December 23, 2000
Column #1008
THE PERFECT
CHRISTMAS GIFT
Each
Christmas I like to suggest a ''perfect Christmas gift.'' To be perfect, it
should be inexpensive and communicate the importance of the character of
Jesus Christ whose 2000th birthday we are celebrating on Monday.
I
suggest that you give your loved ones ''Messiah,'' the greatest of all
compositions, whose music and message ''has probably done more to convince
thousands of mankind that there is a God about us than all of the
theological works ever written,'' as one expert put it.
No
other brief work so eloquently portrays the birth, life, death and
resurrection of Jesus - and its meaning to people of all ages in all times.
Yet I do
not suggest that you take your family to see Messiah as performed by your
local symphony, as my wife and I did this week. We heard the National
Symphony Orchestra. The music was glorious. But the spiritual content was
missing. Why? It was difficult to understand more than isolated phrases of
the great work.
We
could understand, ''Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.'' But the rest of
that chorus was a blur. When I looked through my program for the words, it
was almost impossible to find them amidst 78 pages of articles on other
pieces of music being performed in December.
When I
discovered them on page 19F, the words were tiny, and in the darkened
concert hall, impossible to read. Though every single word is from
Scripture, the program had not a single Biblical reference! During the
intermission, I found three pages on Handel's composing of the work, which
did not report on his faith. The fact is that after composing the Hallelujah
Chorus, he told a servant, ''I think I did see all heaven before me, and the
great God himself.''
My
program even erroneously stated the piece is ''based on the New Testament.''
Actually, 38 of the 61 selections are from the Old Testament!
Most
of the words on the life and death of Jesus does not come from the Gospels!
Quiz yourself. Can you identify the book of the Bible for these texts, and
write them down?
1. ''For unto us a
child is born, a son is given...''
2. ''Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped...''
3. ''He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief.''
4. ''Surely, he hath bourne our griefs and carried our sorrows.''
5. ''He trusted in God that he would deliver him; let him deliver him...''
6. ''Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow.''
7. ''I know that my Redeemer liveth...''
The
answers: 1. Isaiah 9:6; 2. Isaiah 35:5. 3. Isaiah 53:3. 4. Isaiah 53:4. 5.
Psalm 22:8. 7. 6. Lamentations 1:12. 7. Job 19:25. What's remarkable is how
much of the Messiah's story was written hundreds of years in advance by
prophets.
Even
the significance of Jesus' life for us has roots in the Hebrew Bible. What
is the source of this: ''O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?'' They are from Hosea 13:14, but are quoted by St. Paul in I
Corinthians 15:55, and are a moving duet by the alto and tenor.
We
have attended Messiah at the National Cathedral, where we were given a
readable libretto. But it lacked all Scriptural references. The next year I
returned with a Bible with a concordance, so I could look up the Biblical
sources.
But
why should a listener have to work so hard? Attending Messiah should be an
opportunity for worship.
What
can be done? I have three ideas, if you would like to hear a spiritual
Messiah.
First, send this column with a personal note to your symphony, asking that
the text of Messiah be printed in a readable form with Scriptural
references, and that house lights be left partly on for easy reading. That's
how it is done annually by the Christian Performing Arts Fellowship in
Constitution Hall, directed by Patrick Kavanaugh.
Second, Kavanaugh suggests encouraging your own church to perform the whole
Messiah. He says, ''This great work has been captured by the world. If you
go to the National Symphony, it is a fund-raising thing. We need to
recapture it for the Lord.'' The entire libretto for two hours of singing
sells for less than $10. Most churches can afford it. And it can be reused
each year.
Third, you can give the entire performance of Messiah on two CD discs
complete with the text and all Scriptural references as a present for as
little as $18.
It is
the perfect Christmas gift.
Copyright 2000 Michael J.
McManus. |