George Frideric Handel - Messiah

Approx.: 2 Hours 30 Min.
Composed: August 22 - September 14, 1741

First Part

1. Sinfony

2. Accompagnato

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.
Isaiah 40:1-3

3. Air

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low: the crooked straight, and the rough places plain:
Isaiah 40:4

4. Chorus

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.
Isaiah 40:5

5. Accompagnato

Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, the sea, and the dry land;
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.
Haggai 2:6-7

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:1

6. Air

But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire.
Malachi 3:2

7. Chorus

And He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Malachi 3:3

8. Recitative

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

[Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,] "God with us".
Matthew 1:23

9. Air

O 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!
Isaiah 40:9

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Isaiah 60:1

10. Accompagnato

For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Isaiah 60:2-3

11. Air

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Isaiah 9:2

12. Chorus

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.
Isaiah 9:6

13. Pifa (Pastoral Symphony)

14. Recitative - Accompagnato

There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
Luke 2:8-9

15. Recitative

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:10-11

16. Accompagnato

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying:
Luke 2:13

17. Chorus

Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill toward men!
Luke 2:14

18. Air

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee.
He is the righteous Saviour and He shall speak peace unto the heathen.
Zechariah 9:9-10

19. Recitative

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
Isaiah 35:5-36

20. Air

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:11

Come unto Him, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.
Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him; for He is meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29

21. Chorus

His yoke is easy, His burthen is light.
Matthew 11:30

Second Part

22. Chorus

Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:29

23. Air

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
Isaiah 53:3

He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 50:6

24. Chorus

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.
Isaiah 53:4-5

25. Chorus

And with His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

26. Chorus

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.
Isaiah 53:6

27. Accompagnato

All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn: they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying,
Psalms 22:7

28. Chorus

He trusted in God that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him.
Psalms 22:8

29. Accompagnato

Thy rebuke hath broken His heart; He is full of heaviness: He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man; neither found He any to comfort Him.
Psalms 69:20

30. Arioso

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.
Lamentations 1:12

31. Accompagnato

He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of Thy people was He stricken.
Isaiah 53:8

32. Air

But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.
Psalms 16:10

33. Chorus

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.
Psalms 24:7-10

34. Recitative

Unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee?
Hebrews 1:5

35. Chorus

Let all the angels of God worship Him.
Hebrews 1:6

36. Air

Thou art gone up on high, Thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men; yea, even for Thine enemies rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.
Psalms 68:18

37. Chorus

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of the preachers.
Psalms 68:11

38. Air

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Romans 10:15

39. Chorus

Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Romans 10:18

40. Air

Why do the nations so furiously rage together, why do the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed.
Psalms 2:1-2

41. Chorus

Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us.
Psalms 2:3

42. Recitative

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psalms 2:4

43. Air

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Psalms 2:9

44. Chorus

Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, Hallelujah!
Revelation 19:6

The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah!
Revelation 11:15

King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and He shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah!
Revelation 19:16

Third Part

45. Air

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
Job 19:25-26

For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20

46. Chorus

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22

47. Recitative

Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52

48. Air

The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:52-53

49. Recitative

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:54

50. Duet

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1 Corinthians 15:55-56

51. Chorus

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

52. Air

If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us.
Romans 8:33-34

53. Chorus

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Blessing, and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:12-14

Warning: What you're about to read is highly "controversial" and does not apply to a lot of loving churches and spiritual communities, but it does apply to me and the churches I've attended and attend now. Your feedback is welcomed.

This Thursday in a Sociology class we got on the internet and looked at an ad put out by the United Church of Christ (UCC). The web site puts it like this....

The UCC's first 30-second television advertisement - part of the denomination's new, broad identity campaign - began airing nationwide on Dec. 1, stating that - like Jesus - the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.

The ad has been accepted and will air on a mix of broadcast and cable networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land.

On the eve before the campaign's launch, negotiations with CBS and NBC broke down, after the networks deemed the UCC's all-inclusive message as "too controversial."

But the thing is, watching this ad for the time, no one could tell what was so controversial.  Even after seeing it twice no one in class was able to tell.  Only the third time we watched did someone finally ask, "Is it about homosexuality?"  The answer was yes.  Watch the ad for yourself -- is there anything blatenly homosexual, or is this just a messege of the love and acceptance of Christ?

I believe it is a messege of love.  Some think that UCC is pointing the finger at certain churches, and saying that UCC is "only place to find acceptance."  The truth is that the UCC points the finger at all churches (including itslef in a lot of cases), all communities, and all people.  Look around you on Sunday morning. Do you see African-Americans, Latinos, the poor, the disabled, and, yes, even homosexuals?  If you don't, this ad is about you and it is about time we all listened up.  I personally don't attend a UCC and I find nothing wrong with the ad, but to the contrary I think it recovers some of Christianity's image.  For the past few decades, we've been judging people, calling them sinners and fags and and the such.  We've damned them to death and enternal hellfire.  I have yet to meet someone that turned to Christ out of the threat of hell.  Most turn to Him because He reached out with wide and loving arms.

This ad hit home with me as it does with a lot of you. It pushed my buttons -- made me think of my own community of faith, my own attitudes, and my own behaviors.  I am one that this ad is talking to.  I sit in church surrounded by wealthy, white, straight people every Sunday -- I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying that we should strive for something more.  I know that this rant of mine means little to most, but watching the ad and reading all the media blitz about it really made me want to raise my voice. 

 Side note: 4 weeks till the wedding!!

So it's been a month already.  It's been a pretty busy month.  The Huskers won one, then lost one, then won again.  We went to McCook to check out the places we will be having the wedding and reception (I know now that the "Hinky Dinky Christian Church" is going to be the most beautiful place to get married).  We battled demons together and we cellebrated God's love and promises.  We joined a small group of newly weds in reading a book and experiencing life and love together.  I took four tsts in one week. I spent a weekend in Omaha with my best guy friend -- Tim (It was a great weekend that we both really needed).  I danced the night away with the most beautiful girl on earth. And through throught the month I probably drank about ten gallons of coffee. (Yay! Coffee!). 

The last month has been so busy for me and I can only immagine what it would be like to have a job on top of all of that stuff, but I really would like to have a job.  I don't really really need the money for any particular thing but to have extra money.  I can hardly stand the idea of getting married and not having a job and having no source of income other than the student loans.  Yes, the loans will be enough to sustain us, but eventually those will have to be paid off. I'm kinda stuck in a dillema.  I really want a job, but I don't know if I can handle one right now.  I've tried applying at about six places now (all very non-specialized jobs that I thought I would enjoy and would be pretty easy to get) and I even interviewed at a few of them, yet nobody has called me back and it seems as if I won't be getting a job any time soon.  Please pray for me as I search my way through this.

Wedding day: 92 days away (only 3 months)

So, I put my truck in a ditch on Saturday afternoon.  I wish I would have taken some pictures of it.  It would have been a lot easier to explain.  I was going east on Yankee Hill Rd. and I was definately going the speed limit.  I got to the top of a hill and saw a car so I moved out of the rutts on the gravel road to let it pass safely, but I went into some loose gravel so when I tried to get back in the rutts, I started fishtailing and ended up in the ditch on the left side of the road, in some brush.  I think if it weren't for the brush, the truck would have rolled and Amber and I could have really gotten hurt, but thank God, we're both fine.(besides Amber's right ring finger). And you would think that a car crash would ruin the weekend, but it really turned out to make the weekend really memorable and meaningful for us.  God works in mysterious ways, I'm just glad we always look to Him.

Wedding Countdown: 124 days 33 minutes