The Baptism Talk - Kit Kat Edition
Since being called as the Primary President for my ward, I've been asked to give a talk at several Baptisms and a few of them at the last minute! I've been trying to build up a cache of talks that I can use in the future as to be honest, I hate writing talks and prefer to speak off the cuff!
As I'm just a child at heart, the talks that I like to give are a little bit more fun than the ones that are sometimes given and on top of this I try to make them super simple as they are aimed at the child who is being baptised. The adults who are there? Well, sure I want them to enjoy the talk too but really the important person in this all is the child!
A few months ago I gave a talk at a Baptism to a child that I had met just one week before. The Primary President from the other ward in our building also gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and (she knew him a bit more than I did as she'd had him in her Primary for a couple of months before they moved again in to our ward!) they were similar, so I knew I'd hit on the right talk!
Just in case you wanted to use the talk, here it is! By the way, I was inspired by the talk by Pam at Strong Armour.
Good Afternoon! I’m so excited to talk to you and your friends and family, especially as you are just about to participate in your very first saving ordinance and make your very first official promise to Heavenly Father!
Today when you are baptized you will make some promises to your Heavenly Father and to make it easy to remember, I thought I would give you a Kit Kat. Okay, now I know we only just met properly this last weekend and you already know I’m a little bit odd, but trust me this Kit Kat whilst it might look like an ordinary treat, it is the only kit you will need to help you remember your baptism covenants.
Wait, you’re looking confused. You don’t know how this will remind you do you? Okay, let me explain because it’s really simple. The Kit you need to remember the baptismal convenants is all in the name of this chocolate bar!
K is for KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.
When you are baptized, you promise to do your best to follow Jesus and keep all of His commandments. When you make a mistake, and it’s okay, everybody makes mistakes sometimes, you can repent and try to do better in the future.
A is for ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM.
This doesn't just mean that we think about Jesus, we stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places even until death just like it says Mosiah Chapter 18 verse 9. What you do need to remember is that by your example you can share the gospel with others, someone is always watching.
When someone is sad or struggling, we help them and love them, just like it says in Mosiah chapter 18, verse we can bear one another’s burdens that they might be light.
T is for TAKE UPON YOU THE NAME OF CHRIST (D & C 18:21-25).
When you are baptised, you will become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day you’ll be a Missionary and you’ll have a name tag with your name on it and also Jesus’ name.
Do you know what I like to do though? I like to pretend that I have an invisible name tag on all the time because like you will be, I’m a member of Jesus’ church, and so I like to do things that Jesus would want us to do to build the kingdom of God and to help others.
Now those phrases Keep His commandments? Always remember Him? Willing to take His name upon you? you have probably heard before every time you come to Church on a Sunday.
These words are in the Sacrament prayers that we hear each week and every week when we partake of the Sacrament we get a chance to renew our promises, our covenants that we made during our Baptism.
You know, how when the Sacrament is passed, you see a lot of people bow their heads? Well, a lot of them are remembering the promises that they made to Heavenly Father and the ones that he made to each of us too.
We sit and think a little about what kind of person we were during the week since the last Sunday and we try to work out how we can be better in the next week, most importantly we remember that Jesus suffered for our sins and sorrows, and He died and was resurrected that we all might live again someday.
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that whenever we make a promise to Him, He makes a promise right back to us. A two-way promise with Heavenly Father is called a covenant. Heavenly Father NEVER breaks His covenants. We need to try every single day never to break our promises to Him.
Today Heavenly Father also will make you some promises. We know about these promises from the scriptures.
He promises to accept you as a member of His church.
He promises you that He will forgive you if you make mistakes and do something wrong - if you are sorry for what you did and repent.
He also promises that you can have the gift of the Holy Ghost with you and that you can obtain eternal life someday.
Today, after you are baptized you will be absolutely clean in the eyes of your Heavenly Father. I hope that you will always remember your promises and do all you can to keep yourself spiritually clean. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.