While a bit afield of the usual focus of this blog, this news item caught my attention and does have some relevance to Presbyterian polity and theology:

The Scotsman has a news article on a Stewart family in Leith who asked to have their son baptized at North Leith Parish Church and they were declined since the parents were not married but had been living together for six years.  While it appears that this couple does not regularly attend the church there is a family connection to the parish.  This situation is in contrast to South Leith Parish Church across town where the pastor last summer baptized the son of celebrity musician Rod Stewart who likewise was not married (but engaged) to the child’s mother.  It is not clear that Rod and his family have a connection to South Leith.

The Church of Scotland, according to the article, leaves the question of baptisms up to the pastor.  The pastor at North Leith appropriately spoke generally for the article about baptisms, but would not comment on specific individuals.  The pastor at South Leith could not be reached for comment for the article.  While there is much more behind this that we do not know, on the surface it leaves the impression that celebrity has it’s privileges.

How do we view baptism within our polity?  How seriously do we take this sacrament, the parent’s vows and the congregation’s vows?  Not an idle question at the moment since the theology of baptism is central to the Federal Vision controversy.

If you want an interesting, and very Presbyterian, view of this I would recommend the chapter “Christmas Baptism” in the book The Good News from North Haven by Michael Lindvall.  While holding the importance of the community very high, it exposes the ways that our sessions sometimes work.