Hallelujah?

Our church choir did Handel's Messiah this week. There was a note in our program providing a little background information on George Frederic Handel.

It seems "ole Handel" was somewhat "earthy", in fact, someone described him as "a tub of pork and beer". He was not a particularly religious man to begin with, but it was said that he received a spiritual epiphany and that it took him a mere three weeks to compose the whole piece. He did not leave his room during the entire time. His servants must have been disturbed by the fact that he took very little food or drink during the writing. He told a friend that at the time of writing the Hallelujah chorus, it was as if all of heaven opened up to him and he saw God Himself. I am sure those of us who have sung the piece can testify to that probability.

Basking in the afterglow of the performance, I could not help but ponder about it's author. There were surely other composers that were more spiritual and in essence more deserving of the great honor of penning such a work. Bach for one. What if the religious right of his day had deemed his lifestyle a factor in the acceptance of this heart work and had rejected it from publication or performance. What a loss the world would have suffered!

Being in a mainline, declining denomination, I am can't help but be worried about the church as a whole. We can pull out all the bells and whistles, contemporary music, user-friendly services, but until we see and accept people as they are, we will surely perish. The work I do studying His Word and following His disciplines are for naught, if it only serves to swell my head or chest. What is the purpose of what I do if not to clear my heart and soul to be a channel for Him. Is it my choice or His who receives the love He imparts through me? I think His! Is grace something I earned? No! It freely came to me and it must freely pass through me to a hurting humanity.

I must have His eyes to see the pain and His ears to hear the suffering of those around me. I can only do that if I am open to Him. Please let it be. Please let it be me!