at.

But in reading over our responsibilities, as I prayed over the baptismal promises I’ll be making this Sunday for my daughter, I realized how excited I was to give her a bible.

She loves soft books that she can touch while I read them to her.

And then I found this:

Little Lion's Fuzzy Cover Bible
Little Lion’s Fuzzy Cover Bible
Little Lion's Fuzzy Cover Bible Page 1
Little Lion’s Fuzzy Cover Bible Page 1

Too cute!

I am so excited to put this adaptation of our holy scriptures into my daughters hands (and mouth)!

So as we look forward to this Sunday and all the promises that will be made, I give thanks to God. I give thanks for our daughter, for the congregation that will be welcoming her, and for this powerful covenant.

Pastor Megan Filer