Baptismal spirituality is about Christ making us new. Yesterday, the first Sunday in Advent and the first day of the new church year, brought that home to my heart in a couple ways.

Awaking while the world was still dark, I was surprised by a fresh layer of snow on the ground. As daylight arrived, a whole new scene unfolded before us. Some of us were surprised, others almost expecting it. The drab browns and grays of November were gone, replaced by a glistening white that impressed even the winter-haters. But just as the change to snow is not easy, neither is being new in Christ. For one, there is cold and shoveling and layers of clothing; for the other, surprise and shock and accepting this new person we are. Yet how good the new is in our lives. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

My early morning devotion was a Dietrich Bonhoeffer reading* perfect for the beginning of Advent. Bonhoeffer wrote, “Luther…often said that, next to the Word of God, music is the best thing that human beings have… Luther knew that it has dried an infinite number of tears, made the sad happy, stilled desires, raised up the defeated, strengthened the challenged, and that it has also moved many a stubborn heart to tears and driven many a great sinner to repentance before the goodness of God. ‘O sing to the Lord a new song ‘ (Ps. 98:1).” *from I Want to Live These Days with You, p. 349

What God did in baptism – making us new in Christ – God continues daily in ordinary ways.

“How many Lutheran pastors does it take to baptize 525 people?”

The newsletter from Germany with this line – forwarded to me by the editor of my book – assures its readers this is not the beginning of a joke! Rather, it turns out to be an invitation, albeit a rather unique one.  

The great reformer Martin Luther was baptized November 11, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, one day after he was born. This year, 2008, on the 525th anniversary of Luther’s baptism, the congregations of Lutherstadt Eisleben “would like to find 525 congregations around the globe to come together in baptismal remembrance.”  

Pastors Claudia Bermann and Scott Moore explain that their congregation worships in the church where they still use remnants of the baptismal font over which Luther himself received God’s promise. They’d love to have people receive baptism in Eisleben or in their own congregation on this occasion. Pastors might bring a group to Eisleben. A baptismal candidate, instructed by and with permission from his/her pastor, might go there for the sacrament. Not able to travel there? Check out the site www.Luther525.de for celebrate resources or celebrate in your own way and let them know.  

There’s been a big gap in my postings: I haven’t been here since early March. This is what happens when a pastor’s life get filled with Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. But here we are again.

Since the March book signing at my church for Water for Your Soul, I’ve had three more signings: at The Blue Cup, Barnes & Noble, and the Luther College Book Shop. I just returned from Decorah and Luther College moments ago. What fun these events have been, renewing relationships with many old friends who appreciate my ministry and my writing. The real goal, however, is to get my book into the hands of many people to encourage their spiritual life in new ways. So the book signings are just the beginning.

A few days ago I noticed on Amazon.com that Martin Marty is scheduled to come out with a new book on baptism. My first thought? “Oh, darn. Here I a parish pastor write one little book on baptism and struggle to get it out there, and then prolific and ubiquitous Martin Marty comes along and writes a book on the same subject and he’ll have an instant audience.” After I got done grousing I thought, maybe this isn’t so bad after all. Baptismal spirituality needs fresh articulating by more people and who better than a big name like Marty to do it. Then I thought again, maybe people interested in his book will also notice mine, and the benefits will double. Later, trying to be humble, I thought, mine may even have the better title! Well, readers, you’ll have to be the judge of that.

If you haven’t purchased my book, always available from the publisher as well as from me, you might be interested to know that one of people who endorsed it warmed my heart when he told me it contained a combination of the best of Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Alvin Rogness (Luther Seminary professor and popular writer who died some years ago). I invite you to read Water for Your Soul yourself and decide if you agree with him.

Thanksgiving Day is just past, and I found myself thinking of reasons I am grateful for baptism. A la David Letterman, I also love “top ten lists;” so here are today’s top ten reasons that I’m glad to be baptized: 

10. For knowing the love of God larger than my feelings, my mind or my memory (That’s part of why infant baptism inspires me).

9.  For a bond with Christ that cannot be taken from me (Everything else might go away, terrifying as that may be, but not Christ – or God).

8.  For the rich past – being connected to the great biblical story (All those stories of saints and sinners are now my story, helping me along the way).

7.  For the future, knowing my destiny is connected to Jesus (And you know how Jesus’ story turns out: he rises from the dead!).

6.  For receiving everything that belongs to Jesus (Quite frankly, that’s why I need my whole life to learn what he gives).

5.  For forgiveness, sins flushed away (If I had to carry all the garbage around, oh, it’s too much to contemplate).

4.  For receiving a family of faith for life’s journey (These folks both succeed and fail, but we’re companions together in Christ).

3.  For baptism’s call to die to my sin (It’s good to own up to my messing up).

2.  For a place to stand when doubts come (This I know, and so did Luther: that I have been baptized; God committed himself to me. Hang on to that.)

1.  For being a child of God, loved and learning (I have difficulty measuring spiritual progress; that’s why belonging to God is so incredible). 

The list is really too short – I eliminated about seven items to get down to ten. What would be in your top ten?

This is a new venture: a blog on baptismal spirituality. I call it “Water and Word.” Why? Because that great man of faith Martin Luther who shook up the world nearly 500 years ago liked to say that baptism is not water only, but water used “according to God’s command and connected with God’s word.” Baptismal spirituality gets you both, water and word, not one or the other but both. And God in both.

I decided I liked the idea of starting this blog near November 11. That’s the anniversary date of Martin Luther’s baptism. He was one day old. If spiritual value of baptism has a champion, Luther would head the list of nominees. He loved baptism. He believed that God did great things in humble things like water and the word. In fact, Luther believed he and every Christian received so much in baptism that he – and we – can spend our whole life learning what it means.  

Luther is right, at least in my opinion. That’s why I’m beginning this blog, to think aloud about baptism’s often unused benefits, about a baptismal spirituality that’s good from our diaper days to our dying day. That’s I wrote a book too about baptismal spirituality that has the publication date of February 4, 2008. I am eager to share it with you. What about that February date? That’s the anniversary of the 1906 birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who died for his faith, hanged by Hitler’s henchmen in April 1945. He loved baptism too – and he followed Jesus all the way. One person who read my book told me informally that he thought it had the best of Luther, Bonhoeffer, and a beloved departed pastor in the church, Alvin Rogness. I am humbled and pleased by that thought. 

So I invite you to stay with me. Between now and the publication date for my book, I’ll give you some hints of what it means to live baptized every day. There’s a lot of spiritual hunger in the world, and baptismal spirituality is a great treasure that can refresh and renew us. Even with simple things like water and the word.