In keeping with Christ the King Church’s commitment to celebrate our children’s faith milestones, we recognize the “milestone of language” in our congregation’s three-year-olds on the Sunday of The Baptism of Our Lord, January 7. This celebration of the transition from infant to toddler recognizes the importance that language plays in the shaping of faith. Our families with three-year-old children will approach the altar rail during the liturgy and receive Luther’s Small Catechism. The Catechism is a book for parents and has been cherished over centuries in the Lutheran tradition as a guidebook to find answers to those questions that our children have in relation to the realm of faith.
Martin Luther wrote in the language of his day: “Every father of a family is a bishop in his house and the wife is a bishopess. Therefore remember that you in your homes are to help us carry on the ministry as we do in the church.” When Luther wrote this in 1528, he and Katie were still new in their roles as bishop and bishopess of their household with their oldest son being only two years old. The members of Christ the King Lutheran Church take this annual opportunity to express our support for the important work that parents do at home and at church in the area of faith. (See Children growing in the Church).