Messiah - In words

Ok, so no more funny pics.

After Saturday's performance I was driving Heather and Angela back up to Redeemer and I described how I felt about the performances using a sporting metaphor.

I said that I felt like singing the Messiah was like running a 400m hurdles race. Anyone who has run 400m knows that it is in essence running balls out for 400m. Throwing the hurdles in just makes for an extra challenge.

On Friday I felt like we as a choir had been running on course for a personal best time. Then we peeked to see where the competition was and tripped over the last hurdle. Ouch. But as with athletic training and performance you get back up, work out the kink and run again.

Bending the metaphor slightly to apply just to me I felt like I did run a personal best time. And I wondered how that could be beaten. I didn't realize that Friday was the semi-final and Saturday the final.

Again if you've ever run competitively you know that the body can surprise you with "an extra gear". All of those hours of training become worth it as you think you have reached your full potential and then all of a sudden there is another gear and you can push even harder and go even farther than you thought even possible.

That is how I felt about Saturday night (the second half - the first half, don't ask, or see the previous post). I sang the Hallelujah chorus so hard that I had chest pains after. And the Amen - who knew that we could go that hard (God did, He planned it that way)?

I feel blessed, like everyone else that I could be apart of it. I was one of those people that had never sung the Messiah before. I had never even heard the whole thing until I bought the CD. And I too struggled with learning the whole thing. I wanted to throw myself through a window and quit the choir the week before the performances. I was bringing down those around me.

Oh redemptive power. Oh endless blessings.