Lent – Page 2 – watercress words by Dr Aletha

²⁸“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11 (NIV)

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Easter-and Messiah

We usually associate Messiah with Christmas, but Handel wrote it to be performed at Easter. He drew the words of the songs from Scripture, choosing passages that tell the story of God sending Jesus to earth to redeem His people.

Handel’s Messiah has three acts, so many performances and recordings of Messiah use only the most popular songs, since the entire work is lengthy. This article will tell you about some of the songs you may already know including two that I have used in this series.

Exploring the HEART of faith, hope, and love

Dr. Aletha

9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

woman raising arms arms to the sky in a glow of light — photo from the LIGHTSTOCK.COM collection, an affiliate link

Isaiah

Handel’s Messiah

We usually associate Messiah with Christmas, but Handel composed it to be performed at Easter.

“Handel used the lyrics from a preacher Charles Jennens, who wrote out the whole piece as a collage of Bible verses designed to tell a story about the Messiah.

In some cases Jennens copied verses from the King James Version of the Bible directly, and in other cases he abridged or modified the wording of the Bible verses somewhat to fit into something that could be set to music and sung. He also decided to change the “point of view” in a couple of places.

Rather than quoting Jesus’ words about himself directly, for instance, he made a few changes so that the singers are singing about Jesus rather than portraying the role of Jesus.”

quoted from wheatwilliams.com