Sometimes Christianity has emphasized


movement in the opposite direction. The Christian life can be portrayed as an effort to rise above our earthly nature—to make our way up and out of our messy bodies and world to a purely spiritual existence. There are times—perhaps in great suffering—when such spirituality can be healthy. But Lutherans have been cautious about


emphasizing a spiritual ascent toward God. It risks devaluing our earthly lives and bodies. It could focus on our spiritual aptitude rather than on God’s extravagant giving. Lutheran tradition has emphasized God “coming down” to us. Martin Luther used water language to describe God’s presence “with all creatures, flowing and pouring into them, filling all things.” Theologian Paul Santmire wrote that “this


theology encourages us to envision God cascading down, like a mountain river, into all things,


binding them together and calling forth growth. It points us to God, working the divine purposes in, with and under the whole creation.” It calls us to contemplate—spiritually, liturgically, scientifically—the ways in which God’s goodness is constantly flowing and pouring into and through the world. Water in worship can accent the flowing and


pouring nature of God. You may have noticed worship leaders pouring water into the font at the baptismal prayer. One of the prayers in Evangelical Lutheran Worship draws on images from the psalms to describe God as overflowing with goodness: “You water the mountains and send springs into the valleys to refresh and satisfy all living things.” When baptisms make generous use of water,


they give physical expression to the flow of God’s mercies washing into our lives.


FLOOD Have you stood at the edge of a flooding river? It may seem fearsomely alive. It grows, roils and rises.


Beneath the surface, currents uproot trees, dislodge boulders and move earthen banks. Kayakers know the “funny water” of a flooded river—dangerously unpredictable currents created when water surges through channels formed for smaller flows. Floods rise up and occupy land, encroaching on what we sometimes designate as “our” habitat.


Floods are natural reformers. They rearrange


landscapes and disrupt boundaries that may have been considered more-or-less settled. Floods can bring life by depositing and irrigating topsoil. Floods can also bring death by stripping away entire landscapes and destroying safe habitats. Luther placed this transformational power of


the flood near the heart of his baptismal theology. When he composed a prayer over the water for baptism, he broke with tradition to make the image of Noah’s flood central to the prayer. The image was so prominent that his 1523 prayer became known as the Sintflutgebet, or “Flood Prayer.” In the Genesis narrative, Noah’s flood covers


everything. The biblical text repeats emphatically: Every living creature outside of the ark was drowned. Even the highest mountains were deeply covered. After the waters recede, the new covenant extends to the whole earth for every generation: “I am


16 APRIL 2016


establishing my covenant with … every animal of the earth … never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:9-11).By describing it in terms of the biblical flood, Luther portrays baptism as engulfing everything, leaving nothing the same.


Flood of grace Luther labels the flood of Noah as a “flood


of wrath,” a flood that renews the world by first destroying it. He wrote that baptism is even more powerful than the flood of Noah because “while that was a flood of wrath, this [baptism] is a flood of grace,” and it continues to flood our world to this day from the font. We are familiar with floods of wrath. Jesus was put


to death in a flood of wrath unleashed by the rulers and the crowds. But in Christ’s dying and rising, God has poured out a flood of grace that extends to enemies and all those far away. At baptism, Luther


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