The Royal Choral Society performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah virtually this Good Friday, continuing a Royal Albert Hall tradition that has been going for 144 years – broken only by the Blitz in 1940/1.
Following the cancellation of this year’s annual performance due to Covid-19, members formed a virtual choir to allow audiences everywhere to enjoy this Easter institution. The choir invited the public to join them in singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at 4:35pm (BST) on Good Friday 10 April 2020.
82 members of the Royal Choral Society filmed themselves singing in their own homes, and the videos were then stitched together, and shared as part of the Royal Albert Hall's #RoyalAlberHome series. Conductor Richard Cooke joined from his garden, with Richard Pearce – regular organist for the Last Night of the Proms – providing accompaniment.
Last year I posted a Keith and Kristen Getty video that proclaims the message of Christ's resurrection so well, and with such abounding joy, that I am going to post it again in case you missed it. The truth of "Resurrection Sunday" makes all things new. Be sure to check out the video beneath the Getty hymn which speaks of this newness that is ours to receive.
Parenthetically I might say that today I set a new record for early rising: 2:30 AM in order to travel 3 hours to a fabulous outdoor sunrise service to commemorate Christ's resurrection with about 1500 other people. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the most stupendous fact in world history -- and in my life's history and yours as well. It's facthood and implications for you and me simply cannot be overstated.
How can it be, the One who died, Has borne our sin through sacrifice To conquer every sting of death? Sing, sing hallelujah. For joy awakes as dawning light When Christ’s disciples lift their eyes. Alive He stands, their Friend and King; Christ, Christ He is risen.
Chorus Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Oh, sing hallelujah. Join the chorus, sing with the redeemed; Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.
Verse 2 Where doubt and darkness once had been, They saw Him and their hearts believed. But blessed are those who have not seen, Yet, sing hallelujah. Once bound by fear now bold in faith, They preached the truth and power of grace. And pouring out their lives they gained Life, life everlasting.
Verse 3 The power that raised Him from the grave Now works in us to powerfully save. He frees our hearts to live His grace; Go tell of His goodness.
Bridge He’s alive, He’s alive! Heaven’s gates are opened wide. He’s alive, He’s alive! Now in heaven glorified.
I'm aware that I posted a Keith & Kristyn Getty Easter hymn a couple days ago, but today I came across another of their great Easter hymns that I would like to post as well.
How can it be, the One who died, Has borne our sin through sacrifice To conquer every sting of death? Sing, sing hallelujah. For joy awakes as dawning light When Christ’s disciples lift their eyes. Alive He stands, their Friend and King; Christ, Christ He is risen.
Chorus Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Oh, sing hallelujah. Join the chorus, sing with the redeemed; Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.
Verse 2 Where doubt and darkness once had been, They saw Him and their hearts believed. But blessed are those who have not seen, Yet, sing hallelujah. Once bound by fear now bold in faith, They preached the truth and power of grace. And pouring out their lives they gained Life, life everlasting.
Verse 3 The power that raised Him from the grave Now works in us to powerfully save. He frees our hearts to live His grace; Go tell of His goodness.
Bridge He’s alive, He’s alive! Heaven’s gates are opened wide. He’s alive, He’s alive! Now in heaven glorified.
I was awakened this morning at 6:20 by my sister proclaiming with a shout: "Christ is risen!" I groggily replied, "He is risen indeed!" We had slept a bit late and had to hustle to get to the Easter morning sunrise service by 7:00 AM, but we made it! And with five minutes to spare! And what a glorious service it was! A young man, speaking from his wheel chair, spoke with power, conviction, and joy of the fact of Christ's resurrection and it's implications for us as individuals and the world. At the end he sang a solo, Stuart Townend's song, "See What a Morning!" I had not heard that song before, but love it, and feel confident it will become a classic. I've posted it below. Enjoy! And be encouraged! Let the message of Christ's resurrection ring out throughout the world!
Holy Week is upon us, and tomorrow is Palm Sunday. In conversing with some others in casual conversation this morning, we lamented that our church doesn't make as much of Holy Week as the more liturgical churches, be they Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox or Catholic. We miss it. Focusing on the last week of our Lord's life feeds the soul with the truth of what our salvation cost, and draws us into deeper fellowship with Him.
I was doing some bush whacking behind our home this afternoon and came upon a really prickly vine. I cut a sizeable portion of it, and gave it to my sister, who is making it into a "crown of thorns" to remind us of the mockery and scorn our Lord suffered just before the Cross. I'm not sure how well this homemade "crown" will turn out, but it seems to be coming along well even as I write.
Meanwhile I decided to go to the internet to see what others have done. I found one lady who began at the beginnning of Lent making a crown of thorns which she used as an object lesson for her children and a means by which to encourage them to perform thoughtful deeds. She writes:
Lent begins today, or, in the case of the Eastern Catholic churches, it has already begun on Monday. Here are a couple of simple practices that have in past years helped our children get into the spirit of Lent and prepare for the joy and new life of Easter.
The "crown of thorns" has been a big hit at our house. I've seen directions for making salt-dough crowns, but ours is simpler. I simply purchased at the craft store an 8" wreath made of woven twigs. On Ash Wednesday, we stick toothpicks into it to represent thorns, and place the wreath in the center of our dining table. The children get to remove one thorn for each sacrifice or act of kindness (you can make it as specific or general as you like) and their goal is to remove them all before Easter. Some years, we have cleared them all in plenty of time. In this case, we add little flowers to the wreath instead of removing thorns. The flowery wreath makes a good Easter centerpiece.
Me: I find her practice quite creative. May Holy Week this year find us all more reflective, grateful, and worshipful than ever before.
Does persecution bite; does fear consume your night? Consider him. Does tribulation strain; does mocking sore inflame? Consider him. Consider him who crown of thorns did humbly wear; [Scripture: see end note 1] Despised, rejected, spat on, was stripped bare; [2] Unrecognised, object of scorn, Unfair! [3] Consider him. (Hebrews 12:3)
Can those who hate you strike; take jobs, possessions, life? Consider him. Can government forsake; injustice overtake? Consider him. Consider him who bore the blows and took the lash; [4] Falsely accused, betrayed, abused in purple sash; [5] At Golgotha, nailed to a cross, with Satan clashed; [6] Consider him. (Hebrews 12:3)
Does righteousness take fright; does hope fade out of sight? Consider him. Does fear grip heart and head; strike hands and knees like lead? Consider him. Consider him who with his gaze on heaven's home; (Hebrews 12:2) Endured the cross, despised the shame for promised throne; (Hebrews 12:2) Consumed with love, propelled by faith alone; (Hebrews 12:2) Consider him. (Hebrews 12:3)
When evil seems supreme, and rest seems like a dream; Consider him. When enemies grow bold, when shrouds seem to enfold; Consider him. Consider him whose violent death bruised serpent's head; [7] Who third day, shroud removed, rose from the dead; [8] Arisen, King of Love victorious, as he said; [9] Consider him! (Hebrews 12:3)
'. . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.' (Hebrews 12:1c-3 ESV)
Scripture References:
1 Mark 15:16-20 2 Isaiah 53:3; Matt 27:28-30; Psalm 22:18 3 John 1:11; Luke 22:63-65; Psalm 22:6; Isaiah 53:9 4 Matt 26:67; 27:26 5 Matt 26:59-60; Luke 22:47-48; John 19:2,5 6 John 19:16-18; Matt 27:39-44; Heb 13:12 7 Gen 3:15; Col 2:13-15; Rev 5:6-14 8 John 20; Isaiah 25:7,8 9 Matt 12:40; 16:21; 17:22,23; John 2:18-22
I am enjoying the powerful songs written and performed by Andrew Peterson from his album, "Behold the Lamb." During this Holy Week, I am especially appreciating Peterson's songs, "Passover Us" and "Behold the Lamb of God," both available for free listening at Andrew Peterson's website. I learned about the album from Petar Nenandov who introduces the album well.
- Update: More of N.T. Wright's articles and talks can be found at the N.T. Wright Page.
- (Original post) - Anglican bishop and N.T. scholar N.T. Wright makes this extraordinary suggestion in his book Surprised By Hope. For myself, I think it's a fabulous idea! Wright says (p. 256):
I regard it as absurd and unjustifiable that we should spend forty days keeping Lent, pondering what it means, preaching about self-denial, being at least a little gloomy, and then bringing it all to a peak with Holy Week, which in turn climaxes in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday . . . and then, after a rather odd Holy Saturday, we have a single day of celebration.
Rather, he says,
It [Easter] ought to be an eight-day festival, with champagne served after morning prayer or even before, with lots of alleluias and extra hymns and spectacular anthems. Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don't throw our hats in the air?. . Is it any
Me: I don't understand why the lamb didn't die more instantly. Or were those just reflexive movements after the throat was slit? This is the first time I have seen a Passover sacrifice, the ritual slaying of a lamb.
A year ago I put up the following post. I think it is worth re-posting for those who might be interested:
For any who have not yet been introduced to Dorothy L. Sayers' wonderful dramatic sketches of the life of
Christ (originally produced for BBC radio in 1943) titled The Man Born to Be King,
this might be a good year to indulge yourself. C. S. Lewis himself
said, "I have re-read it in every Holy Week since it first appeared,
and never re-read it without being deeply moved."
An Amazon.com reader wrote the following:
After reading this play cycle, you'll never look at the Gospels in the
same way again. . . I've been a Christian for many years, and I can still say
that this book changed my life. If you have questions or doubts about
Jesus of Nazareth, please give it a try.
C. S. Lewis's comments on The Man Born to be King are part of his panegyric for Sayers
which he concluded saying,
"For
all she did and was, for delight and instruction, for her militant
loyalty as a friend, for courage and honesty, for the richly feminine
qualities which showed through a port and manner superficially
masculine and even gleefully ogreish--let us thank the Author who
invented her."
** Update 3/24/08 - A Canadian female pastor wants to take Christ out of Christianity. How sad and how foolish, as if you could retain hope without its basis in the love of God and the salvation God has made known through Christ. I think Ken Samples said it well when he wrote about the resurrection of Christ as follows (his emphases):
"Many believers today fail to grasp the tremendous significance that the resurrection of Jesus holds both doctrinally and apologetically for the historic Christian faith. Easter is what ultimately separates the Christian faith from all other religious traditions and claims.
Both the doctrinal nature and evidentiary truth of Christianity rest squarely upon Jesus Christ's bodily resurrection from the grave. For Jesus' being raised to new life three days after His death pumps the heart of the Christian gospel (doctrine), and is Christianity's central supporting fact (apologetics). The truth of Christianity uniquely
- [Me] Today at noon I walked the "Stations of the Cross" along with others in one of our city's parks. This commemoration of Christ's condemnation and crucifixion was led and sponsored by clergy from a local Episcopal Church, a Lutheran Church, a Methodist Church, and a Roman Catholic Church.
I greatly appreciated the opportunity to focus and meditate on Christ's sufferings, and to be led in appropriate prayerful responses. Afterwards I drove a few blocks away to a Presbyterian church and
Update 3/22/08 - Here is a Tim Keller here speaking on "Belief in an Age of Skepticism" at the Veritas Forum at UC - Berkeley, March 4, 2008. This speech is simply magnificent. My thanks to the Grey Coats website for posting the video.
Click here for additional Tim Keller YouTube lectures and dialogs. Here's a February 18, 2008 Newsweek article on Tim Keller. My previous posts on Keller can be found here, here and especially here. Note Keller's book, referenced below, which looks like a must-read classic. Click through to read the Amazon reviews.
His 5,000-strong Manhattan
congregation is a model of outreach to 20- and 30-something artists and
professionals. Keller's church symbolizes an emerging urban
evangelicalism -- at a recent service, he recalls, a Republican
speechwriter sat near a songwriter for Madonna. Many of Keller's
parishioners are deeply skeptical of the
religious right, untroubled by
evolution and begin their complex spiritual journeys with serious
doubts.
Keller explains that members of this rising generation are not so much
relativists as they are philosophically rootless. "They have a deep
morality, but they have no idea why." And they generally share some
objections to religious belief: that traditional faith is exclusive and
intolerant and that the existence of suffering is inconsistent with the
existence of a loving God.
A centerpiece argument of Keller's response might be called the myth
of secular neutrality. "Skeptics argue that they have the intellectual
high ground," he says, "but they are really making
A year ago I put up a post mentioning that C.S. Lewis made it a practice during Holy Week to re-read the cycle of plays Dorothy L. Sayers wrote on the life of Christ which were broadcast over the BBC in 1943. A few days ago I read the section in which she dramatizes Jesus' miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. What an amazing job she did! Her dramatist's eye sets the scene, depicts with humor and insight personality differences, and her dialog explores--profoundly in the case of Mary--the thoughts of people. Just terrific.
Do check my earlier post for the information you will find there. The phrase "you owe it to yourself" is vastly overworked and almost always quite bogus, but it's not in this case. I can't recommend this cycle of plays highly enough.
For any who have not yet been introduced to Dorothy L. Sayers' wonderful dramatic sketches of the life of
Christ (originally produced for BBC radio in 1943) titled The Man Born to Be King, this might be a good year to indulge yourself. C.S. Lewis himself said, "I have re-read it in every Holy Week since it first appeared, and never re-read it without being deeply moved."
An Amazon.com reader wrote the following:
After reading this play cycle, you'll never look at the Gospels in the
same way again. . . I've been a Christian for many years, and I can still say
that this book changed my life. If you have questions or doubts about
Jesus of Nazareth, please give it a try.
C.S. Lewis's comments on The Man Born to be King are part of his panegyric for Sayers which he concluded saying,
"For all she did and was, for delight and instruction, for her militant loyalty as a friend, for courage and honesty, for the richly feminine qualities which showed through a port and manner superficially masculine and even gleefully ogreish--let us thank the Author who invented her."
As a Protestant, I have not been in the habit of "doing" the Stations of the Cross, and that is probably to my impoverishment.
As Mark Roberts explains,
In the Middle Ages, this practice [observing the stations of the cross] got wrapped up with the granting of indulgences (remissions of temporal punishments for sins for which we have been forgiven). The whole indulgence scene became quite messy, and was in fact one of the major reasons for the Protestant Reformation. Thus it's not surprising that Protestants didn't maintain the tradition of walking The Way of the Cross as an act of devotion.
In 1991 Pope John Paul II issued a revised list of "stations" totally faithful to the Biblical record.
1. Jesus on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39-46) 2. Jesus, betrayed by Judas, is arrested (Luke 22:47-48) 3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71) 4. Peter denies Jesus (Luke 22:54-62) 5. Jesus is judged by Pilate (Luke 23:13-25) 6. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns (Luke 22:63-65; John 19:2-3) 7. Jesus takes up the cross (Mark 15:20) 8. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross (Luke
23:26) 9.
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31 23:27-31) 10. Jesus is crucified (Luke 23:33, 47) 11. Jesus promises his Kingdom to the good thief (Luke 23:33-34,
39-43) 12. Jesus on the cross, his mother and his disciple (John 19:25-27) 13. Jesus dies on the cross (Luke 23:44-46) 14. Jesus is placed in the tomb (Luke 23:50-54)
Roberts' comments are theologically rich. In addition to his commentary, each day includes the Scripture passage under consideration, a painting of the scene by his wife, and a prayer. I plan to avail myself of this wonderful resource. You can read Roberts' series here. (HT: Hugh Hewitt)
