Remembering Your Baptism in the Shower
Seven years ago I preached a sermon on baptism and invited the congregation at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection to remember their baptism every morning when they step into the shower. As a way of helping them do this I wrote a little prayer and had it printed on "shower tags" that we gave to each worshiper, inviting them to hang them in their shower and to pray the prayer each morning. We also give these to our graduating seniors, inviting them to take them to college and hang them in their showers there so that they might remember who they are while away at school. The picture below is of the shower tag that has hung in my shower for the last seven years. Yes, its got seven years' worth of hard water residue on it, but it still looks pretty good. Every morning, as I step into the shower, I pray this prayer. I mention this in the first chapter of The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus. If your church is interested in printing these tags and giving them away, you are welcome to use the prayer I've written or prepare your own. The shower tags can be ordered from local ad specialties firms in your community and are typically pretty inexpensive. (You can also order them from Resurrection's bookstore in packs of 5, 25, or 100 here.) I appreciate the daily opportunity to remember that in my baptism God claimed me as his child, promised to forgive me, to fill me with his Spirit, blessed me with the church, and ordained me to a life of service in the world. My baptism is both a sign of God's gift of salvation and a sign of my desire and commitment to follow Christ.