tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post4744700614691260867..comments2024-02-19T05:09:00.099-06:00Comments on Lutheran Confessions: Top Ten Reasons to Purchase Washed and Welcome: A Baptism SourcebookClint Schneklothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00707900080657719369noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-29411038594298675002011-01-01T13:53:57.874-06:002011-01-01T13:53:57.874-06:00Thanks for your comments Suzanne. I agree with mo...Thanks for your comments Suzanne. I agree with most of your assessment, and I apologize if I sound too critical of these resources. Also, Clint, I apologize for using your blog as a place to post these comments, but I’m not sure how or where else to give this kind of feedback. It seems from Suzanne’s comments – and from my re-reading of my own post – that I may not have made my point clear about what I see as shortcomings of this resource. They’re probably relatively minor enough for most pastors and congregations, but they’re enough that will prevent me from being able to use them for now. <br /><br />As I hope I made clear, the “Baptism Sourcebook” is well done and has theological depth and breadth. I simply had hoped – and still hope – that the resources for teaching and preparation would have been of higher print/publication quality so that it would be in a lasting format for that could be used for years and passed from church to parent, and again from parent to child as the child grows. <br /><br />The “101 Ideas” book is indeed a great resource for faith formation, full of great ideas. I think perhaps we do have to disagree on what is overwhelming for readers. For many, the number of pages doesn’t matter. I have asked a number of families to honestly review the book so that I would know how to use it, without giving any feedback of my own. Most of them liked the ideas in the book, but admitted that it would most likely sit on the shelf and be forgotten. “101 ideas” is simply too much for families to use on a consistent basis. <br /><br />I understand these are opinions, and I only intend it to be feedback for Augsburg and its contributing writers. I don’t need to have an ongoing debate about this. I had only hoped that your direction for the two books would have been exactly the opposite of what it is. I would love to have a quality, lasting book for teaching theology to parents and children. On the other hand, it would be great to be able to provide the 101 ideas on a weekly or seasonal basis, connecting families to meaningful rituals for passing on, living, and interpreting faith. <br /><br />Perhaps my hope was too high for this resource, since we are already doing things for baptismal preparation and living that you are trying to create with this resource (based on Clint’s first reason in his original “Top 10” post). Or perhaps my hopes were simply a different direction than that of the publisher and contributing writers. Either way, I am completely aware that you can’t please everyone, and I only intend this to be feedback.pastorjoelhttp://zionloveland.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-34759129538042639272010-12-20T12:04:31.781-06:002010-12-20T12:04:31.781-06:00Joel, I hope to respond with some substantive idea...Joel, I hope to respond with some substantive ideas in the next day or two, but two thoughts. First, I am also very proud of the full resource, including the parent book, and plan to use it with families. If you'd like a workbook for your context, you might consider adapting the worksheets into a print versions that is up to your satisfaction.<br /><br />I like the adaptability of the resource, and think the parents book is very sensitive to the learning context and goals of parents.Clint Schneklothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00707900080657719369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-80051574673185983732010-12-20T11:56:34.810-06:002010-12-20T11:56:34.810-06:00Dear Pastor Joel,
Thank you so much for your kind ...Dear Pastor Joel,<br />Thank you so much for your kind words about Washed and Welcome: A Baptism Sourcebook. Its theological fullness was an intentional aspect of its development. I’m pleased to hear you responded to our survey in the early stages of resource development; we took those responses quite seriously and incorporated much of the feedback we received into the content and design of the Washed and Welcome family. I’m also glad that you see value in the content, if not the format, of the take-home pages for parents, sponsors, and others. While we don’t have plans at this time to publish these particular pieces in a separate book for parents, it is possible that we might consider something like that in the future if enough customers express interest. In the meantime, I would invite you not to dismiss Living the Promises of Baptism: 101 Ideas for Parents too quickly as a tool for faith formation in the home. It contains solid, quality content that supports and encourages parents in their vocation of Christian parenting, and lifts up the promises God makes to us in baptism. Consider, for example, idea 1, which presents several mealtime prayers and helps for making connections between family meals and the meal we share as the body of Christ, holy communion. Or idea 13, which introduces the practice of the Examen prayer to toddlers (recalling happiest and saddest moments from our day). Or idea 37, which offers ideas for teaching a child to pray through basic forms of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Or idea 39, which suggests a way to use Luther’s explanations for the ten commandments to guide a family discussion about what the commandments mean for their family. Or idea 41, which reminds parents that “one of the great gifts we can give our children is the ability to recall God’s scriptural promises during personal crisis and at time of joy, loss, doubt, or loneliness,” and then lists specific biblical passages that could be memorized by parents and children alike. Or ideas 36, 62, and 89, all of which talk about using Bibles at home. The concept behind this book was to provide something substantive, practical, useful, enduring, and beautiful for parents raising a child in faith. At 80 small pages of short, digestible, doable ideas, I’m not sure it qualifies as overwhelming, but we may disagree on this. It is helpfully and colorfully divided into topical sections like Mealtime, Bedtime, Faith at Home, and Celebrating Seasons to make it easy for parents to find their way around the book. This past Saturday at my congregation’s Sunday school Christmas program rehearsal, I gave a copy of this book to each of my preK-K Sunday school families (I teach the 3-5-year-old class) as a gift. Yesterday morning at worship, many of them pulled me aside to express their delight and their appreciation for this resource. Far from being simply “cute and quaint,” their comments indicated that they had actually looked through the ideas and found something valuable there. We purposely kept the price of this book affordable so that congregations could realistically consider gifting a copy to each family presenting a child for baptism, or placing a copy into the type of faith chest you describe. Thanks for providing an opportunity via this post to say more about this terrific book for parents. I’m really proud of this resource, and think it will find wide usage in our congregations.<br />Rev. Suzanne Burke<br />Senior Editor, Worship<br />Augsburg Fortress<br />burkes(at)augsburgfortress(dot)orgAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09264094599659740239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-51987493245266992972010-12-20T11:55:02.728-06:002010-12-20T11:55:02.728-06:00Dear Pastor Joel,
Thank you so much for your kind ...Dear Pastor Joel,<br />Thank you so much for your kind words about Washed and Welcome: A Baptism Sourcebook. Its theological fullness was an intentional aspect of its development. I’m pleased to hear you responded to our survey in the early stages of resource development; we took those responses quite seriously and incorporated much of the feedback we received into the content and design of the Washed and Welcome family. I’m also glad that you see value in the content, if not the format, of the take-home pages for parents, sponsors, and others. While we don’t have plans at this time to publish these particular pieces in a separate book for parents, it is possible that we might consider something like that in the future if enough customers express interest. In the meantime, I would invite you not to dismiss Living the Promises of Baptism: 101 Ideas for Parents too quickly as a tool for faith formation in the home. It contains solid, quality content that supports and encourages parents in their vocation of Christian parenting, and lifts up the promises God makes to us in baptism. Consider, for example, idea 1, which presents several mealtime prayers and helps for making connections between family meals and the meal we share as the body of Christ, holy communion. Or idea 13, which introduces the practice of the Examen prayer to toddlers (recalling happiest and saddest moments from our day). Or idea 37, which offers ideas for teaching a child to pray through basic forms of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Or idea 39, which suggests a way to use Luther’s explanations for the ten commandments to guide a family discussion about what the commandments mean for their family. Or idea 41, which reminds parents that “one of the great gifts we can give our children is the ability to recall God’s scriptural promises during personal crisis and at time of joy, loss, doubt, or loneliness,” and then lists specific biblical passages that could be memorized by parents and children alike. Or ideas 36, 62, and 89, all of which talk about using Bibles at home. The concept behind this book was to provide something substantive, practical, useful, enduring, and beautiful for parents raising a child in faith. At 80 small pages of short, digestible, doable ideas, I’m not sure it qualifies as overwhelming, but we may disagree on this. It is helpfully and colorfully divided into topical sections like Mealtime, Bedtime, Faith at Home, and Celebrating Seasons to make it easy for parents to find their way around the book. This past Saturday at my congregation’s Sunday school Christmas program rehearsal, I gave a copy of this book to each of my preK-K Sunday school families (I teach the 3-5-year-old class) as a gift. Yesterday morning at worship, many of them pulled me aside to express their delight and their appreciation for this resource. Far from being simply “cute and quaint,” their comments indicated that they had actually looked through the ideas and found something valuable there. We purposely kept the price of this book affordable so that congregations could realistically consider gifting a copy to each family presenting a child for baptism, or placing a copy into the type of faith chest you describe. Thanks for providing an opportunity via this post to say more about this terrific book for parents. I’m really proud of this resource, and think it will find wide usage in our congregations.<br />Rev. Suzanne Burke<br />Senior Editor, Worship<br />Augsburg Fortress<br />burkes(at)augsburgfortress(dot)orgAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09264094599659740239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-39650392785540760372010-12-18T19:37:23.128-06:002010-12-18T19:37:23.128-06:00Clint, Beth, and anyone at Augsburg...
I am please...Clint, Beth, and anyone at Augsburg...<br />I am pleased by the theological fullness of "Washed and Welcome" and for the practical resources and helps for church leaders in pre-baptismal instruction. I have been looking forward to this resource since I took a survey, presumably in the early stages of putting this resource together. <br /><br />For years, we have required such instruction before we can even "set a date" for baptism, and have found it incredibly helpful--as you said in your post, as a "covert form of faith formation" for the parents, sponsors/godparents, and anyone else who is able to attend. It is the beginning of a long process we are continuing to adapt in the congregation to put the primary work of faith formation back into the hands of families. <br /><br />I want to comment on one shortcoming that I hope can still be added to this great resource. Though I appreciate the customizable take-home pages available through "Washed & Welcomed," I would rather have them in a quality book that can be used for instruction, and then over and over again by parents as they teach their children. Single-sheet printouts simply don't have the durability, nor the respect from parents to use over and over again. We have been using Erlander's book as a study guide, and finally as a take home resource. The book goes into faith chests that are given to every baptized child, along with a children's Bible, the baptismal candle, and other faith-building resources. If the resources have quality instruction and theology, I would rather forfeit the ability to customize them in exchange for a lasting, durable resource to pass on to parents and their children. The "101 ideas" book isn't that resource. It's cute and quaint, but is a bit overwhelming as a book full of a bunch of ideas, rather than a book of continuing instruction and practical theology for parents to teach the Bible and the importance of baptism in their lives. Are there any chances the take-home pages will be published in a workbook format? I would absolutely crave this resource if so!pastorjoelhttp://www.zionloveland.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-47278559306650710802010-12-14T21:24:21.058-06:002010-12-14T21:24:21.058-06:00Thank you, Beth, for the opportunity to work on su...Thank you, Beth, for the opportunity to work on such a resource. I'm more than proud!Clint Schneklothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00707900080657719369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4020417.post-54191414961449825762010-12-01T12:07:05.910-06:002010-12-01T12:07:05.910-06:00Thanks for your delightful blog post! And, especi...Thanks for your delightful blog post! And, especially, for your help in creating this superb resource for congregations and families. <br /><br />Blessings,<br />Beth Lewis, President & CEO<br />Augsburg Fortress<br />ceo@augsburgfortress.org<br />http://twitter.com/bethalewisBeth Lewishttp://www.augsburgfortress.orgnoreply@blogger.com