BAptism

In my series of sermons about the church we come to Baptism this week. Here is a snippet from my opening thoughts (more found here)

But for me the most important part of the baptism service is the two promises. One is the promise by the parents to share the faith. The other is the promise by the congregation to be there to help/support/guide in that sharing of the faith. Many congregations I have been in are very quick to complain about parents failing to live up to their promise, to talk about how we see them at baptism but rarely (or never) again. But I have to ask, how good are our congregations at living up to their promise? Is it enough to say, "we are here" and "we have a SUnday School program"? SOme congregations name a sponsor to be there for the family, a contact point as it were. But does that make much difference? How do we all live out the promises we make at baptism to raise our children with a knowledge of God made known in Jesus of Nazareth? Could we find ways to do it better?