The Vesperae Solennes de Confessore by Mozart was composed and first performed in 1780, in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Salzburg. Following the standard form for an early evening service, or vesper, the work consists of five Psalms and the Magnificat from Luke's Gospel, the poetic utterance attributed to the young Mary when she learned she was to be the mother of a very special child.
Scholars see a more personal side of Mozart in the two Vespers composed by him, the first in 1779, and the second, which we have just heard, in 1780. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying "anyone who does not know [these] settings does not know Mozart." I find myself thinking what it must have been like to hear this music, perhaps on a Sunday evening two and a quarter centuries ago. The music is beautiful, and that in itself meets a human need. But I think about the five Psalms and the Magnificat as what people might have taken to be the essence of Christian truth.
In both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church of the eighteenth century, in Europe and North America, the thrust of Christianity was characterized by scholasticism, that is, an intellectual formulation of doctrine or propositions about God. The focus was on God's majesty and power. That theme comes through in the Psalms of the Vespers. That theme was influential for many people who grew up in church "fearing God."
Psalm 112 begins with the words "Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments." The salvation promised in Psalm 111 was often interpreted as deliverance from God's punishment. Generations passed through the churches of Christendom hearing that they were ripe for God's judgment, beseeching God to be merciful to them.
In the Psalms and certainly in the Magnificat there are statements about God's mercy, especially with regard for the poor and people of low social standing. The Good News is there; you just have to find it.
I think of the Westminster Shorter Catechism of the seventeenth century and its role in shaping Presbyterian people's concept of God. That document, which I and many others memorized in Sunday School, asks the question "What is God?" (not Who is God?) Its answer is that "God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."
What is missing? The word at the center of our reading from the First Epistle of John: God is love. That word was missing from so much of Christian liturgy over centuries. We need to be sure it is at the center of our Good News. God is love.
Yesterday as I was going up the stairs to catch the #1 subway from Penn Station to 79th Street, there was a young man standing at the top of the steps speaking to people as they passed him. He was in his twenties, a man of color, pleasant and well-dressed. As I approached him, he said, "Let me tell you about Jesus." I wanted to stop and talk with him, but a train was coming into the station. So I kept moving and said to the man as I passed him, "Thank you. I know Jesus well." His response was "Praise God."
In our Advent worship, in our music, in all we are and do as a Christian church, the central truth we have to proclaim is simply "God is love." Many of us have found that truth through the person of Jesus. Others have come to it by different paths. As followers of Jesus, we bear witness to what we know: God is love.
Everything else is embellishment. May that truth, that Good news, give you peace, hope, and joy today, and always.