In yesterday’s Advent Story, we looked at the story of how God parted the Red Sea to help Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt and their bondage there:
The Water is a power image in the Bible:
Advent Eve – In the Beginning, the World was Dark and Wet and Empty
Water is a major theme in the Bible. Perhaps that is because water was so very essential to the nomadic people in the Bible. Consider the 23rd Psalm. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters….”
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, Psalm 23:1-2 NIV Bible Gateway
A couple of days ago, I went outside into my garden, and it had rained the night before. Everything was wonderfully wet and refreshed garden, and I thought about the traditions of Baptism in some of our more modern Christian churches.
I grew up in the Baptist church, and the Baptists believe that baptism should involve the dipping of the person being baptized into water. In my Baptist church, the words were repeated when the baptized were lifted out of the water: “Walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:4: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
After being baptized, a person’s old life has been symbolically extinguished–or buried–allowing the baptized to emerge from that water burial to walk into a new life.
I find it interesting that several ancient cultures believe that before the world was created, a dark, watery abyss surrounded the world, and during the process of the world’s creation, the watery abyss was reallocated.
Water is the stuff out of which the world was created, and it is through water that we are refreshed and cleansed. During my young adulthood, I became Episcopalian, and I cherish the blessings of the water that are part of the Episcopalian baptism. Note: The Episcopal Church is the American counterpart to the Church of England:
Prayer Over the Water
Loving Father,
we thank you for your servant Moses,
who led your people through the waters of the Red Sea
to freedom in the Promised Land.
We thank you for your Son Jesus,
who has passed through the deep waters of death
and opened for all the way of salvation.
Now send your Spirit,
that those who are washed in this water
may die with Christ and rise with him,
to find true freedom as your children,
alive in Christ for ever.
Amen.
Another Blessing Over the Water
We praise you, loving Father,
for the gift of your Son Jesus.
He was baptized in the River Jordan,
where your Spirit came upon him
and revealed him as the Son you love.
He sent his followers
to baptize all who turn to him.
Now, Father, we ask you to bless this water,
that those who are baptized in it
may be cleansed in the water of life,
and, filled with your Spirit,
may know that they are loved as your children,
safe in Christ for ever.
Amen.”
The Book of Common Prayer