BLESSINGS ON ZOE - BAPTISM DAY

Heiko: Welcome to this service. We ask that each of you join us as we pray for and bless our first born child. I announce to you with great joy, that Jessica and I have been given this marvelous gift. We present to you and to all the peoples of this earth, our daughter who was born on December 18, 2011, and whom, today, we are dedicating to God. Her mother and I have given to her the name, Zoe by which she shall be known. Lord our God, look with favor upon our daughter, Zoe, on this special day. As God blesses you, my daughter, with divine grace, we surround you with our love and prayer in name of the Father, and of the Daughter and of the Holy Spirit. Jessica: Zoe, my daughter and child of my womb, I, your mother, bless you with tenderness and call upon God to watch over you all the days of your life. You, Zoe, are the flower of the love between your father and me. Today, on this feast of your baptism into Christ, we rejoice in your membership in Him, our Lord and Savior, and in the Family of God. We rejoice, today, that the dream of God for us has become flesh and blood, and has become our child. Heiko and I sincerely ask all those present here for their prayerful support so that we may encourage Zoe to become who she really is: a unique and creative individual. We pray that we may be good and loving parents to you, Zoe, all the days of our lives. BLESSINGS: Priest

"What love God has lavished on us, calling us children of God! And it is true: we are!" Happy at the thought of it, let us make our joy visible to all.... Lord God, most of us present here were baptized while still babies in arms. Before we could walk or talk, You proved your confidence in us, for Your love does not wait. From its very dawning, you offered us the sign that we belong to your family in the affection of the Church. Our parent God, through baptism, you give us what you gave your only Son: children filled with love. Be for ever blessed! Lord Jesus, through baptism, it becomes manifest that we are members of the Family. You live with us what you live with your Parent and the Spirit. Be for ever blessed! Spirit of God, through baptism, we make visible this body which you animate- your Church, our Church. Your life becomes our life. Be for ever blessed! Most loving God, may Zoe hear your voice as at the baptism of your Son at Jordan: "You are my Son, the beloved, in whom I'm pleased", and may its vibrations not fade with time and space. May the echo of that voice, "You are the one I love; in you I hope to recognize my love", be born in our silences, revealed in our humble fidelities and confirmed in our fragile faith. We make this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.