Gabriel's Dedication

We had Mr. Gabriel's dedication at church this morning.

All I can say is:

Wow

I was completely undone during the service. We started going to this church about 7 months ago, so this was the first dedication our family has experienced at this church.

Gabriel's dedication was so touching and personal...I don't know when I've cried so much in church.

Our pastor, Chris, first read from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I smiled when Chris said he was going to be reading from Deuteronomy. I knew exactly where he had to be going. I love these verses. This is the reason we homeschool, verse 7 specifically (but that is another post). In fact, I had just attached these verses to the post I did on Thursday announcing Gabriel's dedication.

Chris then asked Jas and I the following questions, to which we responded "We do":

Do you recognize that this child is a gift of God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing?

Do you now dedicate your child to the Lord who gave this baby to you, surrendering all worldly claims upon this child's life in the hope that they will belong wholly to God?

Do you pledge as parents that, with God's fatherly help, you will bring up your child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into this child's life?

Do you promise to provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of your child, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them?

Do you promise to make it your regular prayer that, by God's grace, your child will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of his sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings?

Chris then turned toward the congregation and asked the members of the church to also take a pledge:

Do you promise to help these parents by making this child a priority in the life of this congregation, by praying for him, by loving him as your own, and teaching him to walk in the ways of the Lord?

And finally, Chris asked for members of our community group and others in our lives to come up and pray over us.

It was such a touching and humbling experience.

We take extremely seriously the responsibility to raise and train up our precious children. We teach them here in our home about many things...knowing that the most important thing we will every teach them is to know and love the Lord. We are grateful for the opportunities He's given us - the treasures He's given us - to do this.