Putting on Christ

In preparing for preaching, I went to one of my regular sites, the Ekklesia Project blog.  The commentator, Janice Love, dealt with all of the texts of this Sunday's lectionary in a way that is beautiful and challenging. Of course, as I somewhat expected since this week's theme within the series is "Passionate Worship," Love's comments don't exactly move in the direction God is leading me this Sunday.  However, I would encourage anyone who is reading the lectionary texts this week to ponder Love's remarks.

I was especially drawn to her connection of Baptism and putting on Christ with putting on clothes. At this point our son is not putting on clothes himself, but we're laying the ground work for it.  Perhaps we should be explaining everything that we're doing to him in more detail than simply saying, "Let's put on your shirt."  And in this, it makes me ponder our own methods of discipling young children.  The liturgy for the Baptismal Covenant for the United Methodist Church includes this question for the parents and sponsors of children:

Will you nurture these children

in Christ's holy church,

that by your teaching and example they may be guided

to accept God's grace for themselves,

to profess their faith openly,

and to lead a Christian life?

It also includes this congregational prayer:

With God's help we will proclaim the good news

and live according to the example of Christ.

We will surround these persons (those baptized)

with a community of love and forgiveness,

that they may grow in their service to others.

We will pray for them,

that they may be true disciples

who walk in the way that leads to life.

In these, our promises made to our children in the midst of the worshipping congregation, we have a model of discipleship.  It goes something like this: "Let's put on Christ this way when we go to school"; "Let's put on Christ this way when we are mad"; "Let's put on Christ this way when we pray and study"; "Let's put on Christ this way when we serve others."

The point of teaching our children how to dress themselves with phrases like, "The tag goes in back" is that eventually they'll be able to dress themselves.  So too is the point of all ministry with children that they may, by the Spirit's prompting be able to confess Christ as Savior and Lord, and commit to following him that they might be more and more like him by the grace of God.

And now the hard question: is what we as parents, grandparents, and God-loving church people do working toward this mission or toward something else?