Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Our God and Heavenly Father
We Praise Your Holy Name.
You Are From Everlasting to Everlasting
Eternal, Immortal, Infinite
Not Bound By Time or Space
Because You Created it All
With a Thought,
With a Word,
With a Command.

Let all that has been Concealed
 Be Revealed.

  Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
 According To Your Will and Promise.
 We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins of Our Own Nation,
 and Lead us all to Godly Repentance
 Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
 and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

  This we Pray Together,
 As We Await Your Messiah,
 Blessed Be He,
 To Set Up His Kingdom,
 And Make All Things Right.

For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. (Mark 4:22)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

The Scriptures in Handel’s “Messiah”

Zechariah 9:9-10

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth

Holy Bible, The King James Version

________________________

Sorry I'm so late this morning. It was such a beautful (but cold!) morning that Tippy and I walked over five miles.

The following is a reminiscence of a "Songwriting Adventure" having to do with "World Peace".

Today's "lyrics" come from Zechariah 9:9-10. The Words of Handel's Messiah were taken directly from the King James Version of the Bible (with rare passages from the Book of Common Prayer), and must have been very difficult to set to music. Here is a little story about my own adventures with songwriting:

I have been writing songs since the fourth grade. When I was 11, I got my first guitar (a humongous arch-top from Sears), learned some chords, and started getting serious. I meticulously copyrighted my songs, sending the $6 fee, my sad attempt at notation, and a stamped self-addressed envelope to the GOVERNMENT, and eagerly collected my Copyright Certificates. Little did I know that the GOVERNMENT was selling my name and address to various entities who would have LOVED to exploit whatever songwriting talent I had to make money! I got countless offers from "Record Companies" offering to "Record my song for the low, low, price of ONLY $500 PER SONG! SUCH A DEAL!"

In the 1990s I got a letter from the UN, on Official Stationery, announcing a BIG SONGWRITING CONTEST which I was invited to enter (For a nominal fee of course!) and win a free trip to New York to visit the UN and have my song played around the world! (Such a DEAL!) and I immediately went to work. By this time, I had honed my craft quite a bit, and had built my own recording studio in the spare bedroom. The required title and theme of the song was designated as "LET PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH". It was, to say the least, an awkward and cumbersome (not to mention grandiose and sanctimonious) Title, and went against all the rules of songwriting. (Lyrics have to be "catchy" and easily remembered. That is known as "The Hook")

Anyway, I went to work on the project, and got totally absorbed in it. First I wrote the Lyrics, being careful to have perfect rhythmic and rhyming patterns. I used all the rules of good lyric writing: alliteration, metaphors, personification, word-pictures, etc, to be the very best it good be. I wrote the song from the viewpoint of a child, hiding in a cellar in the Balkans, hearing the bombs outside. Then I layered the Rhythm tracks, and bass line, drum by drum, cymbal by cymbal, effects by effects, panning Right and Left to sound like a whole Rhythm section. I chose a Afro/Latin/World Beat for the track, and then added Rhythm Guitar, Piano, and a Horn Section. Finally, I laid down the vocal tracks, using every once of my energy and training to get it right. Then I did the final mixdown and sat back to listen to my Masterpiece.

And Guess What?

IT STUNK!

I mean, it was CRINGE-WORTHY! I HATED it. It ended up buried on a B-Side of one of my early cassettes which have been since downloaded into a shuffle of over 1500 songs that play in my car when I drive around. Whenever "Let Peace Prevail on Earth" comes up in the shuffle, I reach down to the SKIP button on my dashboard. IT STINKS THAT BAD! Oh Well.

The reason I share this epic tale with you today, is because There is ONLY ONE "Prince of Peace". One Hundred years ago, There were The "14 Points", the Balfour Declaration, The League of Nations, and the End of WW1, the "War To End All Wars". Following this we had The Russian Revolution, The Spanish Civil War, WW2, Korea, The COLD WAR, Vietnam, Desert Storm, The Balkan Wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Present Situation in Iran. During this time the UN has been, not merely USELESS, but actually antagonistic to the Cause of Peace.

Perhaps that is the reason that my "song" was such a Pathetic Mess!

At This Point in Handel's Messiah (#18), the libretto flows seamlessly from the Gospel of Luke back to the Hebrew Prophet Zechariah. From here, it will flow back through Isaiah, and then to the Gospel of Matthew. Here is the link to this beautiful Solo "Rejoice Greatly".

This juxtaposition of Old and New Testament Scriptures testifies to the skill of the Librettist Charles Jennens. While encyclopedia entries are not entirely complimentary to Jennens, and seem to portray him as a somewhat reclusive and cranky individual, he was reportedly Handel's favorite librettist. He was also very devout, but in a somewhat nontraditional way. This is shown in the respectful and masterful use of Old Testament Scriptures to tell the Gospel Story.

"Rejoice Greatly" is a perfect example of this. The Prophet Zechariah speaks of a King entering Jerusalem on a Donkey. Those of us who are familiar with the Gospels know exactly how that Prophecy was fulfilled, as the Event we celebrate on Palm Sunday.

Jennens seemed to have a unique way of uniting the Old Testament with the New and making it make sense, both to devotees of one, the other, or both. The Old Prophecies the New, and the New Fulfills the Old.

Even though Jennens wasn't entirely thrilled with Handel's adaption of his libretto to music, I, for one, don't think ANYBODY could have done it better.

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. (Mark 4:22)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

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🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem🇮🇱 (11/14/26)[Prayer]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem