thoughts on the news of the day: alleluia

hmmm…..

            It’s Easter morning and in churches all over the world, in a universal language, the word “Alleluia!” will be spoken to remember the day that the women emerged from the tomb and shouted, “He is Risen! Alleluia!”

            The word is sometimes spelled, “Halleluiah” which means, “Praise the Lord!”  In the Hebrew bible, the “hallel” means praise and the “Yah” is the shortened version of the word for God, “Yahweh”.   In 1741, George Friderick Handel wrote a whole chorus using the word and it is oftentimes sung or played at the Easter service.  The tradition is that the audience stands when the piece is sung in tribute to it, even though it comes in the center of the musical oratorio, Messiah.  Our organist always plays the Halleluiah Chorus at the end of our Easter service, and we hope that folks will stand and listen until it is completed, but we are still working on that. 

            Shouting “Alleluia!”  is not that common in our church, although last year, I tried to get folks in the mood, and by the end of the service, they were almost getting the hang of it. Whether you shout out loud or quietly acknowledge the “Alleluia!” take some time today to Praise God – from whom all blessings flow!!  And rejoice that life can break forth anew  – even when it seems the darkest. 

            Happy Easter, Alleluia!