Ministry & Worship
church services

CHILD DEDICATION SERVICE

OPENING WORDS

From the beginning of time, men and women have brought their children to the Houses of worship for dedication. In the presence of the congregation, the child is given a name, and the parents, declare their responsibility for their child.

We come to a house of worship out of reverence for the mystery of life that we have seen in the miracle of reproduction and birth. We acknowledge the mystery of the power that is in us and works through us, and we are humble before that mystery.

We give the child a name in this ceremony. In this act we declare that the child is an individual, a unique and separate person with a dignity and life of his or her own. Our children come from us, but they are not ours. They are themselves, individuals. In giving this child a name we declare that we will respect her as herself, (him as himself) and give her/him the freedom to grow. We perform this ceremony publicly to declare that we as, parents, or as a specially appointed caretaker (caretakers) by the parents, and all of us as representatives of society, are responsible for the care and development of all children. It is our task to give them a world of peace and justice in which to grow. It is our task to share with them our ideals and our hopes. By presenting your child here, today, you the parents, acknowledge that the child is more than a private possession, but is a new being in which we all have a responsibility, and whom we all welcome to the community.

READING

For the gift of childhood, whose innocence and laughter keep the world young, we all rejoice and give thanks. May this precious life, which we have accepted into our community of ideals and friendship, receive abundantly the blessings of health, love, knowledge, and wisdom, and in its turn give back richly to the common heritage that endures from generation to generation.

NAMING CEREMONY

(TO PARENTS) Name this child

(PARENTS) State full name

In our service of dedication we give the child a flower. The flower symbolizes the beauty of life. It also symbolizes the meaning of your dedication. Whether a flower is beautiful or not; whether it comes into full bloom or not; whether it fulfills itself as a flower or not - depends upon the nurture it receives. No flower grows alone, apart from the sunshine and the rain, apart from the soil in which it lives. So, too, no child grows alone.

May the flower then be a reminder of the beauty of fulfillment, and the reward which comes from love and understanding, from teaching and example.

(State child's name) We welcome you into the fellowship of life, and dedicate you to the service of freedom and righteousness and of love. May your life be rich in vision, full in accomplishment, and afire with the highest of ideals.

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts, You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and he bends you with his might that his arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so he loves also the bow that is stable.

CLOSING WORDS

For the gift of childhood, whose innocence and laughter keep the world young, we all rejoice and give thanks. May this life which we have accepted into our community of ideals and friendship, receive abundantly the blessings of health, love, knowledge, and wisdom, and in turn give back richly to the common heritage that endures from generation to generation.