Ila's Baptism

Ila was baptized yesterday! It was at our church here in Charlottesville done by our good friend Paul Walker, who also married Ross and I four years ago. We asked Thomas Dixon to be Ila’s godfather who came up from Duke to be here with us. All the grandparents and great-grandparents and some aunts and an uncle came too. It was a very meaningful day as we celebrated what Christ has done for us and how that will come to fruition in Ila’s life by the work of the Holy Spirit.

We have been thinking about infant baptism a lot lately, and surely we don’t have it all figured out, but we do know that we really appreciate the way it represents what God did for us through his Son on the cross, “while we were still sinners” and as helpless as a child.

We don’t think infant baptism is some magical moment that locks her into Christianity or good moral standing forever. She will grow up with a mind and heart of her own that will have to wrestle with the same things we did. But we don’t think she merely got sprinkled with water either. The water she was sprinkled with yesterday holds a very long history, and we believe there is power in inviting the Holy Spirit to take hold of her life. We want her to look back on her baptism and be moved by realizing that even into her teenage and adult years, there will still be nothing she can do to earn God’s grace. She can only receive it like a little child on her baptism day . . . bruised and drooling and spilling her crackers everywhere. Though it made for some interesting pictures, I love that on her baptism day she had a big bruise on her forehead and a scratch on her chin that she had gotten just a few days before. Though she was “bruised and broken” she was covered in a beautiful white garment, the same way Jesus covers us in our sin with his grace and love. As Galatians 3:27 says, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Thanks be to God that we are fully loved and fully accepted AS WE ARE. Here are some pics from the day . . .