There Were Shepherds

Scripture Texts: Luke2:8-14

This morning we come to a third text taken from Handel’s Messiah.  I have discovered I am not the only one to preach texts from the Messiah.  Pastor John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, once preached 50 sermons on the whole Messiah.  I will limit myself to just one more on Christmas Day, the Hallelujah Chorus.

I hope this sermon series has encouraged you to put it on in your home this season.  Phama and I played it last Monday night while we wrapped 25 presents for two and a half hours.

This shepherd scene is unique in the Messiah.  Until now everything has been prophecy.  Now for the first time we get real history.  Angels speak and sing to shepherds about a baby born at a specific time and place, today in the city of David, Bethlehem.

Handel opens this scene with a pastoral symphony just played by the orchestra.  Handel is creating a pastoral mood with simple melodies flowing along quietly and gently.  The music is calm, like a silent night.

Then a soloist starts out simply and matter-of-factly, “There were shepherds abiding in the field.”  And then something extraordinary happens, suddenly the angel of the Lord came upon them.  And then the angel speaks and after that something even more extraordinary happens.  The angel is joined by a multitude, meaning thousands of thousands, ten thousands of ten thousands.

Handel recreates that scene by having the entire choir in full voice sing “Glory to God in the highest.”  Nothing is held back or left out.  Handel unleashes strings and trumpets.  It is about the closest we can get to the actual multitude of the heavenly host.

In a sense this is the Hallelujah chorus for Part One.  The first crescendo in the Messiah.