Get 'em when they're born

Visiting Mrs Lloyd and our firstborn in hospital this morning, it was a bit like being on a beech in Tenerife as people came and touted their wares at us. Would we like to have his photo taken there and then? Someone else would make a framed cast of the boy’s hand and foot print, for a hefty fee. We were also given a Bounty Bag of Newborn “Essentials” (!). No Bounty bars, unfortunately, but I was surprised that there was an official form for registering for Child Benefit amongst all the glossy junk mail.

The pack also contained a flyer for naming ceremonies with www.civilceremonies.co.uk who will do you all manner of ceremonies in venues of your choice or flog you a script and let you get on with a DIY option. They could even train you to do ceremonies too!

If there really is a market for such things, I wonder if the church isn’t missing a trick here? Maybe we should be promoting Thanksgiving and Naming Ceremonies to new parents? Maybe the C of E could cut a deal to get its bumph in the Bounty Bag or local arrangements could be made with hospitals?

Someone also told me that when you go to register a death in Eastbourne there’s a poster up advertising funeral ceremonies.

I wonder how many people opt for these new fangled civil ceremonies with their practical atheism or pick n mix spirituality and how much of a loss they really are in terms of evangelistic opportunities.

Baby Obadiah?

Following a sermon by Rev'd John Cheeseman on 1 Kings 18:1-16, Obadiah has suddenly shot up the possible names list for young master Lloyd. John informs us that the name means "servant of Yahweh" and encouraged us to have it as our highest priority for our children that they might be devout believers in the LORD (v3) who honour the word of God and worship the LORD since their youth (v12). What a wonderful witness Obadiah's name would have been in the dark days of wicked king Ahab.

I think it would be good to have a name that's shortenable and play-around-with-able. You can't do much with Marc!

And even if it is a bit posh, it seems to me, the more middle names the better!

But Jonathan (sort of vaguely after Yvonne's father, John, and Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian - not the tripple jumper) Owen (after John Owen and 'cos its a bit Welsh) Andrew (since there's a bit of a middle name thing going on in my family there) remain the favourates. Maybe one doesn't want to use up Edwards and Owen on one kid?

And maybe they're a bit too dull?

I had a great grandfather called Zechariah (see Luke 1:67ff), so maybe that should be resurrected - though its not as cool as the now fairly common Zach?