• Baptising

  17/06/2013

  There are few more joyful things to do in this world than a baptism service. Yesterday I got to baptise someone called Theodore, which of course means Gift of God. He rather enjoyed proceedings and I’ve seldom held a child more keen to jump right into the font.

  People sometimes comment on how much babies seem to enjoy being baptised at St Mary’s. Some older folk sometimes say, “I thought they were supposed to cry….” to which I reply, “…and I think it is nicer if they don’t”.

  Sometimes people even come out with that old medieval nonsense that the cry of a baby at a baptism is the devil coming out. Here’s your theology starter for 10: the devil ain’t in there in the first place.

  If you want to make a baby cry at a baptism, here are the instructions:

  • hold them upside down
  • hold them so they can’t see anyone they know
  • use cold water
  • flick the water in their face with a large, hard shell
  • hold them as though you are frightened you are going to drop them.

  Otherwise,

  • hold them so they can see what’s going on – sitting on the side of the font is a good start
  • surround them with a sea of happy smiling faces
  • warm up the water
  • talk to them and mean what you say
  • keep parents in sight and free from anxiety themselves
  • lots of splashes

  baptism, how to baptise

Previous Posts

• Comments Off

  09/05/2006

  Sorry, I’ve been getting a lot of comment spam recently, so I’ve turned off comments. I’ll look into what I can do to sort it out when I’ve got time – probably sometime after the end of next week.

• Madam Away

  08/05/2006

  Madam has been taken to Cat Prison and will not return to Bridge of Allan. When I pick her up, it will be to take her to her new residence in Glasgow. She is in a new Cat Prison, which is twice the price of her old one. Still, at least she has lovely pots…

• The doorbell rings

  05/05/2006

  The doorbell rings, momentarily drowning out the noise of another piper playing at another wedding over the road. The delivery man at the door grins at me and says – "I’ve a book for you".Now, don’t get me wrong, I like getting unsolicited books from publishers. I presume that this offering comes because I do…

• And in Gardening News…

  05/05/2006

  By far the best plant sale in Central Scotland takes place tomorrow at the Braeport Centre in Dunblane between 10 and 12 noon.I’m going to be living several flights up soon, so no bedding plants for me this year.