Portico Church

This last Sunday we held our first “baby dedication.”  Five babies were dedicated, the families were prayed over, extended families joined in – it was a meaningful moment in the lives of these families and the life of Portico.  

As we discussed during the evening, though we call this a baby dedication, at the heart of it we are really dedicating, or promising, ourselves to the baby.  Through this observance, we are communicating several things.  First, the parents are expressing their commitment to guide the child into a life lived in the way of Jesus.  As is reflected in the Shema, Deut 6:4-9, this kind of guidance occurs in various ways through the course of life.  Next, the child’s older brothers and sisters also participate in this process, sharing what they’ve learned and experienced.  

But this commitment does not stop with the immediate family.  As members together in the family of God, all of us who are part of Portico recognize our opportunity and responsibility to guide and protect, support and encourage both the child being dedicated and his or her family as well.  And just as the brothers and sisters of the child participate in this commitment, so also do the children and students of Portico.  All of us, young and old together, share in various ways the responsibility of teaching the babies among us what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

And in the midst of explaining this on Sunday, I began to recognize the true value of our dedication ceremony.  It is not that anything changed eternally or ontologically for the babies because of this ceremony.  Nothing new began relationally between these five babies and the rest of Portico that did not exist a moment before.  None left cleaner or happier, more secure, or with fresher breath.

In short, the value of this time of dedicating babies is that we are reminded of the kind of life that God calls us to live together as His children.  We have the opportunity to illustrate in a very tangible way how this calling plays out in life.  We also are reminded of how challenging it is when we try to navigate life alone and what a blessing it is to have others walk with us.  

May this time of celebrating children and recognizing in yet another way our commitment as family to each other lead us into ever deepening relationships.  And may these experiences in life together elicit profound praise for the One who so graciously provides for our needs.