If you haven't come across the "3 Bears" LDS talk on baptism yet, let me be the first to introduce it to you. It's pretty cute and pretty basic and a win with kids and adults.
The 3 BEARS of Baptism
INTRODUCTION -
I'd like to tell you a story about 3 bears and it's probably not the story you are thinking about. The 3 bears I'm going to talk about will hopefully always remind you of the baptism covenants you are making today. A covenant is just a fancy word for promise with God.
1st BEAR - Bear the name of Jesus Christ
When we are baptized we make a promise to Heavenly Father that we will take on the name of Christ. We will be called a Christian. Just like you have the name of your father and mother and belong to their family, you now have the title of "Christian" and you belong to Heavenly Father's eternal family.
2nd BEAR - Bear one another's burdens
As members of Christ's church we also promise to bear one another's burdens which means serving other people. It means that we help each other with work that needs to be done, or sit with people who are lonely or sad so that they don't feel alone.
3rd BEAR - Bear testimony
Lastly, when we become members of Christ's church we promise to always bear our testimonies about Him. This means that we live our lives so that people will know that we are Christians who love and care about others, and believe that Jesus Christ is real.
CONCLUSION -
When we are baptized and make these promises to Heavenly Father, He promises something in return. He promises to send the Holy Ghost to always be with us and Heavenly Father NEVER breaks a promise.
Unfortunately, because we are living in such a difficult world, all of us will break a promise with Heavenly Father. He knows this and He loves us anyway. He has given us the sacrament to take every Sunday so that we can renew our promises again and again and again.
THE END
And that's basically it. Change wording
that doesn't work for you and be sure to share a genuine and simple testimony at the end of your talk. Bonus - it's probably shorter than 5 minutes which is great for a potentially nervous child with a short attention span, and also appreciated by friends and family who have given time and effort to support your child.
When my daughter was baptized, her Grandma gave this little talk and presented her with a giant gray teddy bear that she still sleeps with 2 years later.
I think it would also be cute to pull out 3 different little bears to represent each "bear."
After the baptism service, you could also incorporate Gummy Bears, Cinnamon Bears, or Chocolate Cinnamon Bears. Everyone appreciates candy.
I was asked to give the one and only talk for a child's baptism, so I tweaked this idea a little bit and thought I'd share here just in case it helps anyone else out.
Today I’d like to tell you a story about the three bears and it’s probably not the story you are thinking about. The three bears I’m going to talk about will hopefully always remind you of the baptism covenants you are making with Heavenly Father today. A covenant is a very special kind of promise. The baptism covenants are promises we make and the promise of great blessings our Heavenly Father makes to us.
Let’s start with the 3 bears, or 3 promises we make…
This is such a cute way to introduce the meaning of baptism to Children. I have been studying the New Testament and reading about the story of Christ and John the Baptism when Christ was baptized to be an examples to everyone. It is because of his Attornment and his example that we bear the name of Him. Secondly bearing others burdens, is one of the most Christ like thing we can do and the last bear to always bear our testimony and stand as a witness of God. I was baptized 14 years ago and reading the stories of Christ and finding blogs like this have helped me to remember that promise I made many years ago as a…