Bible,  Music

The Messiah

Last year, I wrote a post about the reasons I love Handel’s Messiah. It’s one of the posts that was lost when I switched hosts. But again I’m thinking of this sublime weaving of art and truth, delighting in it in my kitchen, in my car, and with my children.

On Sunday, my husband was called into work before church and was there all day. He called and invited us to meet him for supper at Friendly’s, and on the way I popped The Messiah in. Just as we pulled into the parking lot, we heard, “And His name shall be called, Wonderful! Counselor! The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! The Everlasting Father — the Prince! of Peace!” I was compelled to stop so I could throw out my conducting arm on “Wonderful!” (Fortunately, there was no one behind me.)

This was a repetition of an incident earlier in the week, when my husband was getting ready for work, and I was blasting the Hallelujah chorus in the kitchen. I was conducting with a spatula, caught in the midst of unloading the dishwasher. He burst forth in a falsetto “Haaaaaaa-lle-LU-jah!” sending the girls into gales of giggles.

It’s interesting to me that although this music is more highbrow than our usual fare, they always respond to it. That morning, my youngest twirled around the kitchen, arms spread. Sunday, on the way home from Friendly’s, my older daughter said, “We need to put this cd in and all be in the kitchen for awhile, listening.” There were questions (“Did she sing, “He shall speak peace to the heathen? Who are the heathen?”) There were aesthetic observations (on “Rejoice Greatly,” my oldest commented that it sounds like laughter — something I confess I never thought of myself. How could I have missed it? That soloist sounds like she’s laughing her head off.) There were more twirling and conducting, more failed attempts to sing along with our hopelessly couch-potato voices. I told them that traditionally, people stand for the Hallelujahs, and so there was some standing on chairs. We also reviewed the “Hallelujah” flashmob on YouTube.

It’s such deep, moving truth, set to music! Our methods of celebrating may be a little unorthodox and loose. They’re undisputably geeky as well. (I’m comfortable with my geekdom. The world needs geeks.) But The Messiah is one of the real delights of this season for me. I love the way it’s all Scripture, and the way that the repetition creates a model of meditation: a phrase or verse is sung over and over, building, as it gradually sinks in. Much of it is from Bible passages I might find inaccessible, or might read right over, if I were reading it by myself. But hearing it sung and accompanied with all the synergy of instruments and voices brings it into a whole new life.

It’s said that when someone congratulated Handel on the effect a performance of The Messiah had on its audience, he replied, “I should be sorry if I only entertained them — I wish to make them better.” I’m not sure what he would think of our antics. I’m not sure what he’d think of the sounds I heard as the girls were getting ready for bed on Sunday night — snatches of operatic trills and mundane statements delivered in the style of Handelesque recitative (“It’s time, it’s time, it’s time to brush my tee-eeth!”). But maybe The Messiah was making us better — more joyful, more animated by God’s Word, more mindful of the wonder of the Incarnation, from Bethlehem 2000 years ago all the way into our kitchen. And for that, I rejoice greatly.

Merry Christmas!

6 Comments

  • Carrie, Reading to Know

    What a fun and beautiful post. I can’t stop snickering about the soloist sounding like she’s laughing her head off. I guess I hadn’t thought of that either!

    I think it’s wonderful that kids would interact with such great music. It’s fabulous. We should listen to more of this, I think.

    (And one last Merry Christmas to you before it’s all over!)

  • Dennis King

    I felt a twinge of sadness that I was getting around to reading your post the day after Christmas — until I remembered that it’s only the second day of the Church’s twelve-day festival!

    I grew up under the influence of a music-loving mother who frequently had the Messiah playing during the Advent season (and other portions during Holy Week). When our boys were very young, a contemporary recording called the “Young Messiah” was released that was pretty cheezy but one of our sons recalled this week as his first introduction to Handel’s masterpiece. I too love playing the Messiah every year leading up to Christmas. It helps me to recall the ancient prophecies and the long centuries of waiting for the Christ’s coming.

    I had never heard before Handel’s words “I should be sorry if I only entertained them — I wish to make them better.” Those words seem quite applicable to preaching and corporate worship.

    Merry Christmas to your family!

  • Janet

    They do seem like good words from Handel. That story is told on the cd jacket of my copy of the Messiah.

    Have a blessed 12 days of Christmas!