Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion

I had the pleasure this evening of taking in a local performance of the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah. It was by no means a professional or stunning performance, but it was very good. Good grief, when you start with spectacular piece like the Messiah it does take some doing to make it anything other than very good.

I was particularly stirred by the piece quoted in my title. It is based on Isaiah 40:9 and 60:1, and says:

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, and be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

It wasn't the gorgeous harmonies that stirred me, although that helped. It was the Word of God, living and active. Many years ago, various Scriptures that mention speaking began to grip me with a shocking power when I read them or heard them read. Perhaps you've had a similar experience of feeling a Holy Spirit finger pointed right into your chest and the words echoed hot and pounding inside. And these were often about people being called to speak, or otherwise to have a public role in proclaiming God's goodness. So tonight, again. Lift up thy voice/ with strength/ lift it up, and be not afraid. There is something in me that fears, although not in the way that perhaps I once felt just generic fear and awkwardness of speaking (I sometimes still feel that). Perhaps what I feel is more an awe. God tells us to address Zion, Jerusalem, Judah (which my theological training tells me represents the Church, not "the heathen") and to tell them, to tell the Church "Behold your God!" Isn't that astonishing? Arise! Shine! Your Light is come!

I can remember as a child, feeling this call to help Christians "get real". After a preliminary encounter with God at about age 10 (which for years I reckoned as the beginning of my Christian journey, especially during the time when I rejected the validity of infant Baptism) I realized that many people go to church services and call themselves Christians without experiencing Jesus. Can there be a greater tragedy?

Behold your God!

I think part of what makes my heart pound is something in the realization that God commands me to speak, but I don't really know what it is He wants me to say. And I'm thinking of the line attributed to St. Francis: Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words. The message, I realize, is made up of words that God will give to the extent that I am attentive to Him and "with" Him. And the message is also found in taking the graces He gives and living them out. He calls me to a union with Him that is to be lived for others, to call others to arise, to shine.