As
you prepare for the baptism of your child, one of the first
things I will do is to fix a time when I can visit you
in your home, and we can chat about these things.
Baptism is a foundational stage in the journey of faith. This
is a journey which will last for the whole of our lives. There
have been occasions when I have visited elderly people in our
parish and they have taken great delight in showing me their
baptism certificate from eighty years ago or more! So it is
important that we have the chance to get to know one another
from the outset, as we will then journey together in faith
over the coming months and years.
This will also be an opportunity when you can ask any questions
about the meaning of baptism, or about the practicalities of
the service.
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In
addition, I will record the details that will later be
written up in our baptism registers. (You may be interested
to know that the registers in our parish date right back
to the 1500s when King Henry VIII issued a decree that
all churches should maintain parish registers.)
We will also discuss possible dates for the following stages
of our baptism preparation:
* the act of thanksgiving and blessing within
a Family Service;
* the baptism preparation classes;
* the baptism service itself;
* a date to be welcomed into the Church
Family and to receive
the baptism
certificate.
In the following notes I will describe each of these stages
in more detail.
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