With the arrival of each new grandchild, our family has developed a little liturgy. (This just sort of happened; it wasn’t really planned). After the birth and after the initial regrouping of the family, we are all called into the room to meet the child and hear the name. Then Doug puts his hand on the little one’s head and says, “Welcome to the Covenant!” It is a fitting announcement! One more little covenant member added to the swelling number! And I don’t mean just the number in our own family, but in the community of believers. And think about what a number it is!
Our little grandkids are growing up knowing who they are and who their people are. They are Christians. They worship the Triune God of Scripture. And they are Merkles and Wilsons and Jankovics. There has never been a moment in their lives when they weren’t sure of who they were. They have been worshiping God since they were freshly born. At some point they begin to take in the surroundings, to lift their hands and bow their heads and even say the Apostles Creed with us. But from the very beginning they are included as we gather to worship. They have never been outsiders.
This is a tremendous blessing to the children in our family and in our congregation. God blesses His people and His people know who they are. Our own children knew they were Wilsons from the very beginning. Why would our heavenly Father want His children to be unsure of their family connection? Would your own father give you a rock instead of bread? Of course not. How much more our heavenly Father delights to give us Himself.
And so we welcomed in two new little granddaughters in the last few months (Marisol being born in December). God is filling the earth with His goodness and grace!
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What a precious family liturgy. Praise be to God for all the new Covenant children!
It is beautiful to see them grow with no doubt as to being part of the covenant. My son can only say a few words, but if you ask him Who made him he shouts “DOD!”
Amen and Amen to His covenant and His covenant children.
AWESOME!
Congratulations, Nancy, but my wife and I are a little confused. Isn’t saying that the children “have been worshiping God since they were freshly born” a contradiction to the biblical teaching that children are born in sin and as such DON’T worship God, but themsleves?
wow, beautifully written! Welcome to the covenant, indeed. Congratulations to you all on the addition.
Nate and Jen,
Can children have faith in the womb? Or does sinfulness preclude this possibility?
Consider if we, as adult Christians, can call ourselves both worshippers and sinners at the same time. Due to our descent from Adam, we are fallen. Due to our covenant membership we are known to have faith and be forgiven worshippers.
This view, infant-faith, requires the belief that saving faith may start in seed form as basic reliance on God even from the womb. And we can see this nicely put in the Psalms.
Psalm 51 is the primary text that comes to my mind to show infant depravity. But that same David says things presuming faith in infant Israel like:
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’”
(This is actually Jesus Quoting Ps 8 in Mt 21.16, ESV)
And David also says:
“9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”
(Ps 22.9-10)
Another Psalm (unattributed) says:
“5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you”
(Ps 71.5-6)
I hope this is helpful.
This is so beautiful!
Speaking of children, what do you think is the best way to help kids handle things like people who wear tshirts with the f-bomb in full-blown uppercase at the mall? Or some of the ads displayed in shop windows? My older two are 10 and 8, and things are no longer going over their heads. Do we just stay out of the mall (which in Austin summers is the place to hang out and cool off)? For instance my daughter gets angry about magazine covers, my 8 year old son gets embarassed, my 5 year old son bursts out in laughter. We talk about what they see, but what do you think is the best way to direct the conversations?
I’m willing to stay out of the mall and even write letters to CEOs as to why we’re not shopping there, but then there are things they see even at Barnes and Noble or Target that will spark conversations. Do I just look at this as a part of dealing with the world and not worry about it? Some of the ads in store windows are pornographic (Luis Vuitton was disgusting), some even obviously homosexual. Help!
This is beautiful, Nancy. Blessings on your growing numbers. I remember when Zac was three, and was grasping some deep spiritual lesson of some sort, he piped up quite enthusiastically, “I love to obey, and the Hurts aren’t going to hell!” We called it three year old Covenant theology.