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Child dedications at First Unitarian

At First Unitarian, the child dedication is normally a part of the regular worship service on Sunday morning. Child dedications take place after the opening hymn and before the prayer/meditation, before the other children go off to Sunday school.

To see if having your child dedicated at First Unitarian would be the right thing for your family, please contact our minister, Rev. Dan Harper, at the church office (508-994-9686). There is no fee for a child dedication that takes place during a Sunday morning worship service.

Typical Child Dedication:

Introduction/ Opening words

We have set aside a time in our worship service this morning to welcome a new child to the world [if older child: ... to formally welcome a new child to this religious community]. Could the parents [and godparents] of Name of Child please come forward?

(Parents bring child to front of church.)

Humanity is our responsibility, human beings are that part of the total universe that we can do something about.
Perhaps we cannot make heaven be so, but to our children we can give our love, our care, our respect. --words by Kenneth Patton

Reading

Charles and I were driving up a country road. All around us in the distance were great mountain peaks.

"What a view!" I said. "Look at the mountains, Charles."

But I instantly knew that, at the age of eighteen months, he couldn't possibly look at the mountains and there was absolutely nothing I could do to make him see them. The only mountain within his range of vision is the slight rise in the path going out to the swing. This "mountain" is just as exciting to him as mine are to me. The infinitesimal piece of mica that lies on his "mountain" and catches the sun, and the tiny ant that is tugging a crumb of his cooky away -- these hold him spellbound. These are the proper objects of his curiosity now.

He'll get to my mountains in time, and with the same zest and wonder that he now shows, if I don’t rush him....

Children are naturally curious about the really profound mysteries and deeply appreciative of universal and enduring values. But we should have the patience not to talk over their heads or beyond their experience. If we had a higher regard for human nature and a greater trust in reality, we would not be in such a hurry.

Often, it seem that we adults are afraid to let the children probe the perplexing aspects of experience. We are afraid of the honesty and frankness of children, which, when allowed free expression, so often exposes the incompleteness of our knowledge and the parochialism of so many of our values. Their simple logic and clear young vision are apt to reveal our careless thinking and the yawning gaps between our ideals and social reality. We feel as exposed as the emperor in his new clothes.

Conversation with children should challenge us to grow in curiosity and insight with them.

-- from Conversations with Children by Edith Hunter.

Naming

(If the child is a baby, usually the minister would hold the child for the naming.)

Minister: What is the name of this child?

Parents give name of child.

Minister: ________________, we welcome you and we give you this name as yours forever.

You are unique. There is no one else like you in the entire world. Your parents and your family welcome you in all your uniqueness. We give you this rose, different from every other rose in the world, as a symbol of your uniqueness.

We welcome you to this community. Water is the stuff of life, water connects all living things, all of humanity. The rose is sipped in water to symbolize your essential connection with all of us in this community.

(Minister touches the rose to the child’s forehead, and gives the rose to the child. At this point, minister would give a baby back to the parents to hold.)

Prayer

Let us join our hearts together in the spirit of prayer and meditation.

We give thanks for this new life that has come among us. Each new child brings us new hope for a new beginning. We see the great potential that lies in every human life, and we know this child will bring [his/her] unique gifts to humanity, if we help [him/her] to do so. May we recognize and nurture the unique gifts of this child. And through all the challenges and joys to come, may this child’s life be blessed with hope and courage and love.

Litany of dedication

Minister: ______________, we welcome you among us.

All: We give thanks for your new life, and for the new hope you bring.

Minister: We will appreciate your uniqueness, we will teach you and learn from you, we will love you and respect you.

Congregation [including godparents]: We will delight in your accomplishments, we will share in your sorrows, we will encourage you in every way as you grow into adulthood.

[Godparents: We will be there for you and your parents in the journeys and adventures ahead, and we promise you our loving presence in your life.]

Parents: We, your parents, love you with all our hearts, and dedicate ourselves to do all that we can to share with you the beauty and the goodness of life.

All: We will support you and your parents through all the experiences of life.

Hymn

A hymn is optional, and may not be possible depending on the length rest of the worship service.
Possible hymns include: #348 “Guide My Feet,” #409 “Sleep, My Child,” #1051, “We Are.”

Closing words

May the truth that sets us free,
And the hope that never dies,
And the love that casts out fear
Be with us now
Until the dayspring breaks,
And the shadows flee away.
-- adapted from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.