Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
—Romans 6:3–5
If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!
—2 Corinthians 5:17
LOOK: life-new life by Corita Kent
LISTEN: “New Life” by Broken Walls, on Drum, Created for Worship (2005)
Yahweh, hey-ya . . .
Yahweh, hey-o-hey, hey-o-hey . . .
Ga-ya-wey, o-hey, yo-hey-hey, yo-wey . . .
Rake ni:ha [My Father], hey-o-hey
You bring your warmth, hey-o-hey
Rake ni:ha [My Father], hey-o-hey
You give new life, hey-o-hey. . .
Jonathan Maracle is a Mohawk singer from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario, who works as a bridge-builder between the church and First Nations peoples. In 1995 he founded Broken Walls, a musical group whose songs “communicate a message of restoration, dignity, self-respect, and the Creator’s love to all cultures.” The other two members are Bill Pagaran (Tlingit) and Josh Maus.
Written by Maracle, “New Life” is from Broken Walls’ album Drums, Created for Worship. “The song could be considered a typical Mohawk longhouse song,” he tells me, “with the call-and-response and the water drum (a part of our cultural heritage).” It consists of vocables (nonlexical syllables) interwoven with the Hebrew word Yahweh, the covenantal name of God in the Bible, and then a verse that addresses the Creator as “Rake ni:ha,” Mohawk for “my Father,” praising him for the warmth and life he brings.
While this is not explicitly an Easter song, new life is one of the key themes of this festal season. The Father raised the Son from the dead, and this “Sonrise” brings light to all the corners of the earth and enables flourishing. We, too, can share in the resurrection life of Jesus.
Art & Theology 