“Thanks for mothering him.”

My dear friend from seminary, Esther, delivered her first child in October, a sweet boy named Mark.  Esther and her husband Martin asked me to be his godmother, an honor and joy I gladly accepted.

Mark was baptized last weekend, and at the luncheon after, of course there were speeches.  There are always speeches.  Esther told me to hold Mark during my speech (I’m his godmother; of course I had to make a speech, along with his father, mother, grandparents, and godfathers), and I suspect she knew that a squirmy six-month old with a penchant for grabbing the microphone would give me a good reason to keep my speech short.

As I was leaving, I commented to Martin that now that I am Mark’s godmother, he’s stuck with me.  Martin replied that he was very happy about that, and then added, “thanks for mothering him.”

I love that Martin encapsulated why godparents exist: to be spiritual parents to the child.  I’m sure that there are plenty sets of social, rather than spiritual, godparents here, but in the main, I think the Church takes the role of godparents very seriously, which I very much appreciate. The Church of Uganda follows the Church of England’s lead in having three godparents: two of the same sex as the child, and one of the opposite, so I am Mark’s only godmother.

Mark is much like my American godson: they both have very sweet and gentle temperaments, and are always a joy to be around.  I’m rather smitten with both of them.