Baby Dedication

Celebrant: The blessing of Christ
Comes to you in this child.
God’s blessing is mercy
and kindness and joy.
Blessing comes to home and to family.

Welcome, (name of child),
Child of love.
God is here to bless you.
And blessed are you,
Beyond telling,
To be born to parents
who love you
and love each other.

Grow gently, (name of child),
In love of God.
We bless you,
And pray
Christ be near you,
Now and each hour
Of your life

All: God be with you
In this your day,
Every day and every way,
With you and for you
In this your day,
And the love
and affection
Of heaven
be toward you.

Celebrant: As a tiny baby
Your parents cover
And clothe you
In their love
And with their faith.

As you grow
May faith grow with you.
May you find the presence
Of Christ your clothing
And protection.
And year by year may the
Knowledge of His presence
Be greater for you,
That daily you may put on Christ
And walk as His own in the world.

Parents: may God make clear to you each road;
May God make safe to you each step;
Should you stumble, hold you;
If you fall, lift you up;
When you are hard pressed with evil,
Deliver you—
And bring you at last to God’s glory.

Celebrant, facing the parents:
The blessing of Christ
Comes to you in your (name of child);
This blessing is mercy
And kindness and joy.
Blessing comes to home
And to family.

Alternative/additional prayer:
In the great blessing of presence
we experience in each other,
help us to number our days,
that we may gain hearts of wisdom.
As the Aztecs pray:
“Oh, only for so short a while you have loaned us to each other.
Because we take form in your act of drawing us,
And we take life in your painting us,
And we breathe in your singing us.
But only for so short a while have you loaned us to each other.”
Amidst our short and glorious moments
We know that
Our life is but a breath,
And our family and friends
Belong to us only through your grace.
Gibran helps us to tremble under the weight of glory, saying,
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and the daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you they belong not to you.”
Glory be to the Source of all Goodnes,
The God revealed in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Alternate baby dedication:
God of creation: your world is full of life and wondrous mystery.
In the joys of birth and sorrows of death, we come into contact with the heartbeat of your glory.
You give and you take away,
and so we count your people and your little ones
as gifts and miracles from your heart,
from the Spirit at the center of the universe,
and from the center of our lives.

May this child, blessed gifts entrusted to us,
be raised to bear the Spirit of Christ
and grow the virtues worthy of the miracle of life.
Instill those virtues into the communion
between _____ (parent) and ______ (other parent),
that they may shed light to _______ (the blessed child) and those around them.

Anoint their love and parenting through the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.