Third Sunday of Easter
May 4, 2014
Jaroslav Vajda
Today is Confirmation Sunday, on which we celebrate the “Affirmation
of Baptism” with nine of our young adults in the congregation. We celebrate the continuing presence of God
in the lives of these ninth graders, as they grow in the love of Christ and
explore the ways they are called to serve and be faithful members of the body
of Christ.
We sing today hymns that celebrate the festival of Easter,
which often speak of themes of baptism.
In Christ we are made new, through Christ’s resurrection. Images of the waters of the flood and the
travels of the Israelites through the Red Sea abound in these hymns.
One hymn we sing today expresses the theme of our calling as
baptized Christians to go out and serve.
We all are the body of Christ as we go about our daily lives. The hymn “Go My Children, with my Blessing”
is by a prominent twentieth-century Lutheran hymn writer, Jaroslav Vajda. Of Slovak descent, Vajda translated hundreds
of Slovak and Czech poems into English as a young adult, learning the craft of
poetic meter and imagery. He was a
pastor in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, and created several well-known
hymns, such as “Now the Silence.” On a
personal note, my father believes that his mother (my grandmother) may have
once dated Jaroslav while attending teacher’s school. (My grandmother’s roots are Slovak; I suppose
it’s not unlikely for those in that small community to eventually get
together!)
“Go My Children, with my Blessing” is a benediction in which
the congregation sings the words of God, based upon Numbers 6:22-27. Vajda says “I placed the words of the hymn
into the mouth of the blessing triune God dismissing the congregation after
worship while drawing together a review of the events that transpired during
the service.”[1] Some writers, including Paul Westermeyer note
some problematic aspects of a congregation singing the words of God, since if
the hymn is not carefully written, the congregation seems to be blessing
itself.
[1] Paul
Westermeyer, Hymnal Companion to
Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2010), 377.
No comments:
Post a Comment