Terminology

Another day of clouds and intermittent light rain, rising late to a pancake breakfast. No duties tomorrow so no sermon to prepare, but Basma's baptism to prepare for. After breakfast I sent her the last of the eighteen catachetical talks I devised for her, and a copy of the adult rite of baptism, which sparked an exchange of emails about godparents. I explained that these weren't needed for adults, but are replaced by sponsors to present her and assist in the ceremony. 

My explanation didn't take into account that the word 'sponsor' has a much more extensive set of meanings in the secular world of politics, law and finance and that its use in the setting of religious ritual is unusual, and somewhat ambiguous. A dictionary check revealed that the word sponsor is derived from a Latin word which means 'to promise solemnly' in other words, a commitment of some kind. The sponsor's commitment in baptism or confirmation is to accompany a candidate and support them throughout the ceremony, presenting them to the priest or bishop at the outset. Fine once you know, but you cannot assume this is obvious or common knowledge, I realised eventually. Lesson learned. She has now asked Hilary and Peter to be her sponsors, and they have accepted.

Somehow, this took up the whole morning, and it was two by the time we sat down to lunch, having made a meal of veggies with Japanese noodles for a change. I snoozed in the chair afterwards, and when I woke up it was gone four and raining, so I donned full rain gear and braved the weather for a walk down to the river and back. Clare went out later than I. We met by chance near Blackweir Bridge and walked back together, for tea and a slice of date and walnut cake.

After supper I found something new to watch on BBC4, an unusual crimmie set in New Zealand involving an Irish expatriat family, with English sub-titles for the Maori dialogue. It's a NZ-Irish co-production. The first episode went live this evening but all episodes are available on BBC iPlayer, which is convenient if you have time to spare to watch more than one episode in an evening.