by Ray Keating
The Keating Files – December 24, 2020
(The following column is included in Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York. It originally was published in Newsday in December 2002.)
My enjoyment of music tends to build in a crescendo towards Christmas. From songs on the radio to hymns sung in church, in recent years, I’ve gained a deep appreciation for the role that music plays during the holiday season.
Indeed, I plead guilty to being one of those people who starts playing Christmas CDs before Thanksgiving, and not tiring of them by the time the New Year arrives.
This was not always the case. I took music classes in school, but little seemed to stick. I never learned to play an instrument. And in my first debate over music, I simply expressed the obvious superiority of rock ‘n’ roll over disco during the late 1970s and early eighties (to this very day I cannot listen to the Bee Gees).
Fortunately, though, several positive influences subsequently helped to expand my musical horizons. My wife, for example, introduced me to country music. A good friend influenced me to explore both classical music and jazz. Along the way, I also picked up a fondness for the Big Band swing genre.
But thanks to a rebirth of my Christian faith in the Lutheran Church, I developed a love for the music of the Church. Give me some classic or traditional-style hymns, with a solid choir pushing the congregation forward, and I leave church invigorated.
Lutherans, of course, have a long, rich history of using music in worship. Lutheran liturgy is steeped in music. Martin Luther wrote hymns – including “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” – and declared: “Music has the natural power of stimulating and arousing the souls of men.” The great 18th-century composer Johann Sebastian Bach also was a devout Lutheran.
It is at Christmas time, though, when Christian music reaches unparalleled heights and joy. That was evident this past Sunday, for example, when my family joined other members of our church for caroling. While none of us will land a recording contract, we had a good time and the people we visited seemed glad to hear us. And late tonight, on Christmas Eve, a beautiful service of lessons and carols will be held that intermingles Bible readings with hymns like “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful,” “What Child is This,” “Silent Night, Holy Night!” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
Last Friday night, though, the Christmas season was still further enriched. I had the good fortune to attend a performance of George F. Handel’s “Messiah” at the Congregational Church of Patchogue. The dozens of voices in the Choral Society of the Moriches offered a marvelous performance of this powerful and uplifting oratorio composed by Handel in 1741. Indeed, when pondering musical compositions that stir the soul, my experience places “The Messiah” at the top of the list.
The biographical materials accompanying one collection of Handel’s music noted that after a performance of “The Messiah” someone congratulated the composer on the “splendid entertainment.” Handel responded: “I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better.”
A bold declaration, to say the least – some might even call it arrogant. But when listening to parts of “The Messiah” on Friday evening – particularly the famous “For Unto Us a Child is Born” and “Hallelujah!” choruses – I felt that this exquisite combination of setting (the design of the sanctuary in Patchogue’s Congregational Church is ideally suited for such a performance), music, instruments, voices and Holy Scripture provided an ever-so-brief glimpse of what heaven might be like. Handel was not arrogant. In the case of his “Messiah,” his lofty goal was well within attainment.
In the end, whether singing the classic Christmas hymns or soaking in “The Messiah,” I am made better by such experiences. Not better in the sense of any kind of superiority, but by feeling closer to God. But that’s what Christmas is all about – celebrating that the Christ child was born into this world to make us all better.
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Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur. His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com.
The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?
You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York from Amazon or signed books at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.
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