Handel's Messiah

Today, because my usual church-buddy was sleeping off the after effects of two overnight shifts at the hospital (she's a nurse), I attended church with my roommate Margaret. For reasons I'm not going to detail here, we ended up going to a different ward than hers that met earlier so she could go in to work and get some stuff done (she works at Goldman Sachs). It's always fun attending other singles' wards. Maybe fun isn't the exact right word, but it's interesting to see how they're all basically the same. But really, that's how it is in any ward; regardless of whether you're in Salt Lake City or New York City, the church is the same, and it was a nice little reminder today as I sat in sacrament meeting.

Other than that, though, the meeting was amazing for its music. Not only was there a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night sang by a cute old man and accompanied by his son, but for our closing hymn the entire congregation sang the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah. The bishop remarked that when he was in high school he sang in an a capella group and they always sang Handel's Messiah this time of year, and he was sad that many high schools are no longer allowed to sing it. The entire congregation separated themselves into the four parts--soprano, alto (where I chose to lump myself), tenor, and bass--and we proceeded to sing the "Hallelujah Chorus". And WOW, it was amazing! Even with my tone-deafness, I could tell it was something special. The music and words really are beautiful and truly written with inspiration from God.