Baptism..

...of the latest addition to the family. We all gathered at the church - it was a big gathering because there were not only grandparents and godparents and  uncles and aunts and so on but also a number of parishioners because the family are longstanding members of the local church... Enchanting new baby (number 4) , lovely lively brothers and sister all jumping about, a beautiful baptism  by a priest-great uncle and with a young uncle and aunt doing the Scripture readings. Mulled wine and mince pies and celebration in the adjoining hall, with hugs and news and gifts and a happy atmosphere.

Auntie suddenly found herself thinking: for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, down all the generations, on both sides of the family, every new child has been baptised, every baby's head recieving water and the words pof baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". This child, and her siblings, are the first who are recieving this sacrament in a Britain where the majority of people are no longer baptised, and growing up in a Britain where the Christian faith which has written our history and through which our years are numbered, is no longer the central dominant reality in our culture.

Our family's faith and culture remains vibrant and was renewed again by this happy day, the young voices ringing out in affirmation of it in union with the older generation. The new baby and her siblings have been given the Faith one by one as they joined the family that had crossed the threshold of a new millenium. They will need lots of love and prayers in the bleak Britain in which they will be living it...