rose_griffes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rose_griffes) wrote2007-04-08 09:03 pm
rose_griffes) wrote2007-04-08 09:03 pm
Nod nobis solum sed toti mundo nati*
Happy Easter, everyone! (It's probably no longer Easter as most of you read this, but oh well.) I didn't have work Friday so I went north to visit relatives.
Actually I wasn't a bunny, but I was an official Easter-egg hider on Saturday. My parents live close to my middle brother (hereafter referred to as MB), and we were invited there as well as MB's wife's relatives for a hunt and for dinner. MB has four kids, his wife's relatives had several more, so we had lots of eggs to hide. The smallest children were given a head-start, so the egg-count ended up more balanced than not.
We had dinner together that evening. Oldest nephew proclaimed that Grandma's chocolate cupcakes were the best thing he'd ever eaten. Heh.
A long drive back home in the afternoon isn't the ideal way to spend an Easter, but I did at least get to attend church with my parents in the morning. And I made it back in time to attend the performance of The Messiah. Some background first: my church has been hosting an inter-faith Easter performance of The Messiah for the past ten years. The director for the last eight years has been a Presbyterian musician, so we have Mormons, Presbyterians and others, oh my, all singing together. I've sung in the alto section of the choir twice. This year I traveled too much in March to make it possible to attend the rehearsals, so I went as an appreciative audience member. I love The Messiah. It's beautiful as a piece of music and has even helped me appreciate the book of Isaiah, which is quite a feat! (I'm not claiming to understand most of Isaiah, but there's been a marked improvement. ;-)
Anyway, the pieces that were selected for the evening added up to about ninety minutes of singing and orchestra. The middle section about the crucifixion and resurrection is both beautiful and difficult to hear because of the pointed message. Chorus number 26, for example, has this text:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way... (Isaiah 53:5)
The music matches--frolicking, fun, until it changes and you realize the point:
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (rest of verse 5)
And we're the sheep gone astray whose iniquities have been placed on the Lord. The conductor takes full advantage of that last line, slowing the music, dropping the volume, so it feels heavy and solemn.
But then we turn back to the reason for rejoicing and sing "The King of glory shall come in," followed by the Hallelujah Chorus and so forth.
Wow, I could talk about this a lot longer, but I still haven't unpacked from my visit with family, and I have to work tomorrow, and... that's the end of Easter for me, I guess. Lovely way for it to end.
*Not for yourself but for the whole world were you born.
Actually I wasn't a bunny, but I was an official Easter-egg hider on Saturday. My parents live close to my middle brother (hereafter referred to as MB), and we were invited there as well as MB's wife's relatives for a hunt and for dinner. MB has four kids, his wife's relatives had several more, so we had lots of eggs to hide. The smallest children were given a head-start, so the egg-count ended up more balanced than not.
We had dinner together that evening. Oldest nephew proclaimed that Grandma's chocolate cupcakes were the best thing he'd ever eaten. Heh.
A long drive back home in the afternoon isn't the ideal way to spend an Easter, but I did at least get to attend church with my parents in the morning. And I made it back in time to attend the performance of The Messiah. Some background first: my church has been hosting an inter-faith Easter performance of The Messiah for the past ten years. The director for the last eight years has been a Presbyterian musician, so we have Mormons, Presbyterians and others, oh my, all singing together. I've sung in the alto section of the choir twice. This year I traveled too much in March to make it possible to attend the rehearsals, so I went as an appreciative audience member. I love The Messiah. It's beautiful as a piece of music and has even helped me appreciate the book of Isaiah, which is quite a feat! (I'm not claiming to understand most of Isaiah, but there's been a marked improvement. ;-)
Anyway, the pieces that were selected for the evening added up to about ninety minutes of singing and orchestra. The middle section about the crucifixion and resurrection is both beautiful and difficult to hear because of the pointed message. Chorus number 26, for example, has this text:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way... (Isaiah 53:5)
The music matches--frolicking, fun, until it changes and you realize the point:
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (rest of verse 5)
And we're the sheep gone astray whose iniquities have been placed on the Lord. The conductor takes full advantage of that last line, slowing the music, dropping the volume, so it feels heavy and solemn.
But then we turn back to the reason for rejoicing and sing "The King of glory shall come in," followed by the Hallelujah Chorus and so forth.
Wow, I could talk about this a lot longer, but I still haven't unpacked from my visit with family, and I have to work tomorrow, and... that's the end of Easter for me, I guess. Lovely way for it to end.
*Not for yourself but for the whole world were you born.