Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE CHRONICLE
December 16, 2001, The Third Sunday of Advent
Volume 46, No. 41

"Lift up your heart!"
Last Sunday evening, December 2, we were given a deeply meaningful
gift with the 77th annual presentation of Handel's monumental oratorio,
Messiah. Calvary's Messiah tradition began in the early 1920's under the
direction of Dr. Adolph Steuterman, Calvary's Organist/Choirmaster for
fifty-six years, who used this grand work of art to fill our sacred space.
Under the direction of our richly talented Organist/Choirmaster, Thom
Pavlechko, and so many of our Calvary choir and parishioners, the
timeless, sacramental beauty of Handel's masterpiece again fed us. It
was just what "the doctor" ordered. It fed my soul and replenished my
spirit.

It had been a long an emotionally draining day. I felt weary, as did many
others, and to be honest, if I had not been expected to be here, I would
have probably chosen to stay home. I'm so glad I didn't. To borrow the
title from C. S. Lewis's video biography, I was "surprised by joy." It
happened for me precisely following and in combination with the familiar
words of the Hallelujah Chorus. After that we stood and sang hymn 481
(another of Handel's creations) with this final refrain:

Lift up your heart! Lift up your voice!
Rejoice again I say, rejoice! Lift up your voice!
Rejoice! Again I say, rejoice!

For some strange and wonderful reason those words came to me as
words from God. They helped put a lot of conflicting emotions in clear
perspective: Our Christian ministry is always to a torn and broken world
and we cannot, and should not, let the centrality and power of that
message be stifled. God, through Christ, came into this world as a
herald of peace and joy and we are the instruments of that eternal,
yearned-for message. That is the purpose of our Advent preparation and
without it Christmas lacks any true meaning.

These words, whose I'm not sure, come to mind:

We are not saints, we are not heroes. Our lives are
lived in the quiet corners of the ordinary. We build
tiny hearth fires, sometimes barely strong enough
to give off warmth. But to the person lost in the darkness,
our tiny flame may be the road to safety, the path to salvation.
It is not given us to know who is lost in the darkness
that surrounds us or even if our light is seen. We can only
know that against even the smallest of lights, darkness cannot
stand. A sailor lost at sea can be guided home by a single
candle. A person lost in a wood can be led to safety by a flickering
flame. It is not an issue of quality or intensity or purity. It is simply
an issue of the presence of light.

Thank you, Messiah Choir and orchestra, for your presence of light and
for reminding us of such an important Truth-that God through Christ is
present.
~LaRue Downing