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An Irish blessing for a newborn.

Blessing The Child

Blessing a newborn child at baptism is natural and popular thing to do. How can one not wish that sweet innocent creature all the best for its future? Sure and all that is fine but when one gets down to being specific, precisely what is it that we are wishing for the new child?. There are many approaches with varying degrees of detail and coverage and varying degrees of wisdom. The old Irish blessing above is certainly one of the better ones, but it doesn't cover everything.

This hymn is part of the Church of Infinite Dimensions' child naming ceremony. It follows the individual blessings of various desired fixed characteristics, such as: courage, beauty, wisdom etc, by appropriate members of the flock. Since such characteristics have been dealt with already they do not appear in this hymn, sung by the congregation, which instead blesses the unpredictable events that will befall the child in the course of his life, such as health issues, love, money, friendship etc.

The question of what is the best thing to wish for a child is a tricky one which goes to the heart of wisdom. Wishes that might on the face of it seem generous may deliver a bad result. The blessing of great wealth for example, will likely produce a life of luxury and idleness and an arrogant, ignorant, unhealthy person of no value to himself or society. Such lives are not what the Church views as an optimal way to utilise one's existence in a new Shoku and for this reason blessings should not be overly generous.

On the other hand it is equally bad if not worse to be too stingy with one's blessings as the child will not have a happy life toiling from dawn to dusk or battling ill-health or constant misfortune. The life of a slave or a cripple is not what the Church views as an optimal way to utilise one's existence either and consequently blessings should not be small hearted.

As in all questions of wisdom what is needed is the right balance! The Church believes that people should have interesting, comprehensive and deeply satisfying lives that cover a large gamut of the experiences and emotions available to us. We should be open-hearted in wishing this to all new arrivals in Orithia. The topics that I have chosen I believe cover most of the important nodes in the vicissitudes of life.

I apologise for a few of the words which may sound a little awkward but I assure you that making the critical requirements of life fit the rhyming scheme was extremely difficult.

The tune is a traditional German tune from the middle ages which was set by Joachim Neander to his hymn: "Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren", published in 1680. Catherine Winkworth translated Neander's hymn in 1863 titling it "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty". It is a lovely, positive tune with a strong but non-threatening character.

Music: from Stralsund Gesangbuch "Lobe Den Herren", 1665
Words: Warren Mars, 2018

*Change the pronouns as required.

We wish this child all happiness, joy and elation;
Often to fly and to rarely be cursed with frustration.
May he succeed, be true in his word and his deed,
Let him be his own salvation.

We wish this child a health that is just as desired:
In body and mind a construction that's greatly admired.
A roof overhead, sufficient of meat and of bread,
Money when it is required.

We wish this child a family that's always supporting.
May she make friends that are loyal when she's on the downswing.
Let her find love, that sticks when the push comes to shove.
May she be blessed with fine offspring.

We wish this child a life he will find satisfying,
Not always easy or kind but of richness supplying.
Just enough pain, to fire his heart and his brain,
And know that he lived before dying.

The vocal score with chords is provided here.
I have also provided an SATB arrangement for choirs here.

Finally, I have provided a recording of my computer synthesizer playing the SATB arrangement. There is no singing and the synthesizer is very ordinary. Nevertheless the parts are all there and one can sing along with it or use it get an idea of how it should sound with your choir.