Baptism as Naming

We baptize into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, baptism is a naming ceremony. This is also why we usually ask for the child’s Christian name. In a similar way to a woman’s name changing when she marries her husband, all of us receive a new name in Christian baptism. But naming in God’s world is never a light or trivial matter — it’s not random. Names are confessions of faith, names express promises, and names are seals of identity and belonging. After the Fall, God promised Adam mercy in the midst of death and sin, and Adam renamed his wife Eve – because she would be the mother of all the living. So the charge is to look to Your God in faith now as you name your daughter in the waters of baptism. Amen.