Has anyone ever noticed that if you walk into a typical, general Christian book/gift store and browse the cards for Baptism (if there are any), practically none of the cards actually make any sort of reference to Baptism?  Now, I myself don’t mind making blank cards to let the writer pen in their own message, but I’m talking about the sort of card that seems desperate to avoid the topic.  Like:  “As you celebrate your baptism, remember that this is all about you showing God how committed you are to him”; or “Baptism isn’t just a ceremony; it’s a time for parents to make promises to God”; or “We rejoice with you as we remember the new life you received when you asked Jesus into your heart!”  And when Bible verses are printed in these cards, most of those verses are not the ones that reference Baptism, either.

I suspect that this is because the many Bible passages about Baptism all seem to just come out and say that Baptism is about having your sins washed away, believing and being baptized for salvation, receiving the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, being made a disciple of Christ, dying and rising with Christ, putting on Christ through Baptism, and so on.  And all that stuff doesn’t easily mesh with a theology that doesn’t like people talking about Baptism in those terms, even if the Bible itself does.

I do find it a little off-putting that so many of these stores will have tons and tons of cards for all sorts of secular occasions from Father’s Day to birthdays to “hey, let’s get together and go shopping,” but very few cards for actual observances of faith in the Christian life.