Actually, first I went to church at City Light. The group was smaller today, but it was still good. It was Ivanna's birthday, so we all signed a card for her. The ladies always make lunch for everybody, and today it was especially delicious: lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, with two different kinds of cake for dessert! Anja, Rebecca, and Ivanna have all been so encouraging to me. I was telling Anja about how I have seen God do so much for me here in Germany, but I'm not taking enough time to spend with Him. She asked if she could pray for me, so we did. I am really thankful for everybody at City Light--they already feel like a second family to me.
It was humid and rainy all day. Not cold out--I got hot walking with only my rain jacket on--but we've definitely had a lot of precipitation! So far it hasn't poured, just more like a steady, light rain.
Anyway, about the "Messiah." I went to St. Markus Hoheluft, which is over on the other side of Alster Lake. It's not far by train--I got there in about 20 minutes. The church is small, like Grace Community Church in Seal Beach back home, but they have a full choir of 50 or 60 people, and this performance was AWESOME! I thought it would be the whole thing, but it actually wasn't. The entire "Messiah" is almost 3 hours long. This performance was more like 2 hours. I didn't mind that it wasn't the whole thing, because what they did was really good. It was conducted by a lady (probably not much older than 30) who I guess is the director of all the choral music at that church. Pardon me while I now go on a classical-music-nerd tangent ... They had a live orchestra accompanying, and none of it was amplified, which made it so much more awesome. I was on the side with the soloists. It's incredible to watch the singers form the notes and hear the volume they can reach without any kind of microphone. All four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) had super good voices, and the choir and orchestra sounded great too. The whole piece is just so beautiful! And it's completely 100 percent about Jesus--the lyrics are nothing more than Bible verses set to music. Yeah, Händel pretty much rocks.
The conductor was really into it--she led everybody so well, and there was a lot of dynamic in the performance. You should have heard the thunderous applause at the end! It went on for probably 3 minutes. I think this was a big deal for the whole church, like it was one of the highlight performances of their year. Everybody was hanging out and saying hi to each other and having hors d'oeuvres and champagne afterwards. I was drawing and a lady came up to me and talked to me for a minute. Between her minimal English and my minimal German, I told her I was an art student. She liked my drawings. Before I left, I also went to talk to the conductor and thank her for a wonderful performance. It was my first time hearing "Messiah," and it was a winner. Totally worth the 13 euros!
Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me, so I have no photos and no videos of the concert. (I was so mad at myself for forgetting.) But I did do a couple of quick sketches (I was too busy listening to draw a whole lot), and I found an online recording of one of the parts I liked. So hopefully these give you an idea of my amazing evening! The song is "Since by man came death," out of
1 Corinthians 15.
for unto us a child is born...unto us a Son is given...
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