Life Highlights: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Handel's Messiah (standing ovation) at Carnegie Hall

Today I got in the festive spirit! Yesterday I didn't move from bed (physical rest), while today I was out all day participating in spiritual rest.  I went to church to hear the first service in advent before going down to SoHo to continue my Christmas shopping (mixed with getting some soup from Dean & DeLuca) before going to see Handel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall with my friend Crystal! Then we went to TGI Friday's for dinner before wandering around 5th Ave and Madison looking at all the decorations at Rockefeller Center, Saks 5th Ave, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It was truly a blessed day!

Most importantly I want to say how much High Art like Handel's music gets me on fire for God! I definitely short-changed the piece when I listened to it last year for Torrey (I did it in a rush, like all good Torrey students), so revisiting it was a huge blessing.  Originally, I was supposed to go with my friend Gretchen, but unfortunately, she got strep throat at the last minute.  So instead I invited my friend Crystal from church.  We had an amazing time - it was my first time at Carnegie Hall and I can't imagine a better "first show" to see there than a beautiful concert dedicated to Christ!

Firstly, the concert reminded me of how special writing and music are as art forms.  God chose music to be played in the Temple of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and there are many Biblical examples of songs/poetry used for communal worship.  He also chose writing to be the medium to convey Himself and the Good News to us over the millennia - the artform which holds Divine Revelation itself.  And hearing the two come together in such a harmonious and pleasing way moved me to tears.  It's perhaps one of the most direct forms of worship I've ever had the pleasure to experience.

Handel beautifully captures the layered relationship we have to Christ.  Despite it being a (clearly) Christocentric piece, most of the work presents Him in light of humanity and our response to Him.  Part 1 is all about the prophecies of a Saviour to save a wicked humanity that is in darkness before celebrating His birth which promises to bring us out of it.  Then Part 2 also begins with how we despised Him and broke His heart with our hatred before it juxtaposes it with His ultimate faithfulness and trust in God, culminating in His glorious Resurrection.  Finally, Part 3 appeals to us to cast away our flesh and put on Christ and His immortality, celebrating His eventual Triumph in the Second Coming.  As Crystal pointed out, what's particularly lovely about this is that Handel doesn't stop with Christ's birth - he goes on to portray His Passion and how all of Christ's life, death, and life (again) are integral in our Salvation (something that most of the Christmas season doesn't talk about).

What I found most striking was how I finally understood why the infamous "Hallejuah" piece isn't the end of the work, despite it being the obvious candidate as a finale.  Although the immediate pieces before it build the anticipation to dizzying highs (repeating over and over again how Christ shall break the chains of death), the entire work before it also seems to be slowly building to the startlingly beautiful climax of His triumph over death.  So it should be the finale, right? Well Handel has a larger idea of Salvation than Christ's Resurrection in the past.  His call to us to put on Christ (using Scripture from Job, 1 Corinthians, Romans, and Revelation) and embrace His love and blessings for us makes way more sense.  It is a reminder of the active work of Salvation that is happening Now and in the Future, rather than an event that happened in the distant past.  It's a call for us to embrace Him and His blessings for us, as well as to celebrate the hope we have in His triumphant Victory over all when He returns.  It's precisely this participation that illuminates that the Messiah is not something to be held apart, but rather an entreaty for us to have a relationship with Him.  It's a chance for us to celebrate and exhalt our triumphant Saviour as well as a celebration of His love for us.

I also loved how the performance once again illuminated for me the sharp contrasts between humanity and Christ.  We despised Him, condemned Him to death, and broke His heart with our wickedness and rejection of Him.  Handel beautifullly portrays this sorrow over and over again throughout the work by having all the solos, choir, and orchestra pick up this theme multiple times.  He also touches on how we infight with each other, squabbling in the darkness, repeatedly throughout the work.  However, despite all of our evilness, Handel interweaves it with beautiful passages and music that demonstrate how God used our wickedness and transformed our hatred into unconditional, steadfast love.  It is Christ's ultimate sacrifice for us that is fulfilled by our wicked actions and condemnation of Him.  In short, God used our hatred and transformed it into being the vehicle in which we are given the most unconditional of boundless love He holds for us.

So overall, this piece reminded me once more what a HUGE blessing Christ, and His love for us, truly is.  I still honestly can't fathom how much God loves us despite our wickedness, and how He continually chooses to bless us when we do nothing to earn His favour.  It truly is the pinnacle of Goodness and Beauty, which Handel lovingly captures in this work.  And I can think of nothing better to "kick off" the Christmas season than a celebration of why the heck we celebrate it in the first place.  The Birth of Christ marks the beginning of promises God has (and will) fulfill to save humanity, and the gift He has given us to participate in a new relationship with Him.  One that is full of forgiveness, grace, and love.  And that seems like a pretty good reason to celebrate to me.

As a side note, in many ways, On the Incarnation would be the perfect companion piece to this lovely work.