Ferg vs Lewy: To Christen or Not to Christen
FERG
We haven’t had our kids baptised. We simply just never got around to it. To be honest, I think we never really saw the point. Although my wife and I are both “Christian” we don’t go to church unless it’s for a wedding or a funeral or indeed for some other kid’s christening.
I grew up going to church. That’s what you do when you’re the son of a preacher man. I went to schools that had fairly intensive religious education programs and weekly chapel services. But the whole God-thing seem to pass me over. I’ve been equal parts agnostic, atheist and ambivalent about the whole thing for most of my adult life. The closest I’ve come to God in the last 20 years has been using his name in vain on the golf course, in the workplace and the bedroom.
We have friends who’ve had their kids baptised for religious reasons, for unknown reasons and, for my personal favourite, financial reasons. Some going to the effort of having their kids baptised just so they can enjoy the discounts offered by some catholic private schools. The irony of lying to God about believing in God in order to save money seems lost on them.
The christening topic has occasionally come up. I think we just tell ourselves it’s up to the kids to decide. We’ve explained who Jesus was and why certain events are celebrated at certain times and we’ve raise our kids according to what would be considered “Christian” values of fairness, trust, love and respect.
Would having them christened change any of that? I suspect not, so why do it?
The closest I’ve come to God in the last 20 years has been using His name in vain on the golf course, in the workplace and the bedroom.
LEWY
Ah, the lament of the third child. It’s not like they’re neglected or loved less, but things are a little less stringent when parents are old-hat. There’s less photos, less cotton-wool-smothering, less ceremony.
In our Bonnie’s case, it’s meant no water being splashed over her head. Yet. Although neither of us are religious or had a religious upbringing, Tash and I had her two elder sisters baptised. It was something we did to celebrate their existence; to reaffirm our thanks for the godsend.
Edie’s christening coincided with her first birthday, and it was a beautiful day spent with family and friends.
Avie’s baptism occurred on her second birthday. It fell on Easter Saturday and while her dad and godfather didn’t drink the altar wine, we drank everything else.
For awesome synchronisation it would have been great to stage Bonnie’s on her third birthday, but we just didn’t get around to it. Other things have taken priority – like getting through each week. Which, I guess, gets back to our upbringing; religion isn’t a huge priority in our household.
I hadn’t given Bonnie’s baptism a thought for quite a while, probably since her second birthday passed us by, but it’s still on the agenda. It will happen. One day.
Until then, we’ll try to instill Christian values into her beautiful soul. Just like we’ve done with her sisters – irrespective of holy blessings.
Also from the ‘Ferg vs Lewy’ series: