Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day:
Glory ye in His Holy Name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. [1 Chronicles 16.10]

From the Epistle:
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4.4]

From the Holy Gospel:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, Him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. [Matthew 10.32-33]

Today we celebrate a Church Commemoration, know as The Commemoration of J.S. Bach, Kantor to the Lutheran Faith, which falls tomorrow on the historic Lutheran calendar, July 28, the anniversary of Bach’s death.  And, with Bach, the Lutheran Church usually also includes on this date two other Kantors of the Lutheran Church from the musical period in history, called the Baroque era, namely: Heinrich Schutz and Georg Frederick Handel. The term "Commemoration" does not designate a major or minor feast of the Church, but rather it refers to a thankful remembrance for a special gift of God, recognized by Lutheran Churches, and the term "Kantor" refers to the chief musician in the life of those Churches. So, by transference, we observe today the Commemoration of the gift of God to the Church, particularly in the life and talents and faith of Johann Sebastian Bach, organist, composer, arranger, choral leader, and musical teacher to and for the Churches of the Augsburg Confession.

I.

You will not even hear of such a commemoration as this in Protestant-Evangelical churches, not to mention in most Lutheran Churches these days for one specific reason, namely that most churches today have lost a Scriptural understanding of the nature of the Church – it is that basic and that critical.

It appears to most Christians today, including many if not most Lutherans today, that Bach represents just another dead German guy who maybe entertained the faithful in the pews of his day, but he certainly does not have anything of relevance to offer us today. Even conservative sorts, who still like to hear the sacred music of now lost centuries, have no clue as to why their particular tastes are more appropriate than any of the more modern tastes, and so they just keep silent about their preferences, and perhaps they simply look for the more "traditional" services of dying Lutheran congregations to satisfy their dying tastes.

But they are as wrong as their more modern counterparts, and as long as we fall into a cultural trap that church and church music is about being relevant, or pleasing, or attractive, or important to the youth, or what-have-you, then we have no answer other than a shrug of the shoulders about the sad condition in the liturgical life of most of the congregations to which, sooner or later, we all will have to give over our loved ones and grandchildren.

But believe it or not, the Scriptures have something to say about this situation. What the Scriptures state in the Lessons for this day directly challenge the notion that liturgy and hymnody are mere conveniences or attractions like unto some churchly equivalent to the rides at Elitch’s. This is why the odd title to the sermon today likewise raises the same challenge: "Sing it, Baby! Or: From Doo-Wop to Hip-Hop – The Loss of the Voice of the Church!"

II.

Everything that the Church does and says is the voice of the Church. And what God authorizes the Church to do and say is captured in today’s Lessons, first of all in the Old Testament of the Day, "Glory ye in His Holy Name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. " Here God teaches you that what you do, gathered by the Holy Spirit for what we call "church," is to "Glory in His Holy Name." Moreover, God has the audacity to tell you and me what emotions we ought to have "let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." In other words, your heavenly Father is saying, in the same manner as earthly fathers speak of important matters: "You’ll do this, you’ll do it in this manner, and you will enjoy it!"

"Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." To this, the Epistle adds: "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." But, you say, I thought that you can’t command emotions! Don’t they just happen? Well, apparently not, at least not as far as God’s Word is concerned! It is the Word that shapes the emotions – not the emotions that justify the Word! Now, this is quite strange to everything that we are told to believe about the nature of worship, the nature of the importance of things that happen in and as a church. The whole contemporary enterprise called "getting people to go to church" falls on its face, if you take seriously what God teaches you in His Word! Your emotions will follow what God gives you in the Divine Service – not the other way around! And that which testifies to the truth of the Word through history is context through which God calls, gathers, enlightens, and keeps you and me in the saving faith.

The Holy Gospel brings you this same message through the very lips of your Savior: "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, Him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven." How is it that we confess Christ before men? By how and what we receive from God through His Word. We confess God before men in the only language that God gives us – Law and Gospel, rightly divided in the Word of God. And we reflect our faith and our worship in the context of that which the church does and says at worship over time – in particular, we reflect our faith and worship in the context of what the church does and says BEFORE we showed up on earth and in gathered assembly of the Church! It’s not our thing, and not our time, that we do here. It is God’s thing, done by God’s people over time, which means, before us, that is the manner in which we confess God before men. To want it any other way is to deny Christ before men – the Biblical Christ, the Christ of Word and Spirit through history.

Indeed, the manner in which Christians deny Christ before men today is not some St. Peter-like cursing, "I know not the man." The manner in which you and I deny Christ before men is when we present another Christ than the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! That happens when we use the WORDS of the Gospel in a way that is denied or changed by the worship in which those words are found. Gods’ Word makes Christ present to you, not by transporting Him to your age and your culture, but rather by transporting you – age and culture with you – to the Christ who transcends times and cultures. This is why it will never do to attach the Word of God to a musical expression of, say, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The tune, that is the culture, will overwhelm the Word that you try express through that musical ditty. The voice of the Church will be lost in the cacophony of the culture. That was Bach’s concern, and it should be ours also.

Christ comes to you today, as ever, on His terms, with His message, His promises, His forgiveness, His peace. To accept and embrace theses things before and in the sight of men is how we confess Christ before them, and to this God promises you today, "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, Him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven." Your church leads you precisely in this manner, and by it you are blessed!