So how do you “remember your baptism?” Start with the basics: recall the date when it took place. If you can’t remember that, dig out the baptismal certificate with that information. If you are unable to locate it, do a little talking within your family to learn of the church where it took place and write for the information.
Why should you do this? Because your baptismal day is that day when God spoke wonderful promises over you and God in Christ promised to be your God forever. Words spoken and water washed over you gave you this and more.
Some folks not only look up their baptismal date so they can carry it in their memory and heart; they may even frame the certificate and hang it on a wall in their home. They’ll ask family members for their stories of the day. They’ll pull out the old photo album and reminisce. For me June 11 is the date. My mother told me I was supposed to be baptized earlier along with two cousins, but to her disappointment, I was sick that day. So June 11 became “plan B.” Imagine my surprise when, many years later, my wife and discovered we were baptized on the same day, I in Wisconsin and she in Louisiana.
A Bible study group in my church is planning to use my book, Water for Your Soul, for their spiritual growth and conversation in the months ahead. As a prelude to that study they recently gathered. Each brought mementoes and told stories about their own baptism. For one it happened while her father was in the army during World War II. For another it involved the surprise of being baptized at a different church than she had assumed. Everyone had a story. Some had never talked about some of these matters of the heart and faith before. What a wonderful idea for sharing, a delightful and appropriate introduction to a book on baptismal spirituality.
So, back to the basics: Do you know when and where you were baptized? What can you learn about the day that will help you take the next step, which is the act of remembering your baptism as a spiritual meditating on the grace of God?
