For those who may not know, I consider myself to be areligious. My wife Charlotte, on the other hand, is on her way to becoming a minister in the Unitarian Universalist (UU) movement. While Baptism is a Christian rite of admission, Unitarian Universalism celebrates the birth of a child with a Baby Dedication or Baby Naming ceremony. The purpose of this ceremony is to welcome our child into the family and circle of friends. Charlotte and I also included a ceremony of naming our daughter’s Guide Parents. A Guide Parent, much like a God Parent, is an adult mentor that helps to nurture the child’s spiritual, emotional, and moral upbringing. We named two of our closest friends, Brendan and Stephanie, who joined us from Charlotte, NC.
Over the Labor Day weekend, Charlotte and I decided (kind of last minute) to have Lilah’s Baby Naming and Guide Parent ceremony. With a small group of friends and family and a ceremony that my wife helped to create, we held the event on the bank of the Chattahoochee River in North Georgia. The temperature was perfect and the sun was shining brightly overhead – ideal conditions for the occasion. Best of all, we brought my video camera to capture the moment for those who were unable to be there with us.
Below is the transcript of the ceremony (some wording was changed the day of).
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