A Name and a Blessing

"In His Constant Care" by Simon Dewey

In the first chapter of Luke, an angel named Gabriel appeared to Zacharias the priest and announced that his elderly wife would have a child. Gabriel directed that the baby's name should be John and then pronounced this blessing:

"For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord... and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb... And he shall go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:15-17).

Gabriel then appeared to the virgin Mary and declared that she, too, would give birth to a son. He declares that the baby's name is Jesus and pronounces a blessing on her child:

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).

These miraculous births remind us of others we find in scripture. Abraham, like Zacharias, was promised that his elderly wife would bear a son. The Lord declared, "and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him" (Genesis 17:19).

The prophet Samuel was born to a barren woman, Hannah, who covenanted to dedicate her son's life to the Lord if the Lord would allow her to get pregnant. When she did bear a son, she named him Samuel, a recognition that God had kept his covenant with her, and took him to the temple. The temple priest had blessed her before she became pregnant and did so again when she returned with the child. As she gave her son to the priest, she offered a prayer or song of thanksgiving, praise, and worship for the blessing she had received from the Lord.

In each of these examples, a name was declared and a blessing given. We are also commanded to give our children a name and a blessing:

"Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name" (D&C 20:70).

The priesthood holder performing this ordinance stands in the place of Jesus Christ, as Gabriel did, as his servant and messenger. Unlike other priesthood blessings, the one acting as voice first addresses our Heavenly Father and declares a name. Then the child is addressed by name and a blessing is pronounced as it is given by the spirit.

The blessing is not intended to be another patriarchal blessing or purely a proclamation of desired future events. Rather, the child, dressed in white and given to the Elders whose right it is to preside, is, in essence, dedicated the Lord with a name that is recorded on earth and in heaven. As one who belongs to the Lord, the child is entitled to God's protection and care until they reach the age of accountability and can choose to enter covenants on their own.

By allowing their child to be so dedicated, the parents of a child who is named and blessed in this manner signify their trust in the will of God for their child and acknowledge their responsibility to raise the child in righteousness. Often, the parents are also blessed through the child (Abraham received the numberless posterity he desired through Isaac; Hannah bore five children after Samuel; and Mary was "blessed... among women").

Children are a gift from God (Psalms 127:3). Each is a miracle, made holy through the atonement of Jesus Christ, with divine lineage and potential (D&C 74:7). Through the ordinance of giving our children a name and a blessing, we lead them to Christ so that one day they can also be called by His holy name.