Infant Dedications

 This past Sunday we had the great opportunity to dedicate three children; two infants and one young child.  All three are grandchildren of Roxy and Scott Crandall and are also great-grandchildren of Evelyn and Daryl Johnson.   Dedicated were Grant Daryl Jeffrey Crandall, son of Gavin & Tiffany Crandall, Tallon Gregory Daryl Crandall son of Chase & Kim Crandall, as well as Ryan Anne Crandall daughter of Chase & Kim Crandall.  It was a great honor to be able to be a part of a landmark in this families history.  

Roxy is the daughter of Daryl & Evelyn and their family have been members at Woodlawn Christian for many generations.  Evelyn has been the organist here for many, many years, and Evelyn's mother Helen Short was the church organist prior to Evelyn.  Helen played the organ in the old church building which burned down and then played for the dedication of our current building which was built in 1927.  Helen was still the organist in fact when the church celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1965.

Woodlawn Christian Church, Lake City, IA

I need to get ready to head to Laurens, Iowa for the monthly 'Cluster' meeting (a gathering of the DOC ministers in the nearby area), so I need to run.

I'll leave you with the manuscript from the sermon I gave after the dedication of the Crandall children.

God's grace & love to you all,
Roy

What a wonderful day we're having here at Woodlawn Christian Church today. We've just dedicated and blessed three beautiful children here today. And these are children with very long family histories in this church, family ties that reach back honestly, to the vast majority of the lifetime of this congregation. It's a wonderful thing to see this continuity and history in any organization. It's a great blessing for certain. We pray that someday one or more of these little ones will come here with their own children to be dedicated to God, and who knows, maybe even their grandchildren will be dedicated in this very sanctuary. Praise God!

As Disciples of Christ, we don't of course practice infant baptisms. It's not that we don't and won't accept an infant baptism, it's just that our history and heritage is that of a believers baptism. This has come to the Disciples through our early connection to the Baptist denomination. We like those in the baptist movement believe in an age of innocence and therefore that an infant does not need to be absolved of sins. Much more meaningful for us, is the believers baptism, a profound statement of ones faith and belief in Christ as our Lord. We therefore look forward to the day when these children that we have dedicated here today will come forward and proclaim their desire to be baptized.

Since we don't do infant baptisms, we have instead this ceremony that we've conducted here today a dedication or blessing of the children. It is however, not something that lays a responsibility on the children, but a ceremony that lays responsibility directly upon the parents and us as members of this congregation. All of us have just pledged to take a responsibility in the development and growth of these children as Christians and as hopefully future members of this or another Christian Church.

Before we go any further, let's go before God in a moment of prayer and reflection;

O God, to whom belong adoration and praise, prepare us, through the active presence of your Spirit, to come before you rightly. Enlighten our understanding, purify our every desire, quicken our wills, and strengthen every right purpose. Direct this hour of worship to the magnifying of your name, and to the enduring good of us your children and servants, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As I just mentioned, we as Disciples don't believe in doing infant baptisms, but rather we do dedications of our children here before a body of believers and before God. This practice of infant dedications takes it's lead from the incident that we read about Jesus and his family in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 2:22-40 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Jesus Is Presented in the Temple
22 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
31 which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; 34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel,
and for a sign that is spoken against
35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),
that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phan′u-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, 37 and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Return to Nazareth
39 And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Mary because she has given birth to a male child, has had to go through a forty day period of ritual cleansing and has come to the temple as a final step in this process; presenting a sacrifice to the temple. Also, since Jesus is their first child he has been brought to the temple to be presented and consecrated to God. This practice was a reminder of the Exodus, specifically passover. A male child could be 'purchased' back from God, or redeemed at a price of five shekels of silver. Here in Luke's Gospel there is no mention of Jesus being redeemed from the Temple. It's possible that Luke is unaware of this feature of this tradition, as he seems to also be unaware in his writing that it isn't Jesus who is in need of purification. Note that he says “their purification”, but only Mary needs to be purified. Or it's possible that he wishes to imply that Jesus never was redeemed from God and therefore has remained devoted and pledged to God all along.

Whether or not it was the authors intent to portray Jesus as remaining pledged to God, we today certainly look back onto this Gospel and see this as being the case. To our way of seeing, Jesus' role wasn't to be redeemed but rather to be the redeemer. This line of thought is certainly rich in symbolic meaning to us as Christians today.

If you were to ask me, I do think the author meant to portray Jesus as remaining consecrated to God. The two incidents which follow with Simeon and Anna would seem to me to solidify this line of thinking. Both of these elderly individuals are described as being devote and righteous, as well as both have the power of prophecy. Simeon has been told that he will see the Messiah prior to his death and he immediately recognizes Jesus, who we must remember is just a few days old at the time of this incident, as the promised one. Now Simeon can die in peace knowing that the future is secure in the love of God. This child is not only the salvation for Israel but also the revelation to the gentile world, all are to be saved through Christ.

Now beyond the story of the presentation in the temple we see other stories about children in the Gospels. All three gospels stress the importance of children in the ministry of Christ.

Let's look now at the Gospel of Matthew;

Matthew 18:1-7 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
True Greatness
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Temptations to Sin
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

And in the next Chapter of Matthew;

Matthew 19:13-15 - Jesus Blesses Little Children (RSV)

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; 14 but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

And still later in Matthew's gospel;

Matthew 21:15-16Revised Standard Version (RSV)
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant; 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast brought perfect praise’?”

And these same sentiments are echoed in nearly all four of the Gospels. Clearly these are important tenants to the teaching of Christ. Children are central to the ministry of our Lord, they are to be emulated, protected, received and listened to according to the teaching of Christ. It's not only the innocence of the children that endears them to Christ but it's also a continuation of Jesus' ministry to those who are 'outsiders' and who are marginalized. Children didn't occupy a very elevated position in the Jewish society. They were certainly not to be emulated or listened to, Jesus once again has taken a very radical position in his ministry to this wanting and broken world.

The children recognize Jesus for who he is and they in their innocence and unihibited manner cry out to him as the Messiah.  They are another example of the outsiders being the ones who recognize Christ for who he is in this world.

Today, we've dedicated these children to our God. Let us always remember to follow Christ's example and protect them, guide them, welcome them, listen to them and most importantly experience this world and our God's love through their eyes.

In closing, it's only fitting and a great blessing that we have these children come before us to be dedicated at this time. Children who as I said earlier, have such a long family heritage in this congregation, dedicated just as we begin to prepare for our celebration of 150 years as a congregation. It is a wonderful illustration of what this celebration is all about, we look back with pride and fond memories to the past. We take that inspiration and that responsibility into the future. These children and all of the rest of the children that we welcome through these doors are a part of the future for Woodlawn Christian Church. God Bless them each and every one.

Let us close with a prayer;

Dear Father, Abba, we come to you humbly, and freely accept the grace that you provide to us, grace given despite our sins against you in thought, word and deed. Lord, we thank you for your love and forgiveness and we cherish above all else our relationship to you, we also thank you for the relationships that you have blessed us with in our families, our friends, our fellow believers and all our fellow human beings. Truly, all are a part of your grand design and creation. Dear God, let us always be mindful of your directions in this world and let us be your hands and feet in this place. Father, we look forward to the day when through your direction all shall be reconciled to you and to each other.
We pray this in your most Holy and Blessed name, AMEN.

Woodlawn Christian Church, Lake City, IA
WmRoy Karlen photo