Jeremy and I have decided to have Aubree blessed. My grandma gave me the family christening dress that everyone in my family has worn, dating back to my great great great grandma. It's beautiful!
The only problem... Jeremy and I are conflicted about how to have her blessed. We'd like to have her blessed in the LDS church, because Jeremy was raised LDS and my family isn't really religious. I'm just not sure I agree with the way they do it. The way I understand it is the mom (me) sits in the pew while the bishop and a few selected men circle around the baby and say something like a prayer for the baby. The dad is allowed to be involved in the blessing, but only if he is "worthy". Well what exactly makes someone "worthy"? Shouldn't God decide that? Neither of us attend church. Jeremy was raised LDS, but hasn't attended since he was like 15. He occasionally drinks, so that makes him "unworthy" in the LDS church. The mom (me) can't be involved in the LDS ceremony. Not because I'm unworthy, neccesarily, but because I'm a woman. Really??? Are we back in the 50's where women aren't treated as equals? I don't understand it.
I wasn't raised religiously and only attended church a few times throughout my childhood (LDS, Catholic, Christian). My parents brought me up to believe in God, but that you didn't need to attend church to get to Heaven. I believe it's the way you live your life and how you help people throughout your life that God judges you on, not whether you attended church every Sunday or what you ate or drank. In other religions the parents are both allowed to be involved in the blessing of their child. The Preist says a prayer for the baby and includes the parents in the blessing because they are the one's raising the child. So I'm just not sure what to do. I think the blessing should be personal to the family, and I don't agree with the parents being left out of the ceremony. I know the blessing is about the baby, not the parents. I just feel like we are being shunned for not being active in the church. I feel that we, as her parents, should be there with her.
UPDATE: We have decided to have her blessed at Jeremy's parents church on February 1st. I've decided that it's more importnant to me that she's blessed than us being able to hold her and be involved in the ceremony. I also understand now (thanks to Ellen) why we can't be involved. I'm not sure I agree with why, but I'm also not sure I don't agree with why. So it is what it is... and I'm excited for Aubree to be blessed. Now I just need to paint my kitchen cabinets so I'm not embarassed when people come over for the open house afterwards. Maybe I can convince Jeremy to just pay someone do it for us... we'll see.
The only problem... Jeremy and I are conflicted about how to have her blessed. We'd like to have her blessed in the LDS church, because Jeremy was raised LDS and my family isn't really religious. I'm just not sure I agree with the way they do it. The way I understand it is the mom (me) sits in the pew while the bishop and a few selected men circle around the baby and say something like a prayer for the baby. The dad is allowed to be involved in the blessing, but only if he is "worthy". Well what exactly makes someone "worthy"? Shouldn't God decide that? Neither of us attend church. Jeremy was raised LDS, but hasn't attended since he was like 15. He occasionally drinks, so that makes him "unworthy" in the LDS church. The mom (me) can't be involved in the LDS ceremony. Not because I'm unworthy, neccesarily, but because I'm a woman. Really??? Are we back in the 50's where women aren't treated as equals? I don't understand it.
I wasn't raised religiously and only attended church a few times throughout my childhood (LDS, Catholic, Christian). My parents brought me up to believe in God, but that you didn't need to attend church to get to Heaven. I believe it's the way you live your life and how you help people throughout your life that God judges you on, not whether you attended church every Sunday or what you ate or drank. In other religions the parents are both allowed to be involved in the blessing of their child. The Preist says a prayer for the baby and includes the parents in the blessing because they are the one's raising the child. So I'm just not sure what to do. I think the blessing should be personal to the family, and I don't agree with the parents being left out of the ceremony. I know the blessing is about the baby, not the parents. I just feel like we are being shunned for not being active in the church. I feel that we, as her parents, should be there with her.
UPDATE: We have decided to have her blessed at Jeremy's parents church on February 1st. I've decided that it's more importnant to me that she's blessed than us being able to hold her and be involved in the ceremony. I also understand now (thanks to Ellen) why we can't be involved. I'm not sure I agree with why, but I'm also not sure I don't agree with why. So it is what it is... and I'm excited for Aubree to be blessed. Now I just need to paint my kitchen cabinets so I'm not embarassed when people come over for the open house afterwards. Maybe I can convince Jeremy to just pay someone do it for us... we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment