Assimilation Fall 1990

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Daniel Lake wrote a letter and read it at the dedication of two infants in his church as, he said, "an attempt to bring creativity to a service that easily could slip into prosaic ritual." He gave copies to each set of parents to be given to the children as a "time capsule" for when they make a profession of faith. Here in abbreviated form, the letter offers one way to begin the process of assimilating the children of believers.

"I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so shipwrecked their faith" (1 Tim. 1:18-19).

Dear Jennifer and Justin,

We are here with you today, as if on a mountaintop, looking far across a broad sea to another mountaintop. The peaks and all the space between represent your lives. We are happy to be here with you on this special, forward-looking day.

Nobody sought your opinion in this matter of being presented to the Lord. Your parents brought you here to recognize and thank God publicly for the gift of your lives. They are here, also, to make a commitment to provide a home where the name of Jesus is honored, to be Christian examples, to participate with you in an extended Christian family (we call that "the church"), and to pray for you. The purpose in all these things is to insure that, when the day comes, you will choose to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of your lives.

Ours is not a faith based on magic or superstition. Nothing in the laying on of hands, nothing in any of the prayers uttered or promises made can insure that you will choose to become Christians. We are simply acting in faith with a strong appeal to Divine grace.

The world and the Devil have ...

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