Resurrection is hard to understand. Christmas is easy. There are so many tangible things your mind can picture: the baby, stars, angels, shepherds, kings, gifts, animals. There are concepts like peace, love, “the thrill of hope,” all things that are easily represented in art and music. But resurrection, that is somehow beyond our grasp, beyond what the human mind can package or sell.
Most of the legendary composers of the 16th–18th centuries were hired by kingdoms and empires to write masses for the royal chapels. There was sort of an unwritten contest, vetting one duchy against another (i.e. “my music is bigger and better than yours”). The composers were instructed by their noble patrons to make sure the music was inspiring, impactful… yet not too long.
One of the most important parts of the mass is the “Credo,” or the singing of the creed right in the middle of the whole mass. These composers gave a lot of their precious creative time to the dramatic elements of the creed:
- The opening praise of God
- The haunting mystery of the Virgin birth
- The suffering and Crucifixion of Christ
- And the terrific opportunity for literal depiction of the ascension into heaven (cue violins rising furiously!)
But the attention to resurrection is often one line, not repeated, almost an afterthought. What the heck? Uniformly, these guys I studied for years musically skip the resurrection. “Why?” I wondered. I believe it is because resurrection defies human description and craft.
The best way to understand resurrection is not what we say, but what Jesus says. He tells Martha that the resurrection is for us. He died and rose so that the gift of life and living with Him would be ours. It is the ultimate work and gift of God; resurrection is true life!
One of my favorite settings of this scripture is not by an ancient composer, but by a prolific Nashville couple, Dan and Heidi Goeller, written for choir with full orchestra and really cool percussion. (I love percussion!) This setting is performed by the Woodland Baptist Church Choir and Orchestra in San Antonio, Texas conducted by my dear friend, Randy Edwards. Watch the video below.