Also this morning, we had one of the most moving infant dedications I've been to for a while.
The couple had a daughter of about four and a son who'd been born very prematurely and struggled for a while. But now at just over a year was a strapping lad and they'd come to give thanks.
As part of the service, various members of the church bought the child gifts that symbolised hopes and dreams for him - a book for his learning the story of the world and God, a toy for him to develop a sense of adventure and playfulness, anticeptic cream in thankfulness that he had come through the dark valley of ill health into a place of relative vitality, and so on
It was very moving to see the church symbolise its hopes for and welcome of this new arrival in this very tangible way. So this is another thing I'll be thinkiing of introducing back home.
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1 comment:
Sounds great! As a student I worked for a while with a church who always gave three gifts...
A Salvadorean cross
A candle/tealight
A card with a dove on it
They also arranged that the gifts should be given by people of different ages and genders, and different roles in the church. So, for example, a child might represent Junior Church and give the cross, whilst an older adult might give the card, and so on. It worked pretty well.
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