Make It Sing!

            I once heard someone say, “If you can’t make it sing, then it isn’t good theology.”  Even as a preacher, I must admit that most of the best sermons are found in our hymns.  Something mysterious happens when we match words and phrases with rhythm and melody and harmony.            Hymns have the power to take us from a place of simply reading and hearing truths about God to a place of experiencing the truth of God in our being.  When we sing these hymns, sometimes it feels as if the heavens are opened up.   

Even more, so much of our understanding of God’s character is found in these hymn texts.  In addition to writing eloquent poems, these hymn writers write words that are soaked in theological implications.  So even if you don’t like to sing, I encourage you to pick up your hymnal and at least read along!

              Today’s Old Testament reading is considered the first of four Servant Songs in the Book of the prophet Isaiah.  In our Christian tradition, we understand that Isaiah is singing about the Christ, the Messiah, the One who will be a light in the darkness – a theme we will build on in this season after Epiphany.  In fact, scripture is full of songs that speak to the victory of our God.

            Miriam, the sister of Moses, sings after the people are freed from Pharaoh’s hand.  Hannah sings when she conceives a child after being barren for most of her life.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, sings after the angel Gabriel tells her that she will be the mother of God. 

And so we, too, sing the praises of God.  We sing when our words cannot contain our feelings of gratitude or praise or thanksgiving.  We sing because our theology is only as good as the paper it is written on unless it moves us to experience more fully life with God. 

            “If you can’t make it sing, then it’s not good theology.”  The seemingly natural question for us to explore this morning asks, “Why do we care about making theology sing?  Why do we care about good theology?”  And even more important to today’s theme of Jesus’ baptism, “Why does it matter that we understand the true meaning of baptism?” 

            Some will tell you that baptism is your ticket to heaven so get baptized as soon as possible to ensure that you will avoid the eternal flames.  While there might be a fraction of truth in this statement, it is woefully incomplete.  This would be like writing the second half of the third line of the fourth verse without resolving the melody.  Therefore, this doesn’t sing.

            Others might tell you that you that once you get baptized you won’t ever sin again so make sure your life is together before you get baptized.  Again, there might be a sliver of truth here but it doesn’t sing.  This kind of theology doesn’t allow for a four-part harmony.  This is a very linear and narrow understanding of baptism that cracks after about 10 seconds of singing in the real world. 

            Others will tell you that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.  Okay, now we are getting somewhere.  We are starting to write a song that has one full verse and even some harmony built in. Baptism marks the truth that God in Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins once and for all.

No longer is a priest required to make a sacrifice of an innocent animal in the Temple.   Jesus is the paschal lamb.  Jesus is the innocent one who is sacrificed for the sins of the world.  Jesus is the true High Priest. 

In contemporary terms, no longer do we have to find a scapegoat to take the blame for our sins, no longer do we have to shift the blame or minimize our actions.  We are free to admit that we are sinful creatures who corrupt and destroy for ours is a God who freely forgives and offers new life.

Because of God’s endless mercy and great love for humanity, Jesus, God’s only Son, is the one who experiences the ultimate consequence of our sinful ways when he is beaten and left on a cross to die.  Jesus is the one who takes upon himself the punishment and death that we deserve.  And through baptism, we are assured that the sacrifice of Jesus makes a covering for our sins. 

But like I said, the forgiveness of sins is only the first verse.  There are more lines in this hymn.  Like our baptismal liturgy states, “Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace.” 

Ultimately, baptism opens our eyes to new life.  And I’m not simply talking about life in heaven when we die.  As scripture says, at Jesus’ baptism the heavens are opened and the Spirit descends.  Baptism signifies to us the truth that ours is a God who is constantly breaking into this world, in this time and place, to remind us that we belong to our Father in heaven.

Baptism tells us that God desires to make his home among mortals, in the flesh of humanity, so our hearts may be fixed on things heavenly. We are given a way to fulfill the vocation of Israel, a vocation to be a light in the darkness, a vocation that is lived into by loving and serving the One whose light will never be extinguished.

At the bank of the Jordan River, God inaugurates his kingdom on earth through his beloved Son.  And by virtue of Jesus’ baptism, we are given access to this heavenly kingdom by following the One who came from heaven to earth to show us the way to justice and peace.

Through Jesus’ baptism, we die to a world that is hungry to use power for selfish needs and rise to a life that uses power to give life to the most vulnerable in our societies – the poor, the lonely, the oppressed.  Baptism gives us a way to live into Jesus’ prayer – your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The baptized must be warned, however, the truth of God’s heavenly reality is vulnerable in this world, a world that is destined to corrupt and destroy.  We see how vulnerable the truth of God is in Bethlehem when the Word made Flesh is born in a manger and then when King Herod orders that all boys two years old and younger be killed.

But we also see that nothing in this world can destroy the truth of God when the Word made Flesh is raised to life three days after his crucifixion.  And baptism is meant to give us the assurance that no matter how perilous the road, our life is held in the heart of the One who cannot die.       

Baptism tells us that we are not destined to the sin and death that this earthly life will eventually give us all.  Instead, baptism tells us that through Christ we can endure the changes and chances of this life and live life eternally now and forever.  Baptism tells us that the same God who brought the people out of Egypt into the land of promise, the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, will rescue us from a world that is trying to drown us.    

The baptism of Jesus completes God’s restoration project.  In the beginning, God looked down upon creation and declared it “very good.”  But it didn’t take long for us to destroy this good creation.  It didn’t take long for God to start putting up detour sign after detour sign. 

And finally the true nature of humanity is restored on the banks of the muddy River Jordan when the heavens are opened up and God looks down upon Jesus and says, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

On this day, may the baptisms of Welles and Catesby open up the heavens and remind you of your true nature – God’s beloved sons and daughters.  And may your soul sing out an eternal song of love, a song that the world is longing to hear, a song that points to the light in the darkness - Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.