New teeth

Our baby has finally sprouted two new front teeth at the top.

Baby talk

She's 8 months old. Just babbling. But this is what it sounds like...

"teddy bear" <-- while looking at a teddy - not bad!

"Oh, bugger!" <-- with a deep sigh.

"you're not my Dad" <-- as I walk past her cot.

Dedication of our baby [Not an infant baptism]

Our miracle baby was dedicated in our morning service yesterday.

All went very smoothly, except that the person typing the dedication liturgy accidentally added the Vicar's male name as an additional middle name for our daughter, which caused the service to come to a complete standstill while every body had a good laugh. We started again, missing out the Vicar's name.

Now don't get too hung-up about the name - this was a dedication, not a christening.

The greatest difficulty for me in moving to the Anglican Church was it's practice of infant baptism. Most of my friends warned me not to go, because this doctrine makes the Anglican Church "in error" (spoken in the tone of voice that indicates heresy rather than a simple mistake). I dismissed them, because I knew the Lord was placing me in this church. But it was still a struggle for me. Surely God knows that this doctrine and practice is unscriptural and actively harmful, making unbelievers think that they are Christians! Yet the Lord did place me in this church.

He has been kind to me, and I have only been present for one infant baptism - for the rest by pure co-incidence I have either been away that day or missed it during a quick toilet break. So I know that he understands how I feel about it.

Now the thing with dedications is that very often they are used by people who don't believe in infant baptism, but still have a cultural urge to have some kind of ceremony or ritual: they still feel a need to have the baby 'done', even if they reject the theology.

Because of this, my own cultural baggage is that my parents were very strongly against me and my siblings being dedicated, and I have inherited their views, and usually been in churches that endorsed those views.

So for my daughter's dedication, I really didn't want this Anglican congregation to be in any doubt about my motives. So I was glad that I was given the chance to speak, and to say that I have not been in the habit of dedicating my children, but that since our daughter arrived only after much prayer and in defiance of medical statistics, therefore we were dedicating her back to the God that had given her to us. Which is also why she has a fantastic name full of deep theology - but I can't explain that on an anonymous blog when she has such a unique name.

Later, the guy in our church who is a former Methodist minister asked me what I meant, and this developed into a very nearly heated discussion in which I challenged him to give me the scriptures that support infant baptism, and he was only able to give me historical and cultural reasons for the emergence of the practice. I regret speaking the way I did, but he should have been able to answer better than he did.

I usually get given the Philipian jailer, who was baptised with all his household, which 'must have included infants'. But read on - it says a few verses further on that 'they all believed'. So it was believers that were baptised.

I am also given Philipians chapter 3, where it links to circumcision, which is of course administered to babies to bring them into the covenant. But of course, circumcision brought the biological descendants of Abraham into the physical covenant with Israel. Christians become spiritual sons of Abraham when they have faith. And so as soon as possible after coming to faith, they are brought into the covenant of faith through Baptism. That is the parallel with circumcision. There is no scripture that teaches that our physical babies are saved by that relationship, and the decline of the church as our children evacuate - whether baptised or not - is evidence plain for all to see.

Now I am cross with myself again, because this was supp0sed to be a post rejoicing in my daughter and I've got side-tracked into narky polemics. But there you go.

Better baby picture

Miracle baby arrives!

Hi

I am thrilled to announce the birth of my daughter on 24th July 2008. (I haven't been able to post this earlier because I left my blogger password at work)

Mrs...being an older mother with a history of miscarriages ...went for a routine check the day before, and they found that the baby had wriggled out of position and was now 'in breech'. So they demanded that she come in for a caesarean the next day.

At 9lb 12oz (4.42kg), it was probably the best thing for her.

Mrs has given her a fantastic name - long and a bit of a mouthful, but with a deep meaning such that her very name is a gospel message wherever she goes, without being embarrasing. Shame this is an anonymous blog!

The first week was increasingly difficult, until we twigged that she wasn't getting enough milk and switched to formula. Instant new baby! She slept 9.5 hours last night. So much for 'breast is best'!

This birth is of the essence of this blog. It is quintessential. A normal life with God is an adventure that leads you to do things that you would not normally do without him. It is a NORMAL LIFE ADVENTURE.

For those that have not been following the story, we are an older couple in our 40s, with 6 other children. I had had a vasectomy owing to my wife's arthritis medicine being harmful to unborn babies. But the Lord called Mrs to have another child. After prayer for healing she was able to come off the drugs (though she still has rheumatoid arthritis), so we sought guidance about vasectomy reversal. My GP laughed his head off, and then told me 101 reasons why it was unlikely to work. I could not get it done on the National Health Service, but a private doctor was much more positive and had me dome within weeks. We got pregnant quickly, but miscarried at 7 weeks. After a longer wait, she became pregnant again but miscarried at 14 weeks. Then we had a long wait, and seriously doubted if we had heard the vision correctly. We had more prayer for pregnancy and healing. eventually, she did become pregnant agian, and this time has carried it to full term. Normally, rheumatoid arthritis flares up after a pregnancy and she has a hard time after the miscarriages, but so far she has been ok with this one (though it's too soon to say for sure). So, God has givin the vision and then he has fulfilled it. (see my post for 21 July 2006)

"I'm confidenent of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it". (Philippians 1:6)