Bloom: Birth rituals: The beginning of a life-long commitment to faith
Some of the most wonderful moments that I and all clergy experience in our work are birth rituals -- especially those which welcome a child into the community of their new religious identity.
Recently a friend me to his church where I attended the Sunday morning service and watched as he and his wife presented their new born son to receive his baptism. Of course. I had been to church services before, but I had never had the experience of watching the rite of infant baptism before the congregation. Even though I was an outsider in a religious sense, I could still feel the warmth and the power of the ceremony.
There was something so touching about watching the joyful look on the parents' faces as the clergy intoned the liturgy and carried out the rite. There were several other families besides my friend who stood alongside him waiting their turn so that the clergy could place holy water on their infants' heads.
The clergy spoke about the meaning of the covenant of baptism and emphasized the importance of the parents' responsibility to embrace the core values of the faith and reject the temptations which can lead both parents and child astray. The fact that the infants could not understand was not the point. The purpose was to remind the parents about their religious duty to follow through on their solemn oath to teach their children how to acquire a religious identity.
The pastor also emphasized the importance of bringing children into the religious community of the faith tradition. He cited the new demographic trends that young adults are continuing to drift away from religion and how important it was that the church continue to build a strong spiritual and moral community. If there is anything that is the true threat to religion in America it is the increasing numbers of young people who aren't interested in religion for all kinds of reasons -- from money to faith or a lack thereof and to politics. The list is endless.
In Judaism, we have the ancient rite of brit milch or ritual circumcision, typically performed on the eighth day of life. That ceremony is also a welcoming of the child into the covenant community of Judaism. In our tradition, the child also receives a Hebrew name alongside their secular one.
When a girl is born, the parents will bring her to temple for a Sabbath service where the rabbi announces her new names and blesses her.
In both faith traditions, it is about welcoming the child into life and inviting them into the religious community by bestowing upon them an identity in that faith tradition. I, too, find myself speaking to the parents about their responsibilities to follow through on the duties and obligations of raising that child in both ritual practices, ethics and feeling part of the Jewish community.
It is important to remember that the old assumptions that families know how to raise their children in a religious tradition which they have chosen does not necessarily apply today.
New parents who are looking to affiliate with a congregation and its core principles need education. More and more of them are interested in learning not just the traditions but the values as well. Many churches and temples institute education programs to explain just exactly what their faiths teach.
Those programs are not only about building knowledge, but about creating social connections and that all important value of feeling a sense of belonging to the congregation.
Since so many of the parents have moved several times it is critical that congregations do what they can to welcome them and allow their young children to experience the wonder of their new religion. Parents need to nurture in their children a sense of wonder for the beauty of the worship services and enthusiasm for the idea that the coming to temple or church is something that they and their children look forward to each time they walk into the institution.
The congregation -- with its clergy, teachers in the religious school and other volunteers -- can make a great difference for the children as they grow into toddlers and then elementary school age. Birth rituals welcoming children into the faith is the beginning.
The real challenge for the parents and grandparents -- besides showing up and being present in their children's spiritual lives -- is to practice those key values, including customs and rituals in the home.
Shouldn't the home also be a sanctuary for the children in terms of feeling loved and appreciated not only by their family but by God as well?
Columnist Rabbi Brad L. Bloom is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Yam on Hilton Head Island. He can be reached at 843-689-2178. Read his blog at www.fusion613.blogspot.com and follow him at twitter.com/rabbibloom.
This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Bloom: Birth rituals: The beginning of a life-long commitment to faith."