3 Bears of Baptism

A few years ago, my friend Laurel gave a talk at a baptism called "The 3 Bears of Baptism," and I thought it made for an interesting talk that explained the promises we make when we are baptized.  There is a baptism on Saturday, and few people are available, so Josie said she would give the talk if I wrote it. (I am already doing the music, so we didn't want it to be the Myrna show.)  I was stumped for an idea until I remembered the 3 Bears.

Here is the talk:

I’m sure all of you know the story of the Three Bears. Today I want to talk about three different bears: the baptism bears. The word “bear” can be used to mean the furry animal, but it can also mean “to carry.” The baptism bears remind us of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father when we are baptized—we promise to carry or “bear” three things.

We can read about these things we promise to bear in the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah chapter 18. First, we promise that we are willing to bear His name—the name of Jesus. You will be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and will belong to him and carry or bear his name. In ancient times the followers of Jesus were called Christians. Now we can be called Latter-day Saints or Christians. Either one means we bear His name.

Our second BEAR of baptism is to bear testimony, or to bear witness that we know Jesus is the Son of God; that we know He is our Savior and we know His gospel is true. We can bear this testimony all the rest of our lives. This is one way we show our love for Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

Our third BEAR of baptism is that we will bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light. This means we help each other with work that needs to be done and also we help others when they have trouble and sorrow so they won’t suffer alone. In this way, we can follow the Savior’s commandment to love one another, the same way He loves us.

Alma taught these same baptism covenants to the people that he taught and baptized that we can read about in Mosiah chapter 18 vs. 8-10. Alma tells the people being baptized about the three bears: he tells them that:

they need to be called the people of God (which means to bear his name)

they need to be willing to bear one another’s burdens,

and they need to stand as witnesses of God (which means to bear testimony)

After they are baptized, Heavenly Father’s promised to pour out His spirit upon them. He makes that same promise to you as you are baptized today—that he will pour out His spirit upon you. I can think of nothing better than to always have his spirit with us.

If you forget these covenants listen carefully to the priests as they bless the sacrament each Sunday, because the words they say remind us of the promises we make when we are baptized, which are also your three baptism bears …

You bear His name.
You bear your testimony.
You bear one another’s burdens

I gave Miriam 3 little baptism bears when she was baptized because of Laurel's talk, and bought a dozen little bears at that time. So, I chose 6 little bears (because two young boys are being baptized) and dressed them up with belts that spell out "Bear His Name," "Bear Testimony," and "Bear Burdens." For Miriam, I had made necklaces, but actually, belts kind of fit better on these bears.

I had to go and buy string because what I had was too slippery to hold knots, and the beads kept falling off, and while at the craft store, I saw these cute bear bags, so I got them, too.