Beethoven's Missa Solemnis

Our choir [update: without me!] is singing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. (Check a page of the original score here (scroll down) and watch 7 minutes of Leonard Bernstein conducting it, here). It is not so much knockin' on heaven's door, as raising an army and trying to lay siege; a massive piece of work—90 minutes, 160 choristers, four soloists, expanded orchestra and we've got less than a month before the two performances. We're singing for the Pope when he comes out for World Roman Catholic Youth Day. There will be a lot of learning between now and then.

It's a mistake to lay siege to heaven, of course, and I don't know what Beethoven was thinking when he tried. Probably something rather hubristic. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." (Mt 11:12) But for those who put their trust in Jesus alone, the door to heaven already stands open.

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

-Revelation 4:1

The true heavenly vision puts Beethoven's grandeur in the shade.