{"id":2731,"date":"2008-12-02T20:45:35","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T20:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2010-12-22T11:19:46","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T16:19:46","slug":"6731","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/","title":{"rendered":"Walden Pond Baptism – Chilly, But Meaningful"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROOKLINE, MA (December 2, 2008) \u2013 Joshua Throneburg, pastor of Highrock Covenant Church<\/a> in Brookline, and five baptismal candidates wore wetsuits a week ago Sunday during a baptismal service at Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.
\n
\nThe church chose to do the baptism in Walden Pond because of its accessibility and not because of its history, Throneburg says. Still, he adds, \u201cIt\u2019s a great thing to be able to say you were baptized in Walden Pond.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church decided to conduct the service at this time because people attending the newly planted church increasingly were asking about baptism, Throneburg says. The congregation decided to not wait until warm weather because that would mean another six months.<\/p>\n

Seventy-five people braved the weather to watch the baptismal service, Throneburg says. The temperature was around 30 degrees with a \u201cstiff wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throneburg had to convince the company that holds the church\u2019s liability policy for any offsite activities that it would be safe to proceed with the service – some church members had expressed reservations.<\/p>\n

Despite the frigid conditions, \u201cThe baptism candidates were all pretty excited about it,\u201d Throneburg says.<\/p>\n

\"BaptismHoward Burgoyne, East Coast Conference<\/a> superintendent, attended the event. He had preached earlier during the regular service about the role of baptism and new life in Christ. He remained an observer later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get Howard into the water,\u201d Throneburg laments. \u201cBesides, we didn\u2019t have enough wetsuits.\u201d The church had rented the suits from a local dive shop.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges for the service was to avoid concentrating on the weather. \u201cYou don\u2019t want the baptism to focus on the fact that it was cold,\u201d Throneburg explains.<\/p>\n

The Brookline congregation was planted by Highrock Covenant Church<\/a> in Arlington, Massachusetts, and held its first worship service in August. It averages around 150 people each Sunday.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BROOKLINE, MA (December 2, 2008) \u2013 Joshua Throneburg, pastor of Highrock Covenant Church in Brookline, and five baptismal candidates wore wetsuits a week ago Sunday during a baptismal service at Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWalden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BROOKLINE, MA (December 2, 2008) \u2013 Joshua Throneburg, pastor of Highrock Covenant Church in Brookline, and five baptismal candidates wore wetsuits a week ago Sunday during a baptismal service at Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Walden Pond Baptism – Chilly, But Meaningful\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":314,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/pt\\\/uH\\\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\\\/Bap-c.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/\",\"name\":\"Walden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/pt\\\/uH\\\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\\\/Bap-c.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/pt\\\/uH\\\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\\\/Bap-c.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/pt\\\/uH\\\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\\\/Bap-c.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/02\\\/6731\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Walden Pond Baptism – Chilly, But Meaningful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"BROOKLINE, MA (December 2, 2008) \u2013 Joshua Throneburg, pastor of Highrock Covenant Church in Brookline, and five baptismal candidates wore wetsuits a week ago Sunday during a baptismal service at Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Walden Pond Baptism – Chilly, But Meaningful","datePublished":"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/"},"wordCount":314,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/","name":"Walden Pond Baptism - Chilly, But Meaningful - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg","datePublished":"2008-12-02T20:45:35+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T16:19:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/pt\/uH\/ptuHcLpHmgEHB2JyehJiYQ\/Bap-c.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/12\/02\/6731\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Walden Pond Baptism – Chilly, But Meaningful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5041,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/5041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}