Sunday, May 12, 2019

Down in the River to Pray

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   
May 12, 2019
Pastor Robert McCarty

The Song lyrics below are from "Down in the River to Pray" from the movie "O Brother, Wear Art Thou." And yes, I sang the song from the pulpit.

Preaching Texts:    Revelation 7: 9-17   John 10: 22-30    (especially Revelation)

As I went down in the river to pray 
Studying about that good old way 
And who shall wear the starry crown 
Good Lord, show me the way 

Last week I talked about Wow moments in scripture. Revelation is a book just full of the Wow. I was reading Revelation this week, and I saw the line about holding palm branches and I thought we could sing “All Glory Laud and Honor” again this week. We could join our voices with the heavenly choir and praise God and sing this refrain: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen" (Rev:7:12). We can come here and praise God the Father and lift up our palm branches and all wear white.

O brother’s let's go down,
Let’s go down, come on down,
Come on brothers let's go down, 
Down in the river to pray 

Why do Lutheran pastor’s wear white robes? We call them a symbol of our baptism—the community’s baptism—as if we are down in the river. But, you also know that our worship anticipates this moment—Revelation—when we all wear white, and we all sing, and we all wave palm branches, and we are thousands upon thousands, a great myriad of hope basking in the glory of God. That moment is surely coming. So sure are we that it is coming that the glory of this revelation moment spills over, splashes into our worship today. 

The outside world also splashes into our worship today—more than just the rain— because we live in the confluence of two kingdoms. We have a foot in the world and a foot in heaven. Well, it probably is more like a toe or two in heaven and a foot and half on earth. A foot and a half and then some lives in the reality of earth. But sometimes with our baptism, living in our baptism, we can throw ourselves, cannonball, belly flop, feet first or head first dive into the kingdom of heaven.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

The movie O Brother Where Art Thou has not one but two baptismal moments as George Clooney’s character and cynic Ulysses Everett McGill escapes from jail and becomes an overnight singing sensation and thwarts the klan, receives pardon from the governor, saves his marriage and comes face to face with the law and death. All of this happens in an hour and forty-five minutes. In the middle, in the first baptismal scene he and his two other jail-mates encounter a church gathering, not just at the river, but in the river to pray.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

(Sometimes Woody and Gerry and their blue-grass group has sung that song for us.) 

Ulysses two jail-mates, Ulysses as well, the three of them are surrounded by a congregation of Christ singing and clothed in white robes over their Sunday best outfits, and they process through the woods where Delmar and Pete and Ulysses are cooking and eating squirrel and the singing congregation lines up in hip deep water and the preacher takes them one by one and dips them backwards beneath the water. Full-immersion, they do not say the words in the movie, but you know the words. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

O sinners let's go down, 
Let's go down, come on down, 
O sinners let's go down, 
Down in the river to pray 

Overcome by the moment, Delmar runs, no procession for him, he runs into the water and splashes his way to the front of the line into the hands of the preacher and he comes up out of his baptism proclaiming the wow moment of God’s goodness.

“Well that’s it boys, I’ve been redeemed. The preacher done washed away all my sins and transgressions. It’s the straight and narrow from here on out. And heaven everlastings my reward.”

Ulysses chastises him, “What you talking about? We got bigger fish to fry.”

So Delmar says it again. “The preacher said all my sins been washed away. Including the Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yaslu.”

Ulysses, “I thought you said you were innocent of those charges.”

Delmar pauses to think for just a second, “Well, I was lying, and the preacher said that’s sin been washed away too. Neither God nor man’s got nothing on me now.”

Then he leans back with eyes closed and face up to heaven, arms outstretched. “Come on in boys, the waters fine.”

Pete thrusts his hat into Ulysses hands and runs into the water.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

O mother’s, let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
Come on, mother’s, let's go down
Down in the river to pray.

Oh, that we all run into the water. That we all splash face first into our baptism and into our future that kingdom, that heavenly kingdom with God. 

When we talk about the wow moments of living here on earth, many probably recognize the most basic wow moment of our common experience is the wow moment of birth. B--- and D--- up in the choir went down and visited J--- and L--- last week and brought back a few pictures of their baby son with his tuft of black hair. Because when you look at a new born child, you just have to stop and think we have all been there. We have all been small and vulnerable, totally dependent on the adults in our lives. Needing help to eat and get dressed and diaper changes. Small and no words. We have all been there.


Thank you to D--- for coordinating the carnations this morning. D--- and L---  and R--- and B--- and R--- and A--- for helping to hand them out. I have heard of another congregation where even the men get carnations, because we all have mothers. Those (men and women) whose mothers still lived would receive a red carnation and those whose mothers had died would receive white carnations. Then you could look across the congregation and see the mixture of emotions associated with mother’s day. I know some of you wish that your mother could be here. I also know that some mothers wish their children could be here as well.

And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

I have the good pleasure of telling you today, by the words and ministry of the Good Shepherd, Christ your lord, you have been born anew in these waters. You have come up out of the waters wet with your salvation won for you by the cross of Christ. Maybe that is why it is pouring rain today, so you have to get wet.

You have been saved. You have been redeemed. The straight and narrow path to heaven has been set before you. And yes you will stray again, but these waters before you will always show you the way back. These waters will always cleanse you from your sins and your transgressions. Come back to these waters, you come back to this congregation, you come back to this meal. Heaven everlasting is your reward.

And when you embrace this truth—the truth of your baptisms—and embrace this hope for the future kingdom of heaven here now on earth now, that moment in your life is also a huge huge wow moment. Born again, Jesus tells Nicodemus.

(Singing while moving from pulpit to baptismal font.)

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

O mothers, let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
Come on, mothers, let's go down
Down in the river to pray.

O children, let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
Come on children, let’s go down
Down in the river to pray.

(Placing my right hand in the font of water and then stepping into the congregation making the sign of the cross.)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment