Baptized

Last Sunday, April 27, we had the sweet honor of watching our dear little Kees Isaiah get baptized.

This was special for us for so many reasons. First of all because Matthew and I are big fat Calvinists and HUGE fans of infant baptism. To watch our dear child be inducted into the covenant faithfulness of our God is a fantastic, humbling, awe-filled experience. Secondly it was special because we have prayed long and hard for a church that we would be excited to be apart of, and we have been called to a sweet church family called Sanctuary CRC. To be able to celebrate Kees' baptism and hear their words of affirmation to participate in his raising as a child of God was powerful. Thirdly, ALL of our immediate family was there! That was both a surprise and a very special treat.

The big surprise of the morning was that Matt's sister, Karla, was unexpectedly here from Alaska with the boys brand new baby cousin, Henry. Oh boy, oh boy. Calvin and Kees were completely enamored and smitten. And ALL Kees wanted to do was see "baby". And yes, this created some problems :). 

Matthew speaking ... (text below)

Grandma with our children who wanted nothing to do with being baptized ... they just wanted to sit by baby Henry. 

Completely in-compliant. This is why infant baptism should actually be done on INFANTS. They protest much less.  I'm just saying. 

But as soon as the water touched his head, he calmed. That was a beautiful moment. 

Dear sweet Kees, child of the covenant. 

We realize that in this era of personal choice, infant baptism has become unpopular and often people can be a little judgey that you are taking away your child's "choice" to affirm their belief in God later in life through believer baptism. Honestly though, that's part of why I love it. Because ultimately, God will call and claim Kees' life and heart for His good purposes and glory. As a parent, I take great comfort in the fact that my child's salvation does not lie in his ability to choose Christ, but in Christ's sovereignty to pursue and claim Kees as a child of God. I would like to put the emphasis there, on what Christ will do ... and pray that Kees will respond with open arms as God calls him.

Of course, those are just my ramblings. Here is what my much more poetic husband wrote and read prior to the little man's baptism:

I read the following three reasons why Heather and I hate/love baptism in our church.

1) The first reason Heather and I hate/love that Kees was baptized today is this, ever since he was born we have been anxiously trying to keep this little guy alive. In fact it feels sometimes like everything we do is aimed at keeping Kees healthy, safe, and… well… breathing.

Now the reason we might just hate this baptism thing is that… well… his baptism is symbolic of his death, his actual drowning in water. We are, in fact, handing our little child over to a church that wants to celebrate his death, his death in Christ. What a dark, macabre community this is. As Paul says in Romans “By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death.” How could any parents love celebrating their child’s funeral? No, Heather and I hate this day because we don’t want little Kees to share in ANYBODY’S death.

But then again… maybe we actually love this day. Maybe we love knowing that ultimately Kees’ life and death, his security and his soul do not depend upon our parenting agility, acumen, or skill but upon the grace and promise of Christ. Maybe we love today because it reminds us that our illusion of control over Kees’ life is just that an illusion. Kees rests safe, not in our arms, but in Christ’s.

2) The second reason we hate/love this baptism is that all of you out there are strange, incompetent people, who we barely know. Why on earth should we as Kees’ rightful biological parents turn our precious son over to you? We have not finger-printed, examined, or prescreened any of you. We hate that today Kees is joining a family that is beyond our understanding or our control.

But then again… maybe we love it. Maybe we love more than anything that today we as parents are not alone. Maybe we love knowing that Kees now has billions of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles all over the world. Black ones and white ones, poor ones and rich ones, conservative ones and liberal ones. Maybe we love knowing that he is going to grow up learning that he belongs to something much bigger than “the Kaemingks.”
Maybe we love that you strange people are included in all of this.

3) The last reason Heather and I hate/love this baptism is that we are inducting Kees Isaiah into a dangerous life that will not be easy, comfortable, or safe. As his parents, we want him to be secure, happy, prosperous, and comfortable.

We hate that we are binding Kees to a jealous God, a God that will demand a lot of him… no… a God that will demand all of him. Moreover, we hate what is happening today because we are yoking our precious son to a community that will ask him to take risks, to sacrifice, to put himself last. When our son seeks first his own flourishing and safety…. this community, Sanctuary, will ask him to put it at risk for the flourishing of others. We hate this because this God and this community is going to tell our son to live a life that is vulnerable, that is at risk, that is open to a dangerous and broken world. Kees could and will get hurt by this and we hate that.

But then again… maybe we love it.Maybe we know deep down that the world’s promises of safety, security, and prosperity are fleeting. Maybe we know, they are lies. Maybe we know that while Kees’ life in Christ will have trials and tears, it will be through those moments of sacrifice of generosity that he will learn to die and live in Christ, and in that we as his parents know that Kees will experience a deep and hardened joy, one that can endure anything the world can throw at him.

And maybe, just maybe, we his parents can and will learn to love that too... God helping us.

That Matthew is quite eloquent :).

After the big event, we came back to our house for brunch and were able to capture some fun family pics.

Everyone!

The Kaemingk/Turner clan 

The Graham's

And our little Kaemingk family

This kid KILLS me. Could he be any cuter?! I mean, for reals. 

Siblings!

These boys LOVE their new baby cousin. Kees especially. Calvin keeps saying, "baby Henry is sooo cute!" 

Lots of love. 

Anyways, it was such a special day and I just wanted to be sure to put it all here to document it. Welcome to the family of God Kees Isaiah!