TJ’s Baptism @ Wesley Methodist Church 9 Dec 07

 

The service was held at 5pm, and together with the other babies and young children, TJ Tan was welcomed into God’s family last Sunday. I like to think that on that day, the angels were cheering and God was smiling. TJ, on the other hand, slept through most of the service in my arms, including his baptism. He did wake up near the end of the service, and D had to take him outside before he started to fuss.

Since this will be his first church service, TJ wore his Sunday best (from Fox Baby, I like the current streetwear design) and my mum thinks he looks good in it. D thinks that TJ is definitely his “Handsome Boy”.

Prior to the baptism, parents were required to attend a prep class that was held over two Saturdays. The first one was on Christian parenting, a talk by the psychologist Danny Ng; while Pastor-In-Charge Melvin Huang talked about the Methodist practice of Infant Baptism the following Saturday.

“Baptism is an outward and visible sign of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Methodist Book of Worship)

“Let the children come to Me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14)

Some people, my mum being one of them, commented that we should not make the decision, ie to be baptised, for TJ when he can’t even make one right now. That he should be given the choice.

Yes, indeed the children are too young to decide for themselves, but as Christian parents, we have accepted Christ and been accepted to His family, and it’s our God-given responsibility to decide for our children. In fact, if we don’t decide, we would have failed in our duty as Christian parents.

Even though we have decided for TJ so early in his life, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a choice when he is older. It doesn’t mean he is “forced” into accepting Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour later in life, just ‘cos he was baptised when he was just two months old.

TJ does have a choice as he would have to confirm his baptism (by attending the Baptism membership class and going through the Confirmation service before the congregation) later in life. He could very well not accept Christ and end up with different beliefs, but it is our prayer that he doesn’t.

Actually D and I had to answer this question during the Baptism service, “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?” In other words, it is our God-given duty as parents to show TJ what it means to be a Christian, in all that we say and do, so that he will come to know Christ and make that decision to accept Christ when he is able to.

 

Anyway, TJ’s baptism is a small family affair, no grandparents, no relatives other than my brother, who was the photographer. Other photos on webshots.

Since D missed TJ’s birth, I had requested that he return to Sgp for TJ’s baptism. It was an “extra” trip back, something that wasn’t quite planned, but D did return home on Thursday night and left for HK yesterday evening (SQ tics courtesy of yours truly). He will be home again for Christmas, a good two weeks.