This past Monday, our area received a lot of rain. Unfortunately, many people experienced the frustration of leaking roofs or flooding basements. As some of you probably assumed, we experienced water problems at Beautiful Savior as well. Garbage cans were quickly repurposed to catch drips coming from the ceiling in various places, and fans were strategically placed to help dry soaked carpets. (As a side note, we are addressing the issue through the services of Noffke Roofing.)

A long time ago, I used a Confirmation curriculum that Concordia Publishing House produced that included video segments on VHS tapes (remember those?) to help start discussions on the six chief parts of the Small Catechism. One segment was about a high school girl who had a very bad day. Everything that could go wrong did, including a parking lot fender bender, the project that she worked hard on getting ruined as she brought it to school, etc. At the end of the video, the young lady was reflecting on the day and the sound of the rain on her window. She said she always kind of liked that sound because it reminded her of her Baptism.

What does it mean to remember our Baptism? It simply means to understand that because of our sin and living in a sinful world, we are going to have bad days. Not only will bad things happen to us, but we will also think and do sinful things – things that by right should keep us separated from God. But in Baptism God changed everything by washing away the guilt of our original sin and connecting us to Jesus and what He accomplished for us. At Baptism, we were given our true identity as the forgiven, redeemed child of God (even if the evil one would have us doubt that).

As you come into the sanctuary and look to your left at the Baptismal font, you will notice that there is water in it. The water is not there from a leak in the roof, but as a reminder of who we are in Christ. For some, it is beneficial to dip their finger in the water and make the sign of the cross with that water on their forehead, not as a rebaptism, but as a way to remember who Jesus says they are because of that Baptism. The water isn’t Holy Water in the sense that it has special sacramental powers. But the Word spoken over you at your Baptism was powerful. And that Word cannot be broken.

God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ! He, because I could not pay it, Gave my full redemption price. Do I need earth’s treasures many? I have one worth more than any That brought me salvation free Lasting to eternity! Lutheran Service Book #594, v. 1