Baptism

I tried several times to come up with a cute or hokey title to this blog. However, due to the sensitivity surrounding this topic, I chose not to. Religion, its a topic we are not supposed to talk about, much like politics and sex... shhh, keep quiet. Though, when it comes to baby blogging we find ourselves talking about many controversial topics (read my 3 previous blog posts on breastfeeding, medicating for GERD, and my traumatic giving birth experience) that are not meant to be shared. But hey, this is what semi-anonymous blogging if for! If you are still with me, please, read on.

Background
I was raised Catholic and went through baptism, Sunday school, communion, and reconciliation... all before I knew I had a choice in the matter. I remember showing up for my first reconciliation with nothing to confess (and I really felt there was nothing). So I made something up about wishing that bad things would happen to my sister because she was mean to me (even though I really hadn't wished that). This may be the exact moment in time where I developed a public speaking disorder, where the smaller the group the more difficult it became for me to confess, er, speak. When I started confirmation classes, I really started paying attention. I had experienced some spiritual moments by then, had my own sense of God, and had A LOT of questions. At my last confirmation class, I was told that during confirmation I would have to stand before god and say that i devoutly believed all that was written in the Bible. I was to say "I believe in the existence of God and that Jesus Christ is my saviour and I believe in the Bible. " As we were rehearsing, I couldn't help but say that I wasn't so sure about all of this (I was what 15 or 16 years old?). Upon confessing this, my confirmation teacher blurted out that 'in that case, you are going to hell'. Are you kidding? I replied that if I was to stand up a make a declaration to God, it should be a lie. I had better be pretty damn confident in what I was saying. My first confirmation to God should not be based on uncertainty thinly veiled an absolute belief. I was then kicked out of confirmation class. I called my dad and told him that the lady told me I was going to hell and he had to come pick me up. This set the precedent for my 3 younger siblings, to whom 'confirmation' was never mentioned. (*my sister who is a year younger also dropped out of class in disbelief).
Today, I am an agnostic who is very fond of Christ and a loose interpreter of the Bible (I see what I want to see). Baby E's daddy is a Christian-Rastafarian-Christian (google Bob Marley Baptism). He was baptized and confirmed.
We do not plan on raising our child a Catholic, or under any organized religion, however, we both want him to be baptized.

What it Means
I consider baptism a blessing for my baby, a recognition that we the parents wish to invest a little Christ love into our baby's life. Technically, the Bible indicates that baptism be a personal choice for an individual, so maybe it is not right to choose that path for your child. But here's the thing, this is the only choice I will make for my child when it comes to religion. I will of course guide him spiritually and give him all the love in the world (and isn't love the greatest food for the soul?). Not to bring the sacrament of baptism down in anyway, but this is not a gateway to religion. To me it is the parents saying, "I want my baby to know Christ".

The Baptism
We are having a poolside casual party at my mom's house. A close friend of ours is a Catholic priest who is comfortable having the small ceremony outside of the church (after seeing Bravo's 9 By Design baptism episode I was determined to have an out-of-church experience). We are serving Christian Chicken, Holy Hamburgers (with onion 'halos'), Solomon's Salmon, Breakin' Bread and Jesus Christ Cookies. We are a theme based family, k?
Along with the traditional baptism rites and passages that will be read, we are including a few readings of our own:

Godmother's Blessing:
My blessings to you for...
Comfort on difficult days
Smiles when sadness intrudes
Rainbows to follow the clouds
Laughter to kiss you lips
Sunsets to warm your heart
Gentle hugs when spirits sag
Friends you can count on
Beauty for your eyes to see
Confidence when you have doubt
Belief if your Divine self
Wisdom to know and accept the truth
And the love of God, which is already yours.

Blessing from Father and Mother
Luke 15:11-24 (Prodigal Son)

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

Thanks for Reading!!