I know, I am on odd duck :hurt:
But-- my godson's Christening in a month away. I was raised Catholic but now I am more a of a non-religion type. He is being christened in my SIL's church which is Methodist.
Usually in Catholic tradition, the godmother gives the baby a medal- typically one of the name saint. For ex. Scott got a St Anthony medal from my (atheist no less) BFF , since that is his middle name.
Anyway.... (yes, this is a point to this) I do know that Methodists don't pray to saints. Do they recognize saints at all?
Is there another gift I should present to him instead or is it just something Catholics do?
TIA form a very religiously ignorant godmother!
Hi.... Children's pastor in a United Methodist Church... so weighing in....please note, this is a "kaylea-fied" translation... and I don't always have the right answers - but this is how I understand it and explain to parents (it's been a while since I had this class).
1) He's probably being baptized NOT Christened. Methodists recognize baptism as a sacrament, and they recognize infant baptism as one way to have this sacrament.
During an infant baptism, we believe that this is the start of the faith journey. It's a sign of God's grace, working in the child's life. During an infant baptism, the congregation - the faith family - is charged with helping take an active roll in the child's life, along with the family.
(There is a chance he's being "dedicated" if his parents want to wait to let him be baptized later, as a youth - during confirmation - typically sixth ish grade, when he can choose to become a full member in the church, because the Methodist church does NOT believe in being baptized more than once - for a variety of reasons, but the easiest to explain is that the second baptism is like a "do over" and says that God's grace didn't "take" the first time.... again, this is a Kaylea translation of a deeper thought).
2) We don't do saints. You are right on that. So the saint medal might not be as "important" to him, because it's not going to be something in his faith tradition.--- side note: some of my fav writers are catholic - Thomas Merton, Henri Nowan, Mother Teresa, etc.....and we talk about St. Francis of Assisi and other stuff.....so we don't completely run away from our Catholic/Church of England roots.
My suggestions....
You could get him a cross - my fav place to "lust" after is James Avery...
http://bit.ly/riyKrP (I have the charm of this necklace pendant :
http://bit.ly/oCEZVE that I got when I graduated from high school from the church. It's smaller, and I know wasn't as expensive.....this might be a confirmation gift....so keep it on file!)
Now this might be a better girl gift..... so...
or an angel id bracelet:
http://bit.ly/qOy3iN
again, a girly type of gift.....
(If mom has a charm bracelet, a charm might be the gift to give her....just a thought).
So, you might want to give him a Bible
This is my new all-time favorite children's bible.
http://amzn.to/nLiDcQ
The Jesus Story Book Bible - I LOVE this bible. Would give it to all new parents if I could afford it. I would get the deluxe version, because the audio cds that go with it are AMAZING. The narrator reads the story, and he has such a great voice.
This is another good storybook bible, because the illustrations are AMAZING:
http://amzn.to/nO7DLT (Children of God by Archbishop Desmond Tutu).
3) I think the main thing is, you be present at the baptism, and celebrate with his family. Make sure you get a pic with him. The gift, honestly, isn't as important as your presence.
Does this help?
K
