Mark How the Lamb of God's Self-Offering

This text is by Carl P. Daw, Jr. (b. 1944), former president of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.  In the first stanza, Daw points the worshiper to Christ's baptism in the Jordan.  In stanza 2, he points to what took place after the Jesus' baptism, when the Spirit led our Lord to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days. Halfway through the second stanza, Daw transitions to application for the life of the Christian and then concludes the hymn with a prayer for the baptismal life of the Christian in the third stanza.  This hymn is 600 in Lutheran Service Book.

Mark how the Lamb of God’s self-off’ring

    Our human sinfulness takes on

In the birthwaters of the Jordan

    As Jesus is baptized by John.

Hear how the voice from heaven thunders,

    “Lo, this is My beloved Son.”

See how in dovelike form the Spirit

    Descends on God’s Anointed One.

From this assurance of God’s favor

    Jesus goes to the wilderness,

There to endure a time of testing

    That readied Him to teach and bless.

So we, by water and the Spirit

    Baptized into Christ’s ministry,

Are often led to paths of service

    Through mazes of adversity.

Grant us, O God, the strength and courage

    To live the faith our lips declare;

Bless us in our baptismal calling;

    Christ’s royal priesthood help us share.

Turn us from ev’ry false allegiance,

    That we may trust in Christ alone:

Raise up in us a chosen people

    Transformed by love to be Your own.

Blest Be the Father of Our Lord

This Sunday, All Saints' Day, our first grandchild is being baptized at St. John-Amelith!  (She will be wearing the baptismal gown first made for my brother, which I wore when I was baptized in 1955, which all our children have worn for their baptisms, which my cousins and nieces and nephew have worn, and which now will be worn by our little Alina...the twelfth child to be baptized in this christening gown.)  This hymn text is written for this happy occasion to the glory of God at Alina's baptism into Christ Jesus.  I chose the wonderful tune KIRKWOOD by Joseph Herl.

1.  Blest be the Father of our Lord
     For His intended mercy toward
     Our lost and fallen race:
     In Christ, before the world began,
     He chose us in a wondrous plan
     Of His most glorious grace!

2.  Now at this font by faith we see
     Time intersect eternity,
     As here God's will is shown:
     One born without His saving Name
     He comes to cleanse; He comes to claim,
     Adopting as His own.

3.  We bring, dear Lord, our infant small;
     She shares the sin of Adam's Fall,
     A stranger to Your love.
     Come with Your life, invigorate;
     Her second birth initiate--
     An heir of bliss above.

4.  O Christ, by You our child is prized,
     Our little one by You baptized,
     Redeemed and reconciled;
     A spotless robe You freely give:
     Your precious blood that she might live
     Forever as Your child.

5.  Let us no little ones despise;
     In heav'n their angels fix their eyes
     Upon the Father's face.
     Good Shepherd, guard and keep we pray
     This lamb, that she might never stray
     From Your rich fold of grace.

O God the Father, Your True Being

This text is my English translation of the baptism text written in 1941 by Jochen Klepper, "Gott Vater, du hast deinen Namen" :

Gott Vater, du hast deinen Namen                O God the Father, Your true being
in deinem lieben Sohn verklaert                    You have in Your dear Son declared;
und us, so-oft wir zu dir kamen,                   We come, with eyes of faith here seeing
die Vatergnade neu gewaehrt.                     Your tender favor newly shared.

So rufe dieses Kind mit Namen,                    You give Your Spirit in this water;
das nun nach deinem Sohne heisst.               Your Word invites in Jesus' name:
Wir glauben, du Dreiein'ger!  Amen!            "Beloved son, beloved daughter,
Zum Wasser gabst du Wort und Geist            You may as heir My heaven claim!"

Erhalte uns bei deinem Namen!                     In Your strong Name, Lord, keep us growing
Dein Sohn hat es fur uns erfleht.                    In all Your Son for us has prayed;
Geist, Wort und Wasser mach zum Samen      Come, make this bath the seed bestowing
der Frucht des Heils, die nie vergeht!            Salvation's fruit that will not fade.

Have You Known or Have You Heard

This text was written for the baptism of Edmund Carl Reske, infant son of Peter and Kim Reske.  Edmund was baptized today--April 19th, the Second Sunday of Easter--in St. Louis.  The opening thought of the hymn text is from Isaiah 40:28, which reminds us that the ways of our almighty God, the Creator, are unsearchable.  This seemed like a good starting point when considering God at work in infant baptism, which for many Christians is difficult to grasp.  How can Baptism save? (Baptism saves because it connects us to the death and resurrection of our ever-living Savior! )  Baptism seems so simple...too simple.  So this hymn seeks to answer that unspoken question in the hearts of many people (about God the Recreator), people who may not have  strong faith in the promises connected to Holy Baptism.  Have they known it and forgotten?  Have they heard it but rejected it?  Have they ever known or heard about the efficacy of Holy Baptism as a gracious act of God and an ongoing reality of His presence and power in our lives?  In light of this, the text seeks to instruct about some of the meanings of Baptism.  The first four stanzas go from the more simple to the more difficult biblical teachings on baptism: 1. definition/cleansing/claiming; 2. curing/cleansing/robing;  3. gift of faith/calling/keeping; 4. dying/rising/second birth.  The final stanza is a prayer to God the Holy Spirit to come and breathe His life-giving breath/bring spiritual life/anoint the child with His gracious presence to make him complete.  The text is set the tune THE CALL, which was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).  Williams was one of the most prominent English composers of the 20th century.   In writing this text, I strove to keep an open and easily singable vowel on the long melisma in the fourth musical phrase of this tune.  

God's richest blessings to Edmund Carl Reske now and always!  

1.  Have you known or have you heard?

     Here is water with the Word:

          Cleansing us from Adam's vice,

          Claiming us for Paradise!

2.  Have you known or have you heard?

     Here sin's leprous scars are cured:

          Washed by God, who makes us clean;

          Robed in Christ, we are pristine!

3.  Have you known or have you heard?

     Faith in Christ is here conferred:

          Called by God the Paraclete,

          His good work His shall complete!

4.  Have you known or have you heard?

     We with Christ are sepulchered,

          Raised to life from that pure tomb,

          Born again from fontal womb!

5.  Spirit, by Your living breath,

     Breathe Your life where there is death:

          Quicken now this precious soul,

          By Your chrism make him whole.

All Who Believe and Are Baptized

This coming Sunday we will be celebrating St. Peter and St. Paul here in my parish, marking the 25th anniversary of my ordination (June 26, 1983), and receiving new members into our parish. Two of the adults being received on Sunday will be baptized.  

One of today's lectionary readings is the account of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8:26-40.  Philip, urged by the Spirit, encounters this man puzzling over the scroll of Isaiah, not understanding of whom the prophet had written.  Philip, beginning with that very passage, spoke to him about Jesus.  The eunuch was baptized and continued on his way to his home in Africa.

Thomas Kingo, a Dane, wrote this hymn which was originally intended for use after Holy Baptism.  This Sunday it is our opening hymn in both services.

1.  All who believe and are baptized

        Shall see the Lord's salvation;

     Baptized into the death of Christ,

        They are a new creation.

            Through Christ's redemption they shall stand

            Among the glorious, heav'nly band

       Of ev'ry tribe and nation.

2.  With one accord, O God, we pray:

        Grant us Your Holy Spirit.

     Help us in our infirmity

        Through Jesus' blood and merit.

           Grant us to grow in grace each day

           That by this sacrament we may

        Eternal life inherit.