The Lamb of God

 

The Lamb of God is a piece of music composed by Rob Gardner, and it tells the story of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ. Mr. Gardner is about the same age as my youngest brother, which kind of blows my mind. I had heard of it a few years ago but had never listened to it. It was even made into a concert film, and I had heard of that as well, but didn't feel very interested in checking it out. Sometimes I shy away from modern religious music. But I had chosen poorly.

This year, as the holiday of Easter approached, I was realizing that I am just not very good at celebrating the holiday. Christmas? Well, you know me. I'm absolutely in love with Christmas and I go all out in celebrating it. But seeing as how I'm a very religious person, it seems a little strange that I don't at least try to do the same for the most religious holiday of the year. After all, without Easter, Christmas wouldn't be much to celebrate. To be honest, I'm just getting started on trying to figure out what I want to add to our Easter celebrations and how to make it more special. I think it will take a few years. I did start out by doing what I do best - create a playlist. I reached out to several people and asked for suggestions, and. my brother was the one who recommended The Lamb of God.

I was immediately enthralled. I loved it. As soon as I was done listening to the soundtrack, I hunted down the concert movie and watched that and loved it even more. It just brought the story of Holy Week, the Crucifixion of Christ and His Resurrection into focus and understanding for me. I could not stop listening to it, and I really do feel like it made my own personal celebration of the Easter Holiday more meaningful.

In the meantime, we were making plans to get together for dinner with our good friends, David and Julie. David and Troy were very close while in high school together. Funny enough, Julie and I also went to the same high school, but we only sort of knew who the other was. In fact, I'm not entirely sure Julie remembers me from high school. That is ok. We have gotten to know them better over the years, and were especially excited when their son received a mission call to the Washington Spokane mission just six weeks after Chase received his. It was kind of strange actually - I felt it coming! I don't know how, but I did. Troy and I were at a Howard Jones concert, and I knew that this young man was going to be opening his call that night. I had a feeling where he was going, and knew for sure it was true when, during the concert, Troy got a call from Dave. Crazy!

Well, their son Ben is just amazing. He sings well enough to lead shows on Broadway, and we have been to see him in several productions. He's a great guy. So it was incredibly surprising and heartbreaking when he departed on his mission and the experience uncovered some deep and serious mental health issues that were very traumatizing for him and his whole family. He came home after six weeks, and was devastated. It's not my story to tell, and I'm sure he'd be weirded out if he knew that some old lady was writing about him on her little bloggy-blog. But we care a lot about him and his family, and after having been through some mental health challenges with Chase and feeling that parental hurt, our hearts were just full for him. He did amazing things while out in Spokane, and I know he has amazing paths ahead of him. But it was a really really hard time. We got together with his parents for dinner, and sat at our little table for several hours talking and crying together about the tough things going on. 

Just at the end of the meal, we were asking what performances Ben might have ahead, and Julie mentioned that their stake was putting on a performance of The Lamb of God, the week after Easter, and Ben was to have the role of Thomas. Well I basically just burst into tears. It was such a tender conversation already, and then to hear that Ben was taking on this absolutely beautiful singing part during this time in his life put me over the edge. Thomas has a song all about "we will understand someday," and that seems like the just the thing Ben and his family were exploring right then.

Troy and I cleared our Saturday afternoon and met our friends at their church. Dave very very kindly saved us seats right in the front and center. I was so excited that I got to hear this music live and was already kind of emotional. We had a chance to talk with Dave quite a bit before it started. Julie was singing in the chorus, so it was just Dave and us. He shared with us some extremely tender things about this group of people putting on the show. There were several soloists and the conductor who were all going through personal tragedies. Plus Dave's dad, who was a very close friend of my own dad's, was going through the loss of not one but two of his siblings, both of whom passed away that very day. Well. By the time the music started I was already a big weepy mess. And....I forgot to bring any tissues. I was in big trouble. Luckily a guardian angel of some sort made the lady in front of me drop a packet of tissues and I was able to kindly pick them up and return them to her, but not before I stole a few for myself. I told her she was my angel in disguise. She laughed as she saw that I was already a mess!

Words can not convey the power of this musical performance. The images of Jesus that were projected on the wall above the choir made it all the more real, and the music just rolled over us in wave after wave. I will never forget the power and the testimony of the day. And to watch Ben sing, with tears pouring down his own face, was the most poignant part. I'm so grateful for this piece of music and for the experience we had in watching it.