We went to see the Evansville Philharmonic perform Handel’s Messiah just like we do every Christmas. It’s a great tradition. This year I turned it up a little bit. I’ve been preaching through the kings of Israel and Judah these last few months and specifically around Isaiah the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s been so good. Seeing the prophecies of Emmanuel (or Immanuel) in the context of when they originally happened has been very enlightening. So here are my scribbled notes, with explanation and elaboration following.
Every valley exalted
This was one of the heavy hitting bits for me. Every. Valley.
I made a typeshare of this just to try out the software. I didn’t like it, but here’s what came of it.
4 “Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
Isaiah 40:4
Imagine every single low part of your life being lifted up and every mountain top experience lowered so that your whole life was an even plateau in plain view of the Lord? Not some of that nonsense that you need the bad to appreciate the bad, but everything visible and clear to the Lord for His help and healing? That sounds great to me. The only real mountain top experiences I’ve ever had are the ones where I was close to God anyway.
At some point, every hindrance and obstacle that anyone has ever had will be removed and they’ll be able to freely and graciously draw near to Jesus.
Hold the Trumpets
I love how the trumpets don’t play, or at least I didn’t notice them, until the Messiah is actually born. This is where it goes from prophecy to regal. Annouce the coming king!
His Yoke is Easy
This would turn out to be a killer bible verse for me in the days following this show.
Matthew 11:28–30
[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)
His yoke. Jesus’ teaching. The choir was singing it with such sternness! They were telling it as they sang it. YOU! IN THE BALCONY! HIS BURDEN IS EASY!
It really is true. Any doctrines of men that are heaped on top of Jesus fall right off or He slips out from underneath and all you have is the heap. The teachings of Jesus aren’t the sole property of the professionals. But more on that another day.
Applause, Reverence, and Peer Pressure
You’ll see from the note below that this came up again later. This is one work with many movements, so you aren’t supposed to clap between movements. Even worse, some people hold Handel’s Messiah in such reverence that it’s a religious experience. I get that. It’s a religious experience for me too. Especially with so many great scriptures presented in this order.
Some folks were upset about the clapping during the intermission. Wait, there’s an intermission? If it’s such a religious and holy experience, why are we taking such a vulgar and low bathroom break in the middle? This is the great conflict of religious entertainment, isn’t it? I need to develop that some more too.
After the intermission, Maestro asked the crowd to not clap between movements. Save your applause for the end.
Which sounds great, until about 5% of the audience missed that scold and came back from the 15 minute intermission just a little late…
How will you React to Angels Singing Allelujah?
The story goes that the first time the Alleluja Chorus was performed, the King was so moved that he stood up. You don’t sit in the presence of the king, so everybody stood up. Think about what that was like. You’re enjoying this amazing musical. It’s moving and compelling. Like Captain American not knowing that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, nobody knows what the Allelujah Chorus is.
Let me repeat, imagine being in a crowd and nobody has ever heard the Allelujah Chorus.
and then
There is a little aria from the baritone about smashing evildoers to pieces like a potter’s pot.
You’ve just had a moment of silence between movements
The violins do their little intro.
And you get BLASTED by the Allelujah Chorus.
(Go listen to it with headphones turned up. Start at the 1:54:00 mark on here if you don’t have time to listen for 2 hours.)
KING OF KINGS. LORD OF LORDS.
Now, out of tradition, everyone stands up at the start of the song. That is about as wrong as clapping in church. People stand out of tradition and ‘respect’ but what are they respecting? The tradition.
What if you were king of the world and you were so humbled, so moved, that you stood out of respect for the One that is the actual king?
What if you stood because you fear, love, and respect the king, and he just stood up because he sees that Someone more powerful than he has entered the room?
I will never have that experience, but I’m crying in Panera right now as I type this just thinking about it.
It was awesome.
Then after that, everyone clapped.
I’m not sure if it was because it was so awesome (it was) or if they all thought it was over. But after a lengthy applause, everyone sat down, and the musical went on. It was kind of awkward for a bit.
Except for the one guy that didn’t stand up. His wife even videoed all of the crowd standing in the big beautiful old church. Then she panned to him and he leaned over to hide from her shot. Come on dude. I hate mindless traditions too, but it won’t kill you to stand up.
The Allelujah Chorus isn’t the End of Handel’s Messiah
The song is awesome and widely recognized, but it isn’t the grand finale. The Evansville Philharmonic didn’t do all of the movements of Handel’s Messiah. I get that. It’s almost as long as a Lord of the Rings movie, or an Avengers movie, or any other modern 2 hour movie, and we can’t have that.
My kids and I had the printout of all of the words and movements of Handel’s Messiah so we could see which movements got skipped. Get your foil hat one for this one. They skipped every movement that said the name of Jesus. Call it modern Christless Christianity. Call it making the musical efficient so people don’t have to sit too long in the pews. Call it no big deal. Whatever. It is what it is.
But they did include the movement right after Handel’s Messiah, which is great. It’s from Job. You were singing Allelujah during the book of Revelation, but were you faithful during the book of Job?
Job 19:25–27
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
[26] And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
[27] whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me! (ESV)
Job 19:25-27 is the way you live in the world with the vision of Revelation (Allelujah Chorus bit) stuck in your heart.
Revelation 19:6
[6] Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns. (ESV)Revelation 11:15
[15] Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (ESV)
Revelation 19:16
[16] On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (ESV)
Applause Pressure
It was all great. In the end, the few folks that missed the clap censor quit trying to make us clap. (It took a few movements after the Allelujah.) It was funny to watch them. I felt bad. They wanted to respond, to react, to show their awe and appreciation. The philharmonic establishement was frowning on them with the backing of the religious establishment and they still didn’t get the message. The music was awesome and in this culture, you respond to awesome by clapping.
Maybe that will be our legacy. We stand before the Allelujah Chorus ever begins, but when it ends, we cheer and whistle and whoop like a bunch of savages. That one guy in the white shirt even raised his hands in the air during that song about “I know my redeemer liveth.”
So irreverent.
