Another Child of the Covenant

Anneliese was baptized this morning. I have pondered and prayed about this baptism a lot since some friends had an incredibly thought-provoking discussion on the subject back in September. We knew we wanted to have Nathan baptized, and his baptism was a wonderful and sacred experience for our family. But this time around, I feel so much more grounded in what I know and believe about the sacrament.

Anneliese's baptism is an outward sign of an inner conviction that God is already at work in her life, and will continue to be. Her baptism is by no means the beginning or end of her faith walk, it's simply a sign to mark her as as being child of the new covenant brought by Jesus. We believe that being a child of God is something God makes happen, not something we make happen. So while Mark and I did make a vow to love Anneliese and nurture her in the ways of our faith, her baptism was not as much a dedication of our child to God (although it is that, too) as our affirmation that she's already God's.

Today was also special because the pastor who did it (Clark, our Sunday school teacher, who's our age and is more like a peer-pastor if there is such a thing) had never done a baptism before. He didn't even know how to hold a baby; we had to practice beforehand. :) But he did great, and I liked that Anneliese got to be his first one. She did cry, but only a little. And the congregation laughed! I'm not sure what happened actually, maybe they just thought she had sort of a funny cry. :)(Or maybe it's just what Clark said -- everyone likes to see pastors sweat, which is probably true.) You can see the baptism in the video below:

It was also nice that my Bible study teacher for three years, Robert, was the assisting elder. And our good family friend, Mary, was the youth service assistant today. (No, that wasn't a coincidence.) Here are the people who came in support of Anneliese:

The Canavos family (our neighbors), my dad and stepmom, my mom, our pastor Clark, Uncle Nick and Aunt Barbara, Mark's mom, Mary, and Robert... all supporting our little family!

For some reason the rest of the Cham-fam ducked out of the picture, but Mary's parents and brother Hayes, who are like our family away from family, were of course also there. And our friend "Another Nathan" was there but he was busy with music stuff so he isn't in the picture. And my sister planned to come but she was sick this weekend so she couldn't make it, which is a bummer. But we know she's supporting Anneliese in absentia. :)

Afterwards we had everyone over for pizza and cake and kool-aid (oh yeah, I'm the hostess with the mostest). I feel blessed to have so many people who love and support our family and our daughter.