Ridgeway Baptist Church

I Need A Little Handel’s Messiah

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I need a little Handel’s Messiah right about now.

I’m recalling a conversation with someone at my workplace revolving around the wildfires that raged through parts of East Tennessee, including Gatlinburg. The gist of the conversation is that the fires burned so hot that they literally melted the aluminum rims off the trucks and cars there.

That’s hot enough that any people caught up in it would have been incinerated.

That means that some of those missing people will never be found. There’s nothing left to find but possibly some ashes.

I can’t even begin to comprehend. I can’t begin to fathom how I’d cope if one of those missing people was one of my parents or my sister or any of my nephews or niece.

I need a little Handel’s Messiah right about now.

I need to be reminded that at the darkest point in human history, God intervened. He didn’t send a 12-step program (as good and useful as those are) or a self-help manual. He sent Himself. He sent Emmanuel, forever God is with us.

Handel’s Messiah is perhaps one of the few perfect pieces of music in existence. At times, it comes as close as these ears will ever get to heaven’s music. Plus, its straight Scripture set to music, so truly how bad can it be?

I remember a long time ago at Ridgeway Baptist Church, I was able to be a part of a choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I seriously doubt that it’s a mortal sin if you stay seated during that song, but once you really grasp that this Emmanuel will reign forever and ever, you just about can’t help but stand up.

The odds are very much against me making it through the entire Messiah, but I’ll get as far as I can before sleepiness takes over.

And yes, I know I am a major music nerd, but I can’t help that I love great works of art, particularly of the musical kind.

 

Tonight We’re Gonna Blog Like it’s 1,999

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I had a random memory today. And I mean random in the sense that it wasn’t connected to anything current.

I was thinking back on a sermon by my pastor, Aaron Bryant, where he mentioned listening to The Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill back in the day.

That got me thinking about a particular youth group trip way back in ’86 or ’87 in the Ridgeway Baptist Church bus with Jason Payne sitting in the very back of the bus with his ghetto blaster playing that same Beastie Boys album at full volume. I think we were on our way to that year’s Youth Evangelism Conference in Nashville (of all places).

I remember very little else about that trip. But I remember the Beastie Boys.

I bet I must have heard that CD all the way through at least two or three times.

You’re probably wondering where the oh-so-spiritual tie-in is. There’s really not one.

I just know that certain songs can trigger memories hidden deep in the recesses of my mind and can bring back faces and places from long since past.

2016 just so happens to mark the 30th anniversary of that Licensed to Ill album that ruled the Billboard charts way back in 1986. This way way before Eminem or even Vanilla Ice. For those who grew up solely on CCM fare, this was even before DC Talk.

I suppose you don’t really appreciate the significance of a moment when you’re in it. It’s only after time and distance has given you some perspective that you really do come to see those memories in a new light.

Who knows what we’ll remember about 2016? Hopefully, there will be some moments worth cherishing and remembering, some very happy moments. That’s my prayer for all of you (and for me, too).

Let’s make 2016 a year to remember.