There are two parts to Handel's Messiah, you know.

[pat]

Christmas has always been a bittersweet holiday for me, for spiritual reasons. As a Christian, for me, the birth of Jesus, in and of itself, is not significant. Without Jesus's life -- and yes, his death -- his birth is just another birth, it's celebration a celebration of life in general. Nice, yes, important from a human need to recognize the possibilities in everyday miracles, but not Christ-filled.

Christmas makes no sense without Easter. The manger stands in the shadow of the cross and the light cast from the empty tomb. I'm not the only one who recognizes this: many of the "traditional" carols have verses that are rarely sung today because they're "too gory." Words about death and sacrifice seem out of place in "Christmas lite" -- It's a birth, right? Births are joyous things. But that child will turn the world upside down, and in the process experience the worst that humanity can offer. And even that birth carries death in its train -- beginning with Herod's slaughter of the innocents. And yet, in the end, the world and humanity's evil will not triumph.

Christmas is about possibility, but also about life -- and that includes pain, and death. Easter is about overcoming all that life can throw at the human race.

Christmas is joyful, but Easter is triumphant.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

My second favorite alto solo of all time, and I was privileged to sing it twice to an audience: Handel, Messiah, Air, "He Was Despised"

Christmas is about possibility, but also about life -- and that includes pain, and death.

Precisely. There's a rant inside of me about this, but it's not ready to come out. But you're telling some of it here, Pat, and I just want to say, "Yes."