[Magdalen] baptism: Avery Grace

[Jay Weigel]

In my parish in Tennessee, the priest *always* invited all the children to
gather around at baptisms. Always. And older children in the family always
stood with the family when the youngest was baptized. The point was that we
are all part of the family of God. Afterward, the newly baptized was always
carried up and down the aisle to greet his/her new brothers and sisters in
Christ. In the case of an older child or adult, the process was the same
except they walked beside the priest. It was a lovely time. In the Lutheran
church I now attend, children aren't invited to gather around, but the font
is up front and can be seen very well and when there is a baptism the kids
and their parents usually sit close to the front. The little one is then
carried about to greet the congregation while we sing "Children of the
Heavenly Father".

And yes, Marion, Grace is very popular now for little girls. We seriously
considered it as a middle name for a second daughter as it was my
grandmother's younger sister's name,,,,never had that second daughter
though.

On Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 1:24 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Wouldn't it make sense for the family group stand together at this time?
> At least for young children to be there at the font, too?  That's the way
> I've most often seen it.  One could make a case for them perhaps being
> closer to God at this time than the adults.
>
> Our related church (St. John's, originally meant to replace St. Mark's
> long ago but St. Mark's in the end chose not to close) today celebrates the
> birth of a daughter, Grace Mary Noel, to their priest and his wife.  Grace
> is a lovely name and must be in the ascendant.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim     ... today my sail I lift....
>
>
> On 10/16/2016 12:29 PM, ME Michaud wrote:
>
>> A beautiful name, and fit her perfectly. Pretty and placid little girl,
>> watching everything, apparently without a lick of anxiety. Not to be said
>> of her sister, however, who melted down and had to be carried out crying
>> "Mommy! Mommy!" The trials of the elder child :-)
>>
>> I wondered if they'd considered taking the nearly-four-year-old down to
>> stand with the parents and godparents instead of abandoning her confined
>> to
>> the pew, which she didn't like one damn bit. But it's never right to
>> second-guess parental wisdom, I guess.
>>
>> In his sermon, the rector reminded us that God is eternally bringing life
>> out of death, which was particularly poignant given the family's situation
>> perhaps.
>> -M
>>
>>
>