Messiah

On Monday of this week I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was able to perform in Handel's Messiah. If you don't know what that is, then shame on you. Messiah is the famous oratorio (great word) which contains the Hallelujah chorus that everybody knows. My father, mother, one of my sisters, and myself were all in the choir.
Now the music was fantastic, what with the huge choir (about 80-100 strong) singing, and the orchestra playing, but what really stands out is the words. Handel used only scripture, and it's really hard to improve on God's writing. By Handel's choice of words, and the music he put to them, you can tell he was very close to the Lord when he was writing this. In Surely He Hath Bourne Our Griefs you can almost feel Christ's suffering. In For Since By Man Came Death you get a sense of the awful state that man put himself in, but also an explosive sense of joy in knowing that Jesus rescued us from that fate.
This is a beautiful and spiritually nourishing piece of music, and should you ever get the chance to be a part of the Messiah, leap at it.