For May 9, 2026
A Hot Bath, Soap, and Water by Greg Holmes, D.MIN – Director of Missions serving 17 churches
WE LIVE IN A TIME when, due to industry and technology, we can cleanse ourselves daily in the bathrooms of our homes. Not so even our recent ancestors once-removed, say great-grandparents or before. In the eighteen-hundreds and previously, some people bathed once a week, some took one bath every three months or so, thinking bathing was dangerous for your health. The luxury of a hot bath with soap and water was exactly that: a luxury. Many people had no running water, and sufficed with washing out of a bucket, or dipping into a local stream. Their soap was most likely a mixture of refined lard and leached ashes. Everyone was used to each other’s stench and paid little attention to such things. Today we simply walk into the bathroom, turn on the hot and cold water to our desired temperature, grab some soap, and think nothing of it. It’s always been like this; we’ve known nothing different.