The birth of children has been celebrated by parents and families since the dawn of human communities. Often water, which is essential for life, has been significant in these ceremonies. "To baptise" is simply the Greek word for "to dip in water".
Some, out of respect to their Christian tradition as they understand it, prefer simply to welcome, name and ask a blessing for their child. Others happily maintain the association of birth and water.
Dear God,
We gather here together today to celebrate the adoption of Joseph Charles by his one and true "Dad", Jason. We thank you, God, for the blessings of bringing together Jason and Joseph into each others lives and hearts and the joys of seeing their bonds grow in strength. Thank you for bestowing Jason with the virtures of every good and loving Father -- a strong and enduring love, together with patience, kindness, wonder and humor. With Your guidance and Jason's love, we pray for Joseph to grow in the wonders of Your world and follow in the Jason's footsteps when he himself has grown and become a man and a father.
For the gift of a child, whose innocence and laughter keep the world young, we rejoice and give thanks. May Joseph Charles grow abundantly with the blessings of health, love, friendship, knowledge, and wisdom, and in his turn give back richly to the common heritage that endures from generation to generation.
And, for the gift of parenthood made to Jason, we also give our thanks. May he give Joseph security and freedom and love, and may he blessed with much joy, laughter and patience in the divine task of nurture.
Amen.
Giving birth anad nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control;
this is the supreme virture.
---Tao Te Ching
READING:
Children learn what they live.
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hositility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilt.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, helearns to like himself,
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to find love in the world.
---may be by Doothy Law Notte
We welcome you to the community of life on earth and name you _________. May your days be full and long upon the earth and may God's love bless you your whole life through.
We are glad to share the joy of these parents, ________ and ________. With them, we wonder at the miracle of life recreating itself. We promist to uphold them in the task of nurturing their child and dedicate ourselves to building a community in which the possibilities of their child's life may be full realised. We speak their child's name, ________, honoring in him/her the rights and dignities of the human person.
Jesus gave us a beautiful example when he took the little children in his arms and blessed them. Of all God's gifts, that of a child is the most precous. It is in the children that the hope of the world is ever renewed. When, therefore, a child is born it ought to be received with all the loving welcome and gracous care we can bestow. We would join together in thanksgiving to the Giver of life for this new gift; and we would cherish the tender hopes that cluster round this child.
---W. Copeland Bowie
Readings:
They brought children for Jesus to touch. The disciples rebuked them, but when Jesue saw them he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." And he put his arms around them, and blessed them. (Mark's Gospel)
Significance of water:
Praised be you, my Lord through Sister Water, so serviceable, humble, precious and clean.
---St. Francis of Assisi
Baptism:
________, you are baptised in the name of God and in the spirit of Jesus. We welcome you as a member of our family and community of life on earth. May all be well with you in your journey through life.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Prayer:
Give us the spirit of the child.
Give us the child who lives within - the child who trusts, the child who imagines, the child who sings, the child who receives without reservation, the child
who gives without judgement.
Give us a child's eyes, that we may receive the beauty and freshness of
this day like a sunrise.
Give us a child's ears, that we may hear the music of mythical times.
Give us a child's heart, that we may be filled withwonder and delight.
Give us a child's faith, that we may be cured of our cynicism.
Give us the spirit of the child, who is not afraid to need, who is not
afraid to love. Amen.
May the spirit that was i Jesus be in us also, enabling us to know the truth, to do the will of God and to abide in God's peace and love. Amen.
"When a baby is born, it is the symbol of all birth and life, and therefore
all people must rejoice and smile and all people must lose their hearts to
a child."
---Kenneth Patton
This is a service which recognises the continual renewal of life through the waters of baptism. It is an occasion for namin a child, seeking God's blessing on his/her life, and welcomin him/her to life's larger community. It is also a service of thanksgiving for the gift of a son/daugher to ________ and ________; an opportunity for them to dedicate themselves to the nurture of their child; and for us as family and friends to plege our support to them as a family.
Readings:
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of
life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And
though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them
your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may
house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house
of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive
to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not
backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your
children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the
path of the infinite, and bends you with might that the arrows may go swift
and far. Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness; for even as
the Archer loves the arrow that flies, so the Archer also loves the bow that
is stable.
---Kahlil Gibran
Significance of water:
Water is a symbol of life for all life is dependant upon water.
Baptism:
________, you are baptised with water as a symbol of the common life which is in you and in the world about you. We welcome you to the community of life on earth and dedicate you to evrything whcih is beautiful and truthful and good.
Prayer:
For the gift of a child, whose innocence and laughter keep the world young, we rejoice and give thanks. May this new life, which we have accepted into our community of ideals and friendship receive abundantly the blessings of health, love, knowledge, and wisdom, and in her/his turn give back richly to the common heritage that endures from generation to generation. And for the gift of parenthood made to ________ and ________, we also give our thanks. May they and all parents everywhere give their children security and freedom and love, and may they be blessed with much joy, much laughter and much patience in the divine task of nurture. Amen.
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control;
this is the supreme virtue.
---Tao Te Ching
There is a song in man
There is a song in woman
And that is the child's song.
When tat song comes
There will be no words.
Do not ask where they are
Just listen to the song
Listen to it -
Learn it -
It is the greatest song of all!
---Spike Millligan
And so the children come.
And so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come -
Born of the seed of man and woman.
No angels herald their beginning.
No prophets predict their future courses,
No wise men see a star to point their way
To find the babe that may save humankind.
Yet each nigh a child is born is a holy night.
Fathers and Mothers -
Sitting beside their children's cribs -
Feel glory in the wondrous sight of a life beginning.
Each nigh a child is born is a holy night.
---Sophia Lyon Fahs
Know you what it is to be a child? ... It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to belive in loveliness, to believe in belief; itis to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, -- for each child has a fairy god-mother in his/her own soul; it is to live in a nutshell and count yourself the king/queen of infinite space; it is:
To see the World in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eernity in an hour.
---Francis Thompson and William Blake
We owe to each child the best we have to give. This is what it says in the "Declartion of the Rights of the Child", which was adopted unanimously on November 20, 1959 by the General assembly of the United Nations.
Children have rights:
The right to equilaity, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex and nationality
The right to healthy mental and physical development
The right to a name and nationality
The right to sufficient food, housing and medical care
The right to special care if handicapped
The right to love, understanding and care
The right to free education, play and recreation
The right to immediate aid in the event of disasters and emergencies
The right to protection from cruelty, neglect, and exploiation
The right to protection from persecution and to an upbringing in the spirit of sisterhod and brotherhod and peace.
---United Nations
