The Hallelujah Chorus

There is an ongoing story repeated for several centuries about King George of England standing for the "Hallelujah Chorus" at an early performance of the ending for the great and glorious Messiah written by Handel. Since that time, it has been the habit of audiences everywhere to also stand for the glorious rendition of that stirring sequence of adoration for the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.

Another version of the story has it that the King of England so suffered from piles that He could sit no longer and so stood up to alleviate his pain. Whether the King stood out of humility and appreciation or to relieve his pain is not knowable for certain in our time! Like every single person in the history of the world we may not know the inner workings of a person's hearts and know for certain if they so honor the true king out of conviction or convenience.

Certainly today, we may allow that there are fewer people giving homage to our Lord because of mere convenience! The true church in our day may be sizing itself down to that fourth to a third of the population that history seems to demonstrate does the actual work and witness of the real kingdom of our God and King. But, we have to be careful in our measuring that public and private dedication.

For years I have been fascinated at the life and work of Winston Churchill. And I will be profoundly disappointed if Time magazine does not honor him as Man of the Century. To my mind there does not exist another historic personage who has stood for what is good, kind, considerate and truthful to such a degree as he did for a whole generation or more! Most of the biographies about him give us no insight to his Christian commitment. However, a loaned copy of Never Give In by Stephen Mansfield argues very persuasively that while Winston was called to a difficult public life, beneath the surface there was a deep and abiding confidence in the grace and providence of our Creator God in heaven. Please understand, I am not setting up my favorite politician for sainthood. There are many stories that well illustrate Mr. Churchill's lack of perfection! Like us all, there remained some habits and attitudes of the old sinful personage that demonstrate the absolute necessity of unmerited grace for the gift of salvation.

However, we should well learn that spiritual habits vary in a great degree from person to person. Just because a person does not have daily devotions, go to a Bible Study and practice a visible life of prayer is no indication of where their hearts are really focused. Over the years I have had to do about as many funerals outside of the church as inside the church. Unlike some who verbally criticized me in public for giving Christian rituals too liberally - I have found that God does a lot of His work outside the Church. And were the Church more spiritually focused and attentive to the very Word of God, more of His real people might participate in the weekly gatherings to honor His great and glorious Name!

If there is no other lesson to be learned from the birth and life of Christ, it ought to be this - that:

If you would not believe this, look again at the nativity scene discovered by Dr Luke's historic research. A small one horse town as we might say in the last century - a place with not even a traffic light for the divine birth! A humble stable meant to house livestock for a delivery room, a lowly carpenter and lesser known fiancee for parents.

Years ago a Pastor visited a lady who had attended church faithfully for many years in my home community. The Pastor was a dandy - always impeccably dressed and not afraid to flaunt his position in the community. The lady he went to visit had been sick and in fact was dying. It was his first visit to her ramshackle home. The door was permanently ajar when he knocked, when he was invited in, it was by a sickly voice from another room. A lady of the church who went with him encouraged him to come on in while she enjoyed the contrast of culture between the visitor and the person to be comforted.

In the kitchen, they gathered around the table. Several hens were brushed off the chairs and table. The rooster, being almost indigent for having to give up his seat. Never mind, the pastor's $200 suit carried away a reminder of who had the chair first! Of course, to the pastor's credit, he adjusted quickly to the situation and went on to comfort the lady in her sickness. She was so overwhelmed that a Pastor had finally visited her humble home that she couldn't stop thanking him enough. Yes, she had the faith by the grace of God, and even though she had not been able to climb out of her poverty - what little she had - she gave generously to Christ.

Do we understand, that no matter how clean our houses are with wood floors, carpet, sanitized air and all the comforts of the twentieth century ... Do we understand the greater glories from which our Creator God sent His only Son into our quarters that pass for Home Sweet Home ... Do we really appreciate How far God has traveled to be us? A humble stable - would you even allow anyone to spend the night in your garage? No, we usually keep that door closed and if we have been accumulating things for any length of time, even the car may have to stay outside!

Then there are the shepherds to whom the first Hallelujah Chorus is performed! Do you sense the difference in God's providence? Handel's version was performed for high society in the finest Cathedrals and Palaces. The first Chorus was in the outlands, beyond the suburbs of Bethlehem. One of my friends moved a year or so ago. He moved from downtown in one of the small towns in my county - all the way out to the very edge of town. A distance of a mile or so! In a small country town, the houses thin out a block after the business district! So, just out in the hollars and hills - where the sheep were protected from the night air, there the Shepherds were watching over their flocks.

Their outdoor fire, if they could afford one, was probably sputtering out. Their wool robes which smelled like the animals from which they came, were wrapped closer to ward off the chill. All of a sudden, above that muddy, dirty field the glory of heaven burst forth and the whole heavenly host performed for a handful of astonished shepherds. A once in a lifetime performance - a once in the history of the world performance.

Do you realize what the tickets to such an event would be worth today? But money and power may not have them. Neither may money and power and position gain a relationship with the Creator God. In Winston Churchill's life, it was his Nanny who taught him to pray and who introduced him to the great truths of Scriptures. The Holy Spirit took it from there.

In the same way, the Christian faith, which began in a stable, was shared with the shepherds - a carpenter and his fiancee - that faith went on to fishermen, a tax collector and very late in context of that time to a theologian from the temple families.

To be sure, quite a few Jewish families of the established Church of that time came over to the Christian faith. And the gentiles, even the rich and sometime rulers came to know Christ well enough to allow and even encourage the growth of the Church. The world would never be the same again - for Christ has come and even those of us who were not with the Shepherds may participate in the praise, worship, wonder, awe and glory of that first Hallelujah Chorus.

Whoever you are, what ever state your faith is presently in, this babe in the manger was born that you might have life eternal in His presence with His Father forever and ever. Isn't that reason enough to praise God and to sing the glories of our Lord and King in the ancient Carols of Christ's own Church? Christmas must always and forever be a time when we realize our own poverty so that we can appreciate the great gift given to us in and through the Christ child.

Look in verse nineteen: "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." What is in your heart at Christmas time? Sugar plums, Candy Canes and all the necessities for a sugar surge dancing in your head? I know all about that, the sugar intake began growing early this week at school. Imagine if you will the tempestuous scene where almost everyone was floating in a flood of Mountain Dew and all hope of sanity hinged upon the magic hour at the end of the week. Once the children escaped for their vacation, the principal announced that as soon as the students were gone, so could the adults. Several youth were almost chased out of the back hallway to make it so!

What must that first sugarless Christmas have been like? I have tried in my illustrations and preaching over the years to do away with the sugar coating that society insists upon putting over everything serious. But it is getting harder and harder to call people to a spiritual hype that is not materially induced! After all, what benefit is there in leaving bright lighted and decorated trees with all the wonders of candy and lights to peer into a small, smelly stable where a dropped candle could burn up the whole place?

Can you, will you see the hope wrapped up in a blanket, a hope in the Christ child who will save His people? Even kings called by God came to visit Him and to give Him gifts. Will we humble ourselves by the stock rack where he is cradled, never minding the contents of the stall where we have kneeled? There beside the shepherds who came to see Him were cattle, sheep, goats, a donkey perhaps and even clucking in their sleep in the rafters, chickens and other poultry?

Hallelujah - Christ is born! Do you know the earth shaking reality of His birth? Do you know through Jesus the Lord of all the earth? It is a different kind of rush than a sugar rush isn't it. It is a still quite voice, a continuing confidence that He is ours and we are His. It is a reality that we take to work and keep in our homes - Christ is King.

Amen.

Resources Used:
     Bentley, Michael.         Welwyn Commentary Series: Saving A Fallen World - Luke.
     Lockyer, Herbert.         All the Promises of the Bible.

Places Preached:
     Christ Covenant REFORMED  (Presbyterian Church in America)
                               Box PO Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH  43213
                               TKC04         20 December 98