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| Bockelman Emphasizes Baptism at Women of the ELCA Gathering | |||||||
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SALT LAKE CITY – In a two-part Bible study based on the power of Baptism, the Rev. Karen Bockelman, assistant to the bishop, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northeastern Minnesota Synod, Duluth, told of the importance of "walking wet." Women of the ELCA's Seventh Triennial Gathering is being held through July 13 here at the Salt Palace Convention Center. More than 2,000 women are in attendance. The event theme, "Come to the Waters," focuses on the celebration of Baptism through Bible study, speakers, community service and worship. In the July 11 half of the Bible study, Bockelman related a conversation she had with a Baptist friend about immersion Baptism. "I have come to believe and appreciate the more water the better for getting across God's message," she said. She quoted author Loren Eisley: "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." While she did not entirely agree with Eisley, Bockelman said that there is something about water that is iconic. "Water is fascinating and frightening, cleansing and killing," Bockelman said. "For all that can be taken for granted as ordinary, water is not." She cited several Bible stories that contain strong messages of water including Creation, the flood, the Exodus and Jesus' Baptism. "The whole Creation narrative is a watery one," Bockelman said. She spoke of the flood as a "near return to chaos" that came to cleanse the wickedness of humankind. "Early Christians took very seriously the baptismal imagery of the flood," she said. Bockelman said the Exodus is told as an escape across the Red Sea. "It is clear that this is a great water story," she said. "Water is important and life-giving and fulfilling, but it is not safe." In her discussion on Jesus' Baptism, Bockelman paralleled it with Jesus' death and resurrection. "In Baptism we are freed from slavery to sin, of bondage to sin," she said. "In Baptism Jesus began his ministry by passing through the water. That is the beginning of our ministry as well." She said that water is not only a source of life and a blessing, but it can mean death as well. Bockelman read from the hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross": "See from His head, His hands, His feet / Sorrow and love flow mingled down / Did e'er such love and sorrow meet / Or thorns compose so rich a crown?" She said that these words were an expression of Baptism in Jesus' death. "`Water' in Scripture is both a noun and a verb," Bockelman said. "You can hardly turn a page of the Bible without getting wet." She said that lesser-referenced stories such as Moses turning a river to blood, the unknown woman anointing Jesus' feet with tears and Namon's being cured of leprosy all possess imagery of water and Baptism. "Rejoice in the waters of Scripture," Bockelman said to close the first part of the Bible study. "Rejoice in the waters of Baptism. Be careful, water is not safe, but neither is the Christian life." In the July 12 half of the Bible study, Bockelman told the story of a young girl baptized on her deathbed. "In that baptismal rite, heartbreaking as it was, I discovered something else," she said. "All of us present received a foretaste of heaven. We got a glimpse of our own future in God's hands." Bockelman focused on Martin Luther's Baptism in the second part of the Bible study. "(Luther) understood that Baptism is a once-and-for-all event," she said. "It was an event to be remembered and reaffirmed every day." She said Baptism can be a daily rite, and a sinful person is drowned through daily repentance into a new life. "Each day is an opportunity to die to sin and rise to new life." Bockelman suggested methods to do this daily including confession and forgiveness, whether in worship, with friends or "in our own hearts;" reading Scripture to "rediscover the joys, wonders, mysteries and strangeness of God's Word;" and daily worship through creeds, prayers and confessions of faith. Bockelman said Baptism is something that Lutherans can lay claim to no matter what happens. She said it can sustain people through big life changes such as losing a job, entering into a nursing home, becoming a parent and being released from prison. "You have come to the waters," Bockelman said. "You have in Baptism received God's living water. I hope with the water splashing off of you, the water flowing out of you is for a world in desperate need." "I don't think we can be reminded too often to be bearers of (living water) to not only family, friends and our own congregations, but the whole world," she said. Bockelman asked participants in the Women of the ELCA gathering to "go forth, dripping water wherever (they) are taken." Information about Women of the ELCA's Seventh Triennial Gathering is at http://womenoftheELCA.org/tg08.html, on the Web. |
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