The godfather
Today, I hosted my godson’s 1st birthday party. Or rather, his party was held at my house, with most of the actual party arrangements being made by his parents. I contributed some cheese straws and currant cakes to the food table and did plenty of hoovering both before and after the event. The trail of destruction left by 12-month-old children and their relatives is quite something!
I have a biased perspective, but I think my godson is an absolutely delightful child, full of smiles and with a very cheeky face. One current idiosyncrasy which I particularly like it that he will bounce up and down when something takes his fancy – a quite charming way of expressing excitement. The last time I saw him before the party, he bounced up and down with glee every time I started a Newton’s cradle going – who would have thought that a few metal balls on wires could provide more than a moment’s interest for someone so small?
At the moment, being a godfather is a particularly strange thing, and until the young man is, well, a little closer to being a young man, I am not entirely sure what it means. I pray for him regularly, but as I already prayed for his parents regularly (and indeed used to pray regularly *with* his father when we lived a little closer to one another), this is not exactly surprising. Even when he’s older, I believe that his faith is his own choice. I will talk to him about Christianity, as I’m sure his parents will, and I will do my best to model my beliefs in my speech and behaviour, but even if it were possible to force him to make God a part of his life, I wouldn’t want to do so. For now, I can offer cuddles and the occasional random present. Later, I can offer a listening ear (as his mother puts it, I can be ‘Switzerland’, neutral territory for him in all matters) along with the occasional random present. I hope to be able to share my love of theatre with him as well as my love of God. But ultimately, my role is to love him and to support both him and his parents in whatever ways become relevant as the years go by.
The Singing Librarian Talks 
I think he is very lucky to have you as a godfather. It sounds like you have thought about it very carefully and worked out how you are going to fulfil your role to the best of your ability.
Although his parents will be the prime people he will talk to about his faith as he gets older, I should imagine he will also be looking around for role models outside the family as well. I think that even when teenagers do not go to church themselves, having people they know and like who do and are happy with their faith can be very comforting to them.