Can you imagine what it is like to baptize your granddaughter?  What a joyous celebration Sunday was for me as I baptized Addison Noelle Parrish!.

With baptism go all our thoughts of the faith being passed on from one generation to the next.  It is not something we have created to impress someone else, but for nearly 2000 years, our Christian faith has been passed from one generation to the next. In the early church, families were baptized and people of all ages came to the waters of baptism to meet Jesus there.

The God who has created each of us and the world in which we live, has invited us to be in a relationship with him.  In Psalmt 139 we read about how God knit us together in our mother's womb and knew our inmost parts and whereever we go we cannot wander from God's love and presence.   Our gracious God choses to forgive us and be in relationship with us.  Sometimes we don't chose to live in that relationship, but it certainly is my wish for my granddaughter.   In baptism, we claim that relationship for us who are people of faith and for our children.  I blelieve that when children grow up in Christian homes, they are never outside of the community of faith unless at some point they chose that for themselves.  Oh, how it must sadden God.   They learn  God's love for them is a powerful force in their lives both in good times and bad.  They are surrounded by faith as they learn to pray and worship at an early age in their homes.

 I would welcome your comments on infant baptism and the idea that children who grow up in Christian homes, never growing up outside of the kingdom of God.  It is a great challenge to us who are parents and grandparents, to hand on the faith to the next and the next generation.  What ideas do you have, that can make that a reality?