Baptism (Christening)
Baptism is the traditional Christian ceremony by which a person is made a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. It expresses in an outward and visible sign the reality of God's love for that person. Jesus assures us that God reaches out in love to us, and baptism is our first response to that love. The sacrament of Baptism is available to anyone, of any age, who wishes to follow Jesus in the company of His Church.
Baptism involves commitment to Christ through faith. Once we have been baptized we can never be "unbaptized", and to be true to ourselves requires us to live the sort of life that Jesus described for His followers ('disciples').
The Church has always required a profession of faith from those who ask for baptism, and the Church of England baptizes infants and young children on the understanding that they will be "brought up as Christians within the family of the Church".
The child's parents and Godparents are asked to make solemn promises of commitment for themselves and for the child they are bringing to baptism, and the support of the Church is offered to them as they try to live up to those promises in the years ahead.
Baptism is available to any parishioner (i.e. a person living in the geographical parish, which comprises Eaton Bray, Edlesborough, Dagnall, Northall and Wellhead) on the basis of this statement. It is a long-standing practice in the parish the Baptism is administered always at the main Sunday service (10.00am), and an exception to this will be made only for the most pressing pastoral reasons. Requests for Baptism from persons living outside the parish will be considered only if they can demonstrate a long-standing link with the parish, and will be accepted only with the consent of the incumbent of the parish in which they are resident.
If the commitment required for Baptism asks more of you than you feel you can honestly give, it is possible to arrange instead a simple service of thanksgiving for the birth of a child, and the Vicar will be happy to discuss this with you. That service simply thanks God for the wonderful gift and trust of a child, and asks for God's help and blessing in carrying out the responsibilities of parenthood.
Anyone wishing to arrange for Baptism should contact the Vicar personally.
As part of the continuing nurture of children who are baptized at St Mary's, we run a Sunday School, a Creche during the main Sunday morning service, and a monthly service for parents and pre-school children (Toddlers' Church at 2.00pm on the second Tuesday of each month).
Further Information
A free leaflet dealing with these matters in more details is available at the church.
