Hallelujah!

It’s Easter week, when we celebrate the most important event ever to happen on earth—the resurrection of Christ.

Why celebrate just a day, when we can celebrate all week?

·         Palm Sunday—The Triumphal Entry

·         Monday—Cleansing of the Temple

·         Tuesday—Teaching in Jerusalem

·         Wednesday—events unknown, but He told us, “Come, follow me.”

·         Thursday—Gethsemane—where those in my religion believe He suffered the sins of the world, overcoming the spiritual separation from God the Father, which would be followed by overcoming physical death soon after.

·         Friday—Crucifixion and Burial

·         Saturday—The Tomb

·         Sunday—The Resurrection—it is not life that is empty, but the Garden Tomb.

It’s worth looking at what we have because He lives—and offering a Hallelujah for those blessings.

I’m sharing this video for that purpose:

You can find this video, and a daily celebration of blessings from the resurrection at Mormon.org/easter.

The video uses many words from Handel’s Messiah. I’m singing “He Was Despised” this Sunday, as part of our Easter worship program. I love the piece, which isn’t done as often as many others; it is mournful, so it needs to be followed up with some Hallelujah songs, which we are doing.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir recently did a project inviting the world to join them in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. People were invited to send in a video of themselves singing along, and then a master chorus was produced using those thousands of videos. It’s kind of glorious.

If you loved that, you might want to try singing along for the entire Messiah, with the Tabernacle Choir, and soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, this Friday, Good Friday. It’s being broadcast at my church building at 8:00, and many other places. But it’s also available online for streaming through April 4^th. You can even download a public domain score if you don’t already have one.

Music is one of my favorite ways of shouting Hallelujah, or feeling anything really important. When times are troubled and dark, it’s good to take time to sing Hallelujah, while spring celebrates with us, and everything seems to, and light and hopeful.

Hallelujah!