Lúthien received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism on November 26, 2006. What a special time in the life of our church!
When we have a baptism, we gather at the rear of the sanctuary with the whole family of God gathered about to welcome our newest sister in the Lord. Then the whole church processes into the sanctuary singing St. Patrick’s Breastplate: “I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the three in one and one in three”.
Here is the baptismal meditation that Pastor Brandt gave for the occasion:
It was coming up on four years ago now that Amber came in to my Ethics class, and then just a few months after that that she took me at my word and brought her husband Kary and a gaggle of other students from Friends to our house on a Sunday afternoon for a Bible study. I don’t think any of us could have guessed that we would all be standing here doing this, but I’m so glad that we are.
Today Kary and Amber are presenting their daughter, Lúthien Marie, born just six days ago, for covenant baptism, and so today little Lúthy will be received into the bosom of the church and will have all the promises of God applied to her in a visible sign and seal that sets her apart from the world and unites her to the Lord Jesus Christ and his body, the church.
In the Bible we have numerous accounts of the Lord appearing to people and speaking to them, as individuals directly. But that doesn’t happen to us. The Bible itself is God’s Word, but it is directed to the Church, and none of us are called by name therein. But God has spoken to all of us here, directly, one time, even as he is about to speak directly to this little girl. The Holy Sacrament of Baptism is the one time in each of our lives in which the Lord directly addresses us—he calls us by name, he makes extravagant promises to us, he changes our identity, he makes us his own.
And so in a few moments our Lord Jesus will address this covenant child. He will declare that she is his child, he will promise her that he will always be with her, and that he will be her God and the God of her children and her children’s children. He will promise to wash her clean of all her sin, the unclean nature that she inherited from our first father Adam, and all the sins that she will add to the world as she grows up and matures. He will ordain her to the Royal Priesthood, giving her the privilege of approaching the throne of grace in union with Christ Jesus. He promises the Holy Spirit, to unite her to Christ, to convict her of sin, to lead her in the way of righteousness, to empower her prayers, to bring her to more and more to life day by day. He promises to raise her from the dead on the last day, and he marks her as one of his own, distinct from the world. He also places upon her all the obligations of being one of his children. She must trust in the Lord Jesus in everything. She must repent of all her sin and faithfully walk in the covenant. She must day by day put her flesh to death and by God’s grace be raised to new life. She must keep the commandments, seeking the Lord’s help to do so, and so exhibit a living faith.
And the Lord says all of this, to her, in this wonderful sacrament of baptism. And this is only a taste of the fullness of what the sacrament means. And he already said all of this to all of you when you were baptized. So as grace is given to Lúthy, remember that she is receiving the same grace in which you now stand. Lay hold of your own baptism, and remember who you are, and live accordingly, with faith, hope, and assurance of the love of God for you and all the church.
Lúthien practices the Gloria Patri for her first Lord’s Service.
Delighted parents of a daughter of Abraham.
