“Messiah lives…Ritterpusch dies.” True enough as a statement yet to come, but it could well have been made in 1982 in Harrisburg. Some of you know about my near death adventure in 1995, but only a few know about this story. Our Easter Day worship at Advent was exquisite, and what really distinguished it for me was both the brass and the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah. In my Easter sermon, I only could mention a few things about “the chorus,” so let share some fuller comments now, as thoughts about the Hallelujah Chorus have been “sitting in my craw” for 30 years.

George Frideric Handel wrote the musical composition for this opus as an oratorio in 1741. He did not write the words, of course; all the words come from scripture. The scripture texts were compiled and arranged by Charles Jennens using (naturally) the King James Version – except for the Psalm sections which Jennens took from the Book of Common Prayer Version, whose wordings he preferred.

The oratorio music, and it’s quite a long and involved opus, was (unbelievably) composed in just 24 days. Many thought such a feat a sign of the divine and personal activity of God in the project.

Now here’s where my story intersects Handel’s…and why I’ve had this “in my belly” for 30 years. Handel wrote Messiah in three sections: Section 1: the coming, annunciation, birth or Christmas Section. Section 2: the passion, death, resurrection or Easter Section. Section 3: Judgment and General Resurrection or Second Coming Section.

If you have studied Messiah’s framework then you know that the Hallelujah Chorus is the capstone of the second or Easter Section. I (mistakenly it turned out) thought that everyone knew that the Hallelujah Chorus was an EASTER piece. Boy, what rock had I been living under!

Now the country church I pastored my first 10 years could have cared LESS about Handel. And for that parish at Christmas, it was midnight, candlelight, Silent Night…and home. BUT when I came to the prestigious downtown capital city of Pennsylvania congregation, with its 4 manual Moeller organ, tympanis, six paid soloists and stained glass choir of 20 sequestered high above in the loft…WELL, let me tell you – Christmas WAS Handel and the Hallelujah Chorus…until guess who arrived.

It started as an innocent conversation. The director of music solicited my thoughts on the special music to be planned for Christmas Eve. “Of course, Reverend, you’ll want the Hallelujah Chorus!” “I’m sorry,” I replied. “The Hallelujah Chorus is from the Easter section. I don’t know anyone who sings it at Christmas.”

Have you ever seen an effigy of yourself hung on a rope from the largest bronze bell in the belfry? Let’s just say that I got a resounding, “We don’t CARE where Handel put it…it belongs here, at Christmas!”

Well, it took 30 years for me to hear the chorus where Handel put it and where I thought everyone thought it should be. And after experiencing our exquisite Easter…with our expanded Festive Choir and organ, I only have one thing to say: I WAS RIGHT! Thank you to everyone who made it such a spectacular gift. Messiah lives…and I’m glad that I lived long enough to hear it at Easter!