Sermon and prayer ideas for baptism services

This sermon idea conveys the message that there are lots of roles in the Family of God and we all have a part to play in this child’s Christian life. It went down very well and I felt many people engaged with it as everyone has a favourite Jelly Baby. I used a set of toy Jelly Babies and made a giant bag so folk could choose their favourite one when I spoke about them.

Bible Reference: Baptism of Jesus: Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3: Baptism of Jesus: Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3

Address notes:

Give brief history of Jelly Babies (see Wikipedia etc)

All Jelly Babies used to be the same shape, then in 1989, six of the ‘babies’ were given a name, an identity and features to distinguish them from one another.

Get out of the bag:

• Pink Baby Bonnet – mischievous
• Green Boofuls – crying, soft hearted
• Orange Bumper – bum bag, active
• Yellow Bubbles – ponytail, lively
• Grey Bigheart – heart on tummy, puts others first
• Red Brilliant – baseball cap, leader

It takes many people to make up a bag of Jelly Babies/a family/involved in bringing up/influencing a child – many people were and are involved in nurturing:

• Mary and Joseph – parents
• Family
• Wise men – those who recognise potential
• Anna and Simeon – older folk who speak truth even when it is hard to hear
• Priests in the temple – those who teach/learn with us about God
• John the Baptist – those who help us fulfil God’s plan for us

Who are we in the life of this child?

How will we fulfil our role in this child’s life?

We need the Holy Spirit – baptism is an opportunity for us all to renew our faith.

A £1,000,000 gift to explain the riches of God’s kingdom through baptism +
God gives us a gift today – what will we do with it?

Million pound cheque always gets folks’ interest and it seems to help people think about why they are in church that morning and what happens now!

Bible reference: can be made to work with many, if used it with: Galatians 5:16-25 (fruits of the spirit), John 14:15-21 (Ascension), Acts 1 (Pentecost), Matthew 25:14-30 (Talents)

Address notes:

• What would you do if I gave you a cheque for a million pounds today?
• You could take it home, put it in a frame and hang it on the wall, you could look at it occasionally and say ‘do you remember the day when X was baptised, and the vicar gave us this million-pound cheque. Wasn’t that nice of her, I really like the idea of a million pounds, doesn’t it look nice, I’m happy that we have this cheque, but I’m not going to do anything else with it because it might change me, I might need to think hard about how I live my life with a million pounds, I might even need to consider the needs of other people, so I’m going to leave it there.’
• Or, you could take the million-pound cheque, and cash it and use to help X as they grow up to give them a helping hand along the way and to help them have the best possible future they could have; in doing that you might invest it and enjoy the returns, you might share it with those close to you and give some away to charities and let others benefit from it too.
• Well baptism is just like that, today as you make promises for X they will be welcomed into the body of the church, the family of God; because of that they have access to the riches of God’s kingdom and the Holy Spirit to live with them and help them to live lives for God.
• It would be a shame if today remained a memory that you looked back on and simply thought it was nice, if the Christian faith became something you liked the idea of, and looked nice, like a framed million-pound note.
• A better way is to cash in and enjoy the gifts God has for you and for you and or X, to use God’s love, to invest in it by learning more about it and by enjoying the rewards of eternal life starting now, to share it and let others benefit from God’s generosity and with it to live the best possible life with God at the centre.

You will need a rucksack and some visual aids; a map, a compass and/or satnav device, a snack. If you want to try the footprints suggestion below, you’ll need one paper cut-out foot shape for everyone in church.

I live in the Lake District so the journey with map etc address was easy for folk to relate to. I’ve done a similar thing using OS map symbols – trig point, close contours, view point, information point etc relating to Christian journey as well.

Bible reference: works with many readings, I used it with 1 John 2:1-2, 12-14 on Father’s Day

Message: Christian life is a journey and God provides all we need Address notes: Introduce the idea that we all got to church by different modes of transport and that you like walking. What do you need to go for a walk (have the rucksack with visual aids)?

• We need a map – the bigger picture, so we can navigate to where we’re going. The Bible is like our map for the Christian – we are part of a bigger story and the bible helps us understand where we are and where we need to get to.
• Compass/GPS. We also need something to show us the way. Based on where we are on the map, do we go north, south, east or west? Jesus is our compass. He is a light that guides our path and shows us the way. The baptism candle represents Jesus, the light of the world. He is our compass.
• Holy Spirit (dove) – GPS.
• Snack/sustenance teaching/groups/school/Messy Church etc (gift Bible)
• Company – other people, church and Christian family for support and encouragement.

We all have a role to play and we walk the journey of faith together.

May be at different places on the journey and going at different speeds. Easy bits and difficult bits – Holy Spirit and church family there to help/support/carry when required.

You could give out footprint shapes to everyone.

All we do will influence those around us – we can choose how.

Using the cut-out footprints

• You could give out footprint shapes to everyone.
• On one side ask people to write who has been a Christian influence in their life – who have you followed?
• On the other side write who you hope to be a Christian influence to (this child?) – who do you hope will follow your example?
• Take the footprint home as a reminder that we all follow Jesus and thank God for those who guide us.

We use a scallop shell for the actual baptism – a different shell for each child. Using a gold pen, we write the name of the child, the date and location of the baptism. I usually ask one of the guest’s children to come out and hold the shell at the front, and we talk about the symbolism of being on a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey, how we are all on a spiritual journey, and how pilgrims often used to carry a scallop shell with them on their pilgrimages.

The child then leads us to the font, carrying the scallop shell, as we prepare to mark this moment in the spiritual journey of those being baptised. We then use the scallop shell to pour the water on the child’s head as they are baptised, and then give the scallop shell to the family as a keepsake. (If there is more than one child being baptised, then there is a different shell for each child… taking care to ensure the right shell is used with each child for the baptism!)

(This is an idea that I learned from my training incumbent, the Revd Gary Philbrick)

I have used the opening sequence to ‘The Lion King’ – when the infant Simba is presented for a kind of ‘baptism’. I’ve used it with older siblings when their baby brother or sister is being baptised. The clip in the Disney film shows the whole community getting together to welcome Simba. He is anointed, welcomed and ‘blessed’ when the light appears in the sky. We talk about how everyone is important in the sight of God, and how delighted we are as a church to welcome each person. The clip might be found on YouTube but it would be better to use the DVD or a download to avoid the advertising.

I created a series of paper plates, with either pictures or words on them. There were three picture plates depicting water (droplets), a cross and a candle. These were used as a visual aid and helped me to talk about the significance of the symbols. I had members of the congregation come out to hold them up.

There were seven word plates featuring the words:

• Family
• Friends
• Godparents
• Eating out
• Out drinking
• Birthday
• Live in Thringstone (our parish)

The words on two of the plates were created after speaking to the family – so the eating out plate reflected the mum’s interests – she and her friends liked to eat out. Dad liked to have a drink at the local with his friends, so ‘Out drinking’ was his plate. ‘Live in Thringstone’ was the village where the service was taking place.

The message plates were held up one by one and I asked anyone in the congregation to stand up if they were connected to the baptism family by what was on the plate. The birthday one started as those having a birthday in the same month as the baby, and it was then narrowed down to the same date. (As it turned out the baby had the same date as me!)

I was able to ask after all the plates were held up whether there was anybody who hadn’t stood up – there was no one left sitting. So I was able to talk about the close connections of all those present with the family and the baby, that we are a community that must live and thrive together and therefore have a joint responsibility for the growth and development of the baby.

I gave to each member of the congregation a cut-out footprint, and as part of the prayers, invited them to write a prayer on it, or simply a word, for the child/baby being baptised. This might be something like, ‘friendship’, ‘Love’, ‘happiness’ or an actual sentence of prayer. Younger children might like to draw a picture.

The footprints were then collected together and threaded onto ribbon to create a book. The front footprint featured the child’s name, and date and place of baptism. This was then given to the family at the end of the service.

My families have loved doing this, and have enjoyed reading what others have written/drawn for their child.

We had a baptism for a three year old who liked the film Wizard of Oz. For the prayers of intercession, the congregation were invited to come forward and place a picture onto a yellow brick road. The pictures were of:

• Dorothy – place this on the yellow brick road to pray for people who want to be able to have a safe place to call home.
• The lion – for people who need courage.
• The tin man – for people who need more love.
• The scarecrow – for people facing difficult decisions and need wisdom.
• Toto – for our friends.

People didn’t need to write anything or say anything, just place the picture down. The music in the background was Somewhere Over the Rainbow sung by Judy Garland.

We made a prayer board which has clear plastic pockets on it (the kind you can buy to display photos). After each christening we slide a card in one of the pockets with the name of the child and date of the baptism (a photo of the child could even be used with the parents’ permission). The board stands by the font, so it is a constant reminder to pray. When I add a new prayer card, I remove the oldest one and put it in a photo album which is also kept near the font.