wfn.org | Bockelman Emphasizes Baptism at Women of the ELCA Gathering

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Bockelman Emphasizes Baptism at Women of the ELCA Gathering
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>July 12, 2008  

Bockelman Emphasizes Baptism at Women of the ELCA Gathering
08-117-LT*

SALT LAKE CITY (ELCA) -- 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.

*Luke Tatge is a senior journalism major at Augustana College,
Sioux Falls, S.D.  This summer he is an intern with the ELCA News
Service.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news