{"id":4284,"date":"2024-12-18T09:07:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T14:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4284"},"modified":"2024-12-18T09:07:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T14:07:26","slug":"for-unto-us-a-child-is-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/18\/for-unto-us-a-child-is-born\/","title":{"rendered":"For Unto Us a Child is Born"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

George Frederick Handel was a musical has-been in 1741.

The luster was gone from a once-lauded career as an opera composer.\u00a0Financially, he was reeling.

The German-born composer had been partially paralyzed by a stroke that clouded his eyesight and compromised his right hand, essentially putting an end to his career as a public performer on the keyboard.

If VH-1 had been doing Behind the Music <\/em>episodes in the 18th<\/sup> century, Handel\u2019s biopic would have addressed the gossipy question, \u201cWhatever happened to that guy?\u201d

In the twilight of his musical career, Handel turned to a new form of composition \u2013 the oratorio<\/em>, a multi-layered work for orchestra, soloists, and chorus that illustrated a narrative or text.

Handel\u2019s text was called Messiah.\u00a0<\/em>It told the story of Jesus of Nazareth in 53 musical segments divided into three large parts.

Part I (often called the \u201cChristmas\u201d portion) spotlights Old Testament prophecies and Jesus\u2019 arrival in Bethlehem. Part II concerns the Passion (the Messiah\u2019s suffering and death). Part III chiefly targets the apostle Paul\u2019s teachings about resurrection and what awaits followers of Jesus in the next world.

To say that Handel threw himself into composing it is an understatement.\u00a0

Rarely pausing to eat or sleep, he crafted the entire work, which takes about three hours to perform, in 24 days.

At one point, when the door of his study had been closed for an unusually long time, his assistant knocked.\u00a0Receiving no answer, the assistant peered inside.\u00a0Handel was weeping. He held up the score of a piece he had just finished and said, \u201cI think I just saw all heaven before me, and the great God himself!\u201d

He was clutching the Hallelujah Chorus.<\/em>

It took a while for Messiah<\/em> to catch on with audiences.\u00a0John Wesley, who founded the Methodist Church, heard it performed and suggested that it probably wouldn\u2019t have much staying power \u2013 one of the few perspectives Wesley got wrong. Today it can safely be said that Messiah<\/em> will be performed and cherished long after all of us have left the scene.

The \u201cChristmas section\u201d of Messiah<\/em> is heavy stuff. Its 21 musical components (an overture, an instrumental, 14 soloes, and five choruses) are not sentimental reflections on candles or evergreen branches.

That hasn\u2019t prevented one chorus in particular, \u201cFor Unto Us a Child is Born,\u201d from becoming a classic part of the Advent music scene the world over.

It\u2019s a joyful romp based on a text from the prophet Isaiah. The first eight chapters of Isaiah are primarily dark \u2013 searing indictments of the seemingly incurable spiritual blindness of God\u2019s people.

But then comes chapter nine. It\u2019s as if the sun comes out after a storm:

The people walking in darkness<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a light has dawned\u2026
For to us a child is born,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to us a son is given,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the government\u00a0will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wonderful Counselor,\u00a0Mighty God,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Everlasting\u00a0Father,\u00a0Prince of Peace.
\u00a0Of the greatness of his government\u00a0and peace
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0there will be no end.
He will reign\u00a0on David\u2019s throne
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with justice\u00a0and righteousness
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from that time on and forever.
The zeal\u00a0of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0Almighty
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0will accomplish this.<\/em>
(Isaiah 9:2,6-7)

Here\u2019s the London Symphony Orchestra<\/a> and choir performing Handel\u2019s timeless rendition of Isaiah 9:6 \u2013 a composition that can melt even a Grinch\u2019s frozen heart.

From the prophets to the gospels to the book of Revelation, the Bible proclaims that monarchs will come and go. But at the end of history only one King will remain standing.

No one will come forward and say, as happened at the Academy Awards a few years back, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, but we read the wrong card, so we need to take the crown off your head and give it to someone else.\u201d\u00a0

All other contenders will be unmasked as mere pretenders. Christ alone will be praised as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

One line in particular, because of the unusual tumult of this election year, ought to jump out at us: \u201cand the government will be upon his shoulders.\u201d

In ancient Hebrew, as in modern English, to \u201cshoulder\u201d something means to accept responsibility. The Child prophesied by Isaiah has accepted the burden of governing human hearts and nations.

That means that no matter what we see or hear on the news, the government does not rest on the shoulders of red state senators or blue state governors or progressives on the Left or radicals on the Right or anyone else in between.

Even if we don\u2019t always have eyes to see, the government is right where it belongs \u2013 on His<\/em> shoulders.

To which we can only say, \u201cHallelujah!\u201d \u00a0
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here George Frederick Handel was a musical has-been in 1741. The luster was gone from a once-lauded career as an opera composer.\u00a0Financially, he was reeling. The German-born composer had been partially paralyzed by a stroke that clouded his eyesight and compromised his right hand, essentially putting an end to his career as… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[119,779,424],"class_list":["post-4284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-government","tag-messiah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4286,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4284\/revisions\/4286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}