You will want to familiarize yourself with some of the most common symbols of baptism as your child or a close relative prepares for an impending baptism.
You can commemorate the baptism by choosing a suitable gift and helping older kids understand the object’s meaning.
Popular Symbols Used During Baptism
Five baptism elements generally apply the cross, a white garment, oil, water, and light.
The baptismal font, prayers, scriptural readings, and godparents also include other common symbols.
These symbols reflect the principles and values of the Christian faith, as well as the practices and rituals of an individual church and its members.
Baptism is among the church sacraments, and kids being baptized are accepted as members of the Christian community.
It is part of the Christian tradition that he or she becomes a member of God’s family once a child has been baptized.
1. The Cross
The cross is Christianity’s universal emblem. Rendering the sign of the cross over a child during the baptism expresses the protection of God and demands entry into the body of the Christian church.
This emblem is found in many Christian ceremonies and churches. The cross is also a sign of Jesus’s crucifixion.
The death of Jesus was his sacrifice to make all humankind’s sins plain. The cross is among the most common of all Christian symbols.
2. White Clothing
White is the color of purity, and wearing a white garment during baptism denotes that the person getting baptized now has a clean slate in God’s eyes.
Christians claim that we are born with “original sin” that is washed away only by baptism.
The white garment signifies that the baptized individual is now dressed in God’s mantle and will begin a clean life in God’s and the church’s eyes.
3. The Oil
The oil is yet another baptismal sign of the Holy Spirit. It also symbolizes the ‘holy spirit during other sacraments and religious events.
During baptism, a person is anointed with oil, which the Bible describes many times as a sign of bringing the individual and the Holy Spirit together.
Holy oils are used during baptism to reinforce the faith of the anointed and signify the Holy Spirit’s gifts.
4. Baptism Water
Water is the Christian emblem of divinity and represents purity and cleansing from sin.
The exterior sign of baptism is pouring water on the head while quoting, “I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
The purification quality of water is deemed something that can cleanse an individual from the outside.
Holy water represents God’s grace, which gives life to man. Water is also reminiscent of the Bible’s John 3: 1-6: “… unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
5. Baptismlight
The passage of a lighted candle from the celebrant to the godparents depicts light as a sign of baptism. The candle reflects a change in Christ from death to life.
Light, like water, is necessary for life because, without the sun’s light, nothing on the planet would exist.
In addition to being a sign of the creation and vitality of life, the light is a sign of Christ as the light of the earth and the Christian faith. Religious confidence is established when this candle is burning.
6. The Dove
The dove symbol represents the holy spirit in baptism. Following the Bible, when Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened, God spoke, and the Holy Spirit fell upon him in the context of a dove.
The dove affirmed Jesus as the chosen one. This miraculous event evidences the loving union between the three elements of the Christian trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The dove also symbolizes harmony between human beings and Heaven.
When the Holy Spirit emerged as a dove at the baptism of Jesus, this revealed that God would pay the ultimate price for humankind’s sins (through Jesus) so that humans could eventually be reconciled with God.
Other Symbols for Baptismal Rites
Baptismal services are different from one church to another. For instance, the symbols and practices in a Lutheran church differ from those in a Catholic church.
Generally, the ritual is full of symbols irrespective of the denomination.
The Baptismal Font
The standard baptismal font contains the baptismal water used. It represents the baptismal streams, rivers, or pools of water in ancient times, such as the River of Jordan, where Christ was baptized by John the Baptist.
According to a specific denomination’s tradition, the infant is submerged or dipped in the water in the font, or water from the font is sprayed or sprinkled over the baby’s head.
Baptismal fonts are made from stone, metal, wood, or marble and have traditionally been used in the church for centuries.
Prayers and Scriptural Readings
The scriptural readings are taken from the Christian Bible and the Old and New Testaments during baptism.
They celebrate God’s word and the call for a declaration of faith and regeneration.
The readings also remember Christ’s baptism and the symbolic significance of his sacrifice since he was resurrected after the crucifixion.
The prayers plead for the child’s salvation from sin during the baptismal ceremony and ask for Christ’s safety, blessings, grace, and mercy for the child, parents, godparents, relatives, and congregation.
Membership in the Church Community
Baptism signifies a revival and union with Christ. The child also gains entry into the fellowship of the church through this. The church community’s members represent Christ’s holy body.
The assembled congregation bears testimony to the infant’s baptism and welcomes the baptized into the holy church of Christ and God’s company.
Godparents
In the Christian faith, the role of godparents is to assist the parents in raising the godchild. The parents choose the godparents, and their presence in a baptism ceremony differs.
In some churches, a godparent may carry the infant during the baptismal ceremony, while other godparents stand with the parents to support them and observe the ceremony.
Also, in some cultures, godparents retain an honorary title, while in others, godparents take their positions seriously and participate in several aspects of the child’s life.
Using Symbols in Baptism
All the symbols are appropriate for Christian church baptism ceremonies. However, the specifics of their use can differ.
Dressing the infant in a white garment before the baptism or offering such apparel for use during the baptismal sacrament is the only sign a parent or relative is accountable for.
Of course, the child will receive multiple cross ornaments or jewelry pieces from loved ones.
Nonetheless, you might also want one for your child to wear during the religious ceremony.
You may use these things to teach older kids the meaning of the sacrament of baptism. A baptism symbol template can be an effective instrument for this sort of lesson.
Alternatively, it would be best to create a scrapbook of all the signs, with photographs from the baptism rite, to educate the child who was baptized about it many years later.
The signs of baptism are mutually constitutive in the Christian religion and ceremonies.
These symbols can also be found in several other church sacraments rather than only during baptism.
They are mementos of the beauty of rituals preserved for centuries.
