[Seekers Church] [Write us] [Fair Use] [Seekers Liturgies] [Liturgy Inserts]

Child of Blessing, Child of Promise

 

Child of blessing, child of promise,

baptized with the Spirit's sign;

with this water God has sealed you

unto love and grace divine.

 

Child of love, our love's expression,

love's creation, loved indeed! 

Fresh from God, refresh our spirits,

into joy and laughter lead.

 

Child of joy, our dearest treasure,

God's you are, from God you came. 

Back to God we humbly give you;

live as one who bears Christ's name.

 

Child of God your loving Parent,

learn to know whose child you are. 

Grow to laugh and sing and worship,

 trust and love God more than all.

 

 

 

 

Seekers Church

A Christian Community

In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Samuel Shaw Benson

Celebration of Baptism

 

 

 

Rob and Cristy Benson, Parents

Sue and Rich Lindberg, Grandparents

 Anne and Fred Benson, Grandparents

Mabel Benson, Great Grandmother

Brian and Caroline Wells Pence, Godparents 

Marjory and Peter Bankson

---

 

 

Sunday, July 28, 2002

During Worship

WELCOME              

 

REFLECTION

Welcome to this joyful celebration -- the baptism of Peter Benson.  Peter, would you bring your parents down here to the front of the sanctuary?

 

Jesus said:  "Unless we are born anew, we cannot see the reign of God; unless we are born of water and the Spirit, we cannot enter into God's new order."

 

The sacrament of baptism is an outward and visible sign of the grace of God.  Since the promise of the gospel is not only to us but also to our children, baptism with water and the Holy Spirit is the mark of their acceptance into the care of Christ's church, the sign and seal of their participation in God's forgiveness, and the beginning of their growth into full Christian faith and discipleship.

 

[Hold up the water pitchers in turn.]

 

This water comes from three places, representing different elements in the life of this family.  Some water is from the Lake of the Saints at Dayspring, the retreat center near us here in Washington, DC that sustains and nourishes so many of us.  This water represents his birth, and the families and communities here that have waited with great expectations. 

 

There is seawater from Sand Beach on Mount Dessert Island, on the seacoast of Maine, where Cristy and Rob and Peter will be making their home.  This is the place where this child will grow into a new community of love and care. 

 

And there is also water from the highlands of Guatemala, where hardy people struggle to maintain their lives on the land of their ancestors.  This water represents the wider world that calls each of us to acts of love and compassion. 

Mixed together, this water of baptism carries the life and the hope of a peaceful world to come.  As these waters flow together in our midst, let us recognize that we are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

 

 

FAMILY COMMITMENT

Leader:     Do you desire to have your child baptized into the faith and family of Jesus, who is the Christ?

 

Family:     We do.

 

Leader:     Will you encourage and help this child to nurture his relationship with God -- Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit?  Will you help him celebrate the Good News in Christ, and respond joyfully with his life as the grace of God gives him freedom?

 

Family:     We will, with the help of God.

 

Leader:     As he grows, will you teach your child to care for the whole of creation, to foster justice and be in solidarity with the poor, and to work for the ending of all war, both public and private?

 

Family:     We will, with the help of God.

 

Leader:     Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ's disciples, to follow in the way of our Savior, resisting oppression and evil, showing love and justice, and witnessing to the work and word of the Risen Christ as best you are able?

 

Family:     We do, with the help of God.

 

 

 

 

COMMUNITY COMMITMENT                 

Leader:     Christ calls us to bring the good news to all nations, offering them the gift of grace in baptism.  Do you who witness and celebrate this sacrament promise your love and support for this child as he moves with his family to a new community, another expression of the body of Christ?

 

People:    We promise our love, support and care, and will welcome him and his family to our table whenever we are together.

 

Leader:     Let us unite with the church in all times and places in confessing our faith in God.  Do you believe in God, the Creator, father and mother to us all, ground of our being, who loves, sustains and calls us?

 

People:    We do.

 

Leader:     Do you believe in Jesus, the Christ, the Redeemer of Creation, who calls us to a ministry of love and justice?

 

People:    We do.

 

Leader:     Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer, the empowering presence and breath of God, who confronts and inspires us to do God's work in the world?

 

People:    We do.

 

 

 

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Let us pray.

 

We thank you God, for the gift of creation called forth by your saving Word.  Before the world had shape and form, your Spirit moved over the waters.  Out of the waters of the deep you formed the firmament and brought forth the earth to sustain all life.

 

In the time of Noah you washed the earth with the waters of the flood, and your ark of salvation bore a new beginning.

 

In the time of Moses your people Israel passed through the Red Sea waters from slavery to freedom and crossed the flowing Jordan to enter the promised land.

 

In the fulness of time you sent Jesus, the Christ, who was nurtured in the water of Mary's womb.  Jesus was baptized by John in the water of the Jordan, became living water to a woman at the Samaritan well, washed the feet of his disciples as an act of compassion, and sent them forth to baptize all nations by water and the Holy Spirit.

 

And in our time, you offer us water as a fundamental element of life, and symbol of just how deeply we are connected to each other and to your Creation.  This water of baptism came from three places: the Lake of the Saints at Dayspring, the seacoast of Maine, and the highlands of Guatemala.  Mixed together, this water of baptism carries the life and the hope of a peaceful world to come.

 

O Holy God of water and the Word, bless by your Holy Spirit this water.  Lift those who follow Christ beyond the corrosive power of sin.  Create new life in us, and most especially in this child baptized today that he may grow in Christ.  And may the mysterious power of your presence keep this world ever in the loving presence of Christ the Redeemer.  Amen.

 

THE BAPTISM

 

[Take Peter from the parents.]

 

Leader:     Cristy and Rob, what name have you given this child?

 

Parents:   Peter Samuel Shaw Benson

 

[Wet Peter's head three times.]

 

Leader:     Peter Samuel Shaw Benson, you are baptized in the name of God, the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. 

 

All:      Amen.

 

PRAYER OF BLESSING                           Sue Lindberg

 

HYMN OF BAPTISM