telling the story ~ sursum corda
Composition version: yes.
lyrics
sursum corda
habemus ad Dominum
lift up your hearts
we lift them up to the Lord
we lift our hearts in
anticipation
we seek an answer
for years of waiting
(all of this waiting)
sursum corda
habemus ad Dominum
narrative
Even after the partial return from Babylon, many Jews regarded the people of God to be still in exile. Certainly, the wonderful things that were supposed to happen after the exile was over seemed very far away. For most of the period, they remained under the shadow of powerful successive empires - Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and finally Rome. Even when the land was free, everyone knew things weren't as they were supposed to be - no heir of David on the throne, a questionable priesthood serving at the now-rebuilt temple, and a general malaise of poverty and other problems.
Yet, through the ups, and mostly downs, of the period from Moses to Malachi, God did not stop speaking to His people. Through men that He chose to convey His words ("prophets"), God promised that something better was coming. That He would vindicate His people. That He would send a king who would bring liberty and honour to the people of God.
This king would be "the Messiah." Messiah is a Hebrew word meaning "anointed one." Israel's practice was to anoint its kings and priests with oil as a sign of special consecration and divinely-given authority and power. The Messiah was to be a special anointed one who would have a measure of consecration, authority, and power of which the early kings and priests had only a pale reflection. The Messiah would be such a great instrument of deliverance that the people would think of His rescuing activity as the defining moment in their history, eclipsing even the exodus from Egypt.
But how long to wait?