My thoughts are in italics this week…
During the first three weeks of Advent in this year (B)
the Old Testament readings are from the book of Isaiah.
Every time I hear readings from Isaiah I am immediately transformed…
Advent 1 Year B Isaiah 64:1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so
that the mountains would quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds
that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God
besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do
right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like
a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who
calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your
face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord,
you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the
work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember
iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
Advent 2 Year B Isaiah 40:1-11
“Comfort, O comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her
penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her
sins.” A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A
voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower
fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand
forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up
your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do
not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God
comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his
recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather
the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother
sheep.
Advent 3 Year B Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has
anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the
prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance
of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of
mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called
oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They
shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. For
I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give
them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their
descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the
peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the
Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall
exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has
covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a
garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings
forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so
the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the
nations.
I am deep in my favorite piece of music, Messiah by
George Frideric Handel. It doesn’t even
matter if the text I’m hearing was selected for Messiah - I am still
transformed.
Messiah Lyrics taken from Isaiah:
Tenor Recitative—Isaiah 40:1-3 Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of
him that crieth in the wilderness; Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Tenor Air—Isaiah 40:4 Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, and
ev’ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places
plain.
Chorus—Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.
Alto Recitative—Isaiah 7:14; Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel
Alto Air and Chorus—Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 60:1O thou that
tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. O thou that
tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up,
be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Arise, shine, for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Bass Air—Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have
seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
upon them hath the light shined.
Chorus—Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son
is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace.
Alto Recitative—Isaiah 35:5-6 Then shall the eyes of the
blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man
leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
Soprano Air—Isaiah 40:11; He shall feed His flock like a
shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His
bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Alto Air—Isaiah 53:3-6 He was despised and rejected of men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave His back to the smiters,
and His cheeks to them that plucked off His hair: He hid not His face from
shame and spitting.
Chorus — Isaiah 53:4,5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.
Chorus — Isaiah 53:5 And with His stripes we are healed.
Chorus — Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
One might call this transformation heighten consciousness,
kundalini rising, divine intervention, or the best meditation in the world.
These verses are all old testament prophecy of the coming of Jesus.
I am equally blown away by the story of the creation of
this beautiful music as well. I believe Handel
himself was divinely inspired having completed the composition in about 24 days.
Here is the story…
“Charles Jennens handed him [G.F. Handel] the words, or
libretto, of "Messiah." Jennens, a literary scholar, carefully
selected Old and New Testament scriptures documenting prophecies about the
Messiah, Jesus' birth, death on the cross and resurrection.
"The Christian message is in part also a response to
the kind of growing interest in what is known as deism…"
Since the deists did not believe in the divinity of Christ,
Jennens sought to counter that thinking.
"For Jennens, I think Messiah was a very personal
passion, a very personal mission, and Jennens was a deeply religious man, a
very committed Christian…”
"We find Jennens writing to another friend of his
saying, 'I've done this scripture collection for Handel, and I hope that he
will expend his best efforts on it so that it becomes his best oratorio because
it's certainly on the best subject. The subject is Messiah,'" Charles
Jennens scholar Ruth Smith said.
Handel is believed to have composed "Messiah" in
only 24 days. Many believe it was divinely inspired.
One music scholar described the number of errors in the
259-page score as incredibly low for a composition of its length.
It's said that Handel never left his house during those
three weeks, and a friend who visited discovered him sobbing with intense
emotion.
After he wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus, Handel was
quoted as saying, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the
great God Himself."
For Jennens and Handel, "Messiah" would be an
evangelistic tool to share the gospel with the masses.
They even made the controversial decision to perform
"Messiah" in theatres instead of churches to reach a wider audience
-- including the performers themselves.
Handel used secular singer-actresses to perform the solos,
such as Susannah Maria Cibber, a woman with an adulterous past, but who was
described as being able to penetrate the heart with her voice, when other, more
skilled vocalists could only reach the ear…
Performances in Handel's day were often benefit concerts, to
help release people from debtor's prison and provide for orphans in London's
well-known Foundling Hospital.
One scholar wrote, "Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed
the naked, fostered the orphan... more than any other single musical production
in this or any country."
However, George Frideric Handel did
not want the credit.
At the end of "Messiah," Handel wrote the letters
"SDG" for Soli Deo Gloria, which means, "To God Alone the
Glory." “*
My story with this piece dates back to high school. In ninth grade I heard it performed for the
first time by the Handel Choir of Baltimore, a semi-professional choral group.
I fell in love instantly. Little did I
know two years later, as a Junior in high school, I would perform the Easter
section for the spring concert with my high school choir. Our director decided to sing the solos as
sections rather than as solos. Thus,
each of us left high school able to sing at least one solo from Messiah. This gift has come in handy on many occasions
where I needed a solo to audition.
As a young adult many of my friends were aware of my love
of this music. When the Handel Choir of
Baltimore announced open auditions for altos they encouraged, no insisted, I
audition. Much to my surprise I was selected.
That Christmas I joyfully sang the whole book (not just the Christmas section)
three times within one week. I believe God’s divinity had to be in all of our
hearts (and throats) to make it through that week. Many years later at Berry
College I used my solo piece from Messiah to audition for Concert Choir and
much to my surprise was selected not only for Concert Choir but also for the
select Berry Singers group, mainly reserved for music major (which I was
not). This piece has served me well over
the years. Its simply is not Christmas unless I hear it completely at least
once. Although sad I will most likely
not hear (or participate in) a live performance, I happily listen as I write
these words. Messiah for me is one way that the Holy Spirit presents in my
life. My study of this piece is part of my surrender (Ishvara Pranidhana) and
devotion to Christ.
Handel’s history with this piece of basically
quarantining himself during it’s creation - his surrender, and using it to
create a better world through education and charity, his Karma Yoga, endears it
even more deeply to my heart, especially this year.
I know that with God’s help we will all get through this
dark time. To God Alone The Glory!
*https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/december/handels-messiah-inspires-listeners-transcends-time
Picture of G.F.Handel
By Thomas Hudson - Unknown source, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=280838
