“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I
do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in
the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives
to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
Very often, I'm asked to give comfort to people by telling them Sophia's story. This is a response to one of those emails. The email is to L.P. whose grandson, Phoenix, was born with complications. I thought that this email might give some comfort to someone going through the same things with their child. I've adapted it with the grandfather's permission.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. I got your email and paused because I wanted to collect my thoughts. Hearing about your story was like a shot to the chest - it reminded me of everything that we went through with my daughter.
My experience cannot do anything but tell you about what happened to Sophia. My daughter's story is on my blog in various places (Sophia's Reflection) and ("My Little Bump-on-a-Log"). But, hearing about other people's experiences only gave me a little bit of peace, but it would pass as I rocked my daughter and wondered if I would be soon be preaching at her funeral.
Anecdotal peace is just that - anecdotal. It doesn't change the nasty words and long named diseases that they talk to you about as you hold a child whose life is hanging by what seems to be an ever-thinning thread.
The place to go, the place to run, is not my daughter's experience, but your Phoenix's Baptism. That's the only place where we find peace. What you know for sure is that your grand child is baptized. He's a child of God. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not in the womb, not after he came out, not now, not in a few days, happens apart from the Son of God who loved him and gave up His life for your grandson. The only hope, the only peace, is in Christ. The only way we know that God cares for us when it comes to our children is in Christ.
In life. In death. In the resurrection from the dead. The only hope, the only comfort, the only peace is in Christ. Outside of us (extra nos!). For your grandson, for you too.
His Name on our foreheads is who we are, what we are, and what will be. We are children of God in Christ - and nothing - not even death itself will snatch that from us.
In the end, all our days, from in the NiCU, crawling, walking, running, playing, laughing, learning, studying, getting married, having kids, watching them grow up, being proud of them, holding our grandkids, getting old, falling asleep - all of the things that happen day to day are in His hands. Each particular day chosen by Him, given to us as gift, to use caring for others. We know this because for we have a Heavenly Father who didn't spare the apple-of-His-eye, His beloved Son, to save us.
The thin line between life and death has already been clipped by Jesus. He went through our life and our death already. We are baptized. We died with Him. We rose with Him. Sophia has. Phoenix has risen too!
My daughter wasn't supposed to do anything. Now she toddles around! What she can and can't do comes to her as gift from a Heavenly Father who is Jesus-pleased with her. All of it, not one thing left out, happens in her Baptism. Every laugh, every tear when she needs stitches on her chin for falling, everything happens as a gift from her Heavenly Father. Not a thing, even death itself, will take those gifts from her. And if what the doctors once said of her not living very long comes true, then her Heavenly Father has more gifts for her in Christ than we could ever come up on our own. Oh yes, at the moment in which she falls asleep, He will be most of all her Heavenly Father.
"This one is the Lord's." That's the comfort! That's the word I spoke over and over to my daughter. I still do. I speak it to my sons who do all sorts of boy-things. I speak it to my daughter as she toddles around. And if the day should come when their time here with us passes, I will hold them and say it again to them. "This one is the Lord's." And if I should be gifted to run out of days soon, I have no doubt that they learned it from me enough to speak it to me too.
Yours too. He's the Lord's. Trust it. Believe it. Hold Jesus to what He did for Phoenix at His Baptism. In life. In death. Christ is the only hope we have. But... He is the most certain hope there is.
Posted On: October 22nd, 2009 at 12:48am by The Fox
Pastor-it's been a long while since we last corresponded but I am glad to hear your little Sophie is still toddling around. How grateful you and your family must be! How blessed Sophie is, to be in Christ whether here or in eternity.
Your wonderful article reminded me that even in the midst of change, He remains constant.
I'm a new-ish Lutheran. An adult convert of about 2.5 years. I'm still being catechized. I think I have a really good grasp on what we believe, for the most part. I'm still a little hung up on the way Lutherans focus on baptism (rather than just going straight to the promise and the cross). And I understand that baptism saves, but I don't understand completely.
Your blog entries "Sophia's Reflection" and "My little bump-on-a-log" tend to illustrate this kind of usage. I'm perplexed. I want to learn, but I hesitate to approach this subject because it's extra personal to you.
My grandmother was baptized in the Roman Catholic church. She married a the son of German immigrants and joined an Evangelical and Reformed Church that eventually became a United Church of Christ. My grandmother is "saved".. right? So what? What does it mean? My grandmother has faithfully attended her church for 55 years. She is the president of the consistory. She's donated money, food for fundraiser dinners, worked in the thrift shop, and she even did their bookkeeping for many MANY years (unpaid). On her 81st birthday, over dinner, I asked her what "God" meant to her. She told me that she's been a good person and she was good with her money and saved it and that's all she knows. My grandmother trusts in her good works. She doesn't understand Christ at all. What good was the Rite of baptism in the grand scheme of things? Do you think she's going to heaven? I know that Universal Objective Justification is there waiting for her to apprehend it by faith... but she doesn't appear to have any baptismal faith NOW.
We say that baptism creates faith. That's fine for babies. They can't speak for themselves. Doesn't there come a time when there needs to be more than just having been baptized. Fruit of baptismal regeneration?
I know... we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone and not by works so that noone can boast.
Is my grandmother's eternal destination determined by her lack of faith, or by what God did to her in Baptism?
Do you get what I'm asking? If my grandmother looked outside of herself, at the cross... and didn't get it, how could she be assured?
I'm not sure if my question is clear. I'm not sure how to word it better.
My pastor says that sanctification begins at baptism with justification but sanctification continues. What if it doesn't? I would venture to guess that it has not continued in the example of my grandmother.
As Lutherans we trust in the Word of God to save sinners, a title we all deserve.
Baptism is the Word of God. It is visable Word, along with the Lord's Supper. The Lord i active in that Word in that He does forgive our sins and give us new life, and salvation...in spite of our theology.
Your grandmother may be saved, and she may not be. We can't know how merciful the Lord will be to the baptized who don't put their trust in the Lord.
The point is that God adopts us in baptism. It is His promises that are given to us. It is all His doing.
But, people can walk away from their baptisms and not trust the promises.
We ought teach baptized persons, along their life's journey, about the great things that God has done for them in their baptisms.
It is in that spoken Word also, that the Lord give faith, when and where He wills to do so.
I would just remind your grandmother of those facts (of what God has done for her) and leave the rest up to Him.
Posted On: October 30th, 2009 at 8:45pm by Bloghardt[ + ]
Jen,
Great questions! Steve's got great answers to this... I'll only add...
When I first converted to Lutheranism, I had the same questions as you do. I looked at my catechism and thought, "All this baptism stuff seems a bit much - I mean.. it's like what three verses?"
But, keep being catechized! Keep studying the Scriptures! For in the Scriptures you'll why we are so stuck on Holy Baptism! We are stuck on Holy Baptism because the Jesus is stuck on Baptism! Or better, because Jesus takes His Cross and sticks it on us in Holy Baptism.
He marked you. He traces His name on you in Baptism. You died with Him in Baptism. You were crucified with Him in the water! You were buried with Him in Baptism.
You were raised with Jesus in Holy Baptism. You were orn from above in the water. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God - all Baptism talk!
Baptism is all over the Scriptures. No pitting it against the Cross - for in the waters of Baptism, Jesus delivers, makes yours, His forgiveness.
So, to say "I am baptized" is to say "I am Jesus'. He died for me, He rose for me. He ascended for me. I will be where He is, I am already where He is by faith in Him."
Your grandma seems to be looking inside herself, doesn't she? She's lived a good life, etc. You know from your study of the Scriptures that that way ends in death, doesn't it?
So, put Jesus before her eyes! Direct her outside herself - to her Baptism. Remind her that she is baptized! The old way of saving herself died with Christ. She has raised from the dead in Baptism to new life.
And... keep digging in the Scriptures! You'll find in there more and more about your Baptism!
Posted On: October 30th, 2009 at 8:45pm by Bloghardt[ + ]
Jen,
Great questions! Steve's got great answers to this... I'll only add...
When I first converted to Lutheranism, I had the same questions as you do. I looked at my catechism and thought, "All this baptism stuff seems a bit much - I mean.. it's like what three verses?"
But, keep being catechized! Keep studying the Scriptures! For in the Scriptures you'll why we are so stuck on Holy Baptism! We are stuck on Holy Baptism because the Jesus is stuck on Baptism! Or better, because Jesus takes His Cross and sticks it on us in Holy Baptism.
He marked you. He traces His name on you in Baptism. You died with Him in Baptism. You were crucified with Him in the water! You were buried with Him in Baptism.
You were raised with Jesus in Holy Baptism. You were orn from above in the water. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God - all Baptism talk!
Baptism is all over the Scriptures. No pitting it against the Cross - for in the waters of Baptism, Jesus delivers, makes yours, His forgiveness.
So, to say "I am baptized" is to say "I am Jesus'. He died for me, He rose for me. He ascended for me. I will be where He is, I am already where He is by faith in Him."
Your grandma seems to be looking inside herself, doesn't she? She's lived a good life, etc. You know from your study of the Scriptures that that way ends in death, doesn't it?
So, put Jesus before her eyes! Direct her outside herself - to her Baptism. Remind her that she is baptized! The old way of saving herself died with Christ. She has raised from the dead in Baptism to new life.
And... keep digging in the Scriptures! You'll find in there more and more about your Baptism!
Posted On: October 30th, 2009 at 8:45pm by Bloghardt[ + ]
Jen,
Great questions! Steve's got great answers to this... I'll only add...
When I first converted to Lutheranism, I had the same questions as you do. I looked at my catechism and thought, "All this baptism stuff seems a bit much - I mean.. it's like what three verses?"
But, keep being catechized! Keep studying the Scriptures! For in the Scriptures you'll why we are so stuck on Holy Baptism! We are stuck on Holy Baptism because the Jesus is stuck on Baptism! Or better, because Jesus takes His Cross and sticks it on us in Holy Baptism.
He marked you. He traces His name on you in Baptism. You died with Him in Baptism. You were crucified with Him in the water! You were buried with Him in Baptism.
You were raised with Jesus in Holy Baptism. You were orn from above in the water. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God - all Baptism talk!
Baptism is all over the Scriptures. No pitting it against the Cross - for in the waters of Baptism, Jesus delivers, makes yours, His forgiveness.
So, to say "I am baptized" is to say "I am Jesus'. He died for me, He rose for me. He ascended for me. I will be where He is, I am already where He is by faith in Him."
Your grandma seems to be looking inside herself, doesn't she? She's lived a good life, etc. You know from your study of the Scriptures that that way ends in death, doesn't it?
So, put Jesus before her eyes! Direct her outside herself - to her Baptism. Remind her that she is baptized! The old way of saving herself died with Christ. She has raised from the dead in Baptism to new life.
And... keep digging in the Scriptures! You'll find in there more and more about your Baptism!
Posted On: October 30th, 2009 at 8:45pm by Bloghardt[ + ]
Jen,
Great questions! Steve's got great answers to this... I'll only add...
When I first converted to Lutheranism, I had the same questions as you do. I looked at my catechism and thought, "All this baptism stuff seems a bit much - I mean.. it's like what three verses?"
But, keep being catechized! Keep studying the Scriptures! For in the Scriptures you'll why we are so stuck on Holy Baptism! We are stuck on Holy Baptism because the Jesus is stuck on Baptism! Or better, because Jesus takes His Cross and sticks it on us in Holy Baptism.
He marked you. He traces His name on you in Baptism. You died with Him in Baptism. You were crucified with Him in the water! You were buried with Him in Baptism.
You were raised with Jesus in Holy Baptism. You were orn from above in the water. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God - all Baptism talk!
Baptism is all over the Scriptures. No pitting it against the Cross - for in the waters of Baptism, Jesus delivers, makes yours, His forgiveness.
So, to say "I am baptized" is to say "I am Jesus'. He died for me, He rose for me. He ascended for me. I will be where He is, I am already where He is by faith in Him."
Your grandma seems to be looking inside herself, doesn't she? She's lived a good life, etc. You know from your study of the Scriptures that that way ends in death, doesn't it?
So, put Jesus before her eyes! Direct her outside herself - to her Baptism. Remind her that she is baptized! The old way of saving herself died with Christ. She has raised from the dead in Baptism to new life.
And... keep digging in the Scriptures! You'll find in there more and more about your Baptism!
Very often, I'm asked to give comfort to people by telling them Sophia's story. This is a response to one of those emails. The email is to 
My daughter wasn't supposed to do anything. Now she toddles around! What she can and can't do comes to her as gift from a Heavenly Father who is Jesus-pleased with her. All of it, not one thing left out, happens in her Baptism. Every laugh, every tear when she needs stitches on her chin for falling, everything happens as a gift from her Heavenly Father. Not a thing, even death itself, will take those gifts from her. And if what the doctors once said of her not living very long comes true, then her Heavenly Father has more gifts for her in Christ than we could ever come up on our own. Oh yes, at the moment in which she falls asleep, He will be most of all her Heavenly Father.
