A couple of weeks ago my daughter, Emilyn Ruth, was baptized at church. That particular Sunday also happened to be when the church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord. It was a great time of worship and prayer, followed by Communion. Once again, Pastor Cwirla preached a magnificent sermon. I’ve linked it here, not only because it’s a really good sermon, but because it is a great summary of how Lutherans see scriptural baptism. If you want to get an idea of what we believe, and the ethos that surrounds it, listen to this sermon.

http://www.htlcms.org/sermons/sermon/creation_and_baptism/

All three of my children are baptized. They take part in worship, both at church and at home. We are raising them in the daily rhythms of the Christian life. Lutherans don’t wait for their children to make a decision for Christ or try to get them to profess their faith as a prerequisite to being a Christian or otherwise look for ‘signs of grace’ indicating regeneration. Our children are Christians through baptism, and we raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The process for us can be summed up like this, “You are a Christian; this is what Christians do, this is the way Christians are.”, as day by day, year by year, we live out our faith with and in front of our children.

By Pat K