Since the VCD hasn't come out yet (it's under editing and finalizing process which will be done by the end of this week), I think I'll just post the the lyrics and overview of the Easter Cantata here for you guys. Once the VCD is here I will make a special page containing screen captures of the best scenes from the Cantata. Wait for it guys! There are 14 songs from the Cantata, which I will list below along with the lyrics and descriptions. The original lyrics are written in Indonesian, and these are just plain translations with no regards to the musical notes.


01. Prologue
"Six days before Easter, Jesus came to Bethania, to the place of Lazarus who was revived. There, a feast was prepared for Jesus and one of they that came to eat with Him was Lazarus. When the multitudes heard that Jesus was there, they came. And when they knew that Jesus was going to pass through Jerusalem, they took the leaves of the palm trees and waited upon Him while singing, "Hosanna, blessed be He that came in the name of the LORD, blessed be the King of Israel". For the multitudes, Hosanna meant "save us now", a prayer to free Israel from the bonds of the Roman Empire and to return the freedom of Israel. The answers for their shouts will indeed come, but in a different way...


Then one who plays as a soldier blows the trumpet signaling the coming of the King, Jesus of Nazareth, to Jerusalem.


02. Procession
In this part, the choirs came out from behind the people watching, and they gave the palm tree leaves to the people, and they say that the King will come, and then they started moving towards the stage.


03. Hosanna!
"Hosanna! Hosanna to the King! Blessed be Him that came in the name of the LORD. Rejoice, o daughters of Zion, shout victory, o daughters of Jerusalem! Your King has come! Blessed be Him! Hosanna to the King!"


Phew... listening to this song, you will certainly feel the POWER and GLORY of our LORD, Jesus Christ!


04. Remember Me
This is the scene of the Last Supper where Jesus sat with His twelve disciples. Jesus prayed then crumbles the bread, and passed it to His disciples. And they also drank the wine. Before they eat and drink, Jesus sang:


"Eat... the bread of the supper. Drink... the wine of the supper. This is my body, crumbled for you. This is my blood, spilled for you. Remember Me... Remember Me... I will go to Heaven to provide places for you. I will return and take you with me. Look for Me... look for Me... yes, look for Me...."


This is indeed a touching scene...... and here I have to play as Judas, who escaped from the table... >_<


05. Father, Protect Your Children
After Judas left, Jesus went with His disciples to the garden of Getsemane. There He prayed for them so that they will be freed from temprations and so that Father will protect them. This is the song which truly touched me first, and it is the one that made me repented my wrong ways and returned to Father and loved Him greatly.


"Father, protect Your children. Bless them. Purify them. Protect them, guard them with Your love".


In this scene, the twelve disciples and the males from the choir knelt until their faces fell to the ground, and you can see how deep Jesus loved His disciples, and how deep He loves all of us. He prayed for us, so that Father would protect us. We are His children. He will pray for us, and be our intercessor for our Father in Heaven.


06. The Crucifixion
This is the BEST, LONGEST and HARDEST part of the entire Cantata. This is also where my role ends. Judas came up with soldiers and high priests to take Jesus away. Judas moved forward and embraced Jesus, and after that the soldiers and high priests move forward towards Him. This part below are done with singing....


Jesus: "Whom do you seek?"
Men : "Jesus of Nazareth!"
Jesus : "I am He...."


The soldiers and high priests show signs of disbelief, then they repeated the part above. Then, after that they captured Him and took Him to Pilate, with the crowd (choirs) chanting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"


Pilate : "Are you the Son of God?!"
Jesus : "I am. You will see the Son of God come in glory." << You can really see His glory here! That's my Jesus!


Then Pilate told the crowd that he could find no mistake in this Man. But because it was Easter, there was a tradition that He will free one captive. The crowd chose Barrabas over Jesus and asked Pilate to crucify Jesus. Jesus was taken away and the crowd shouted as if they have won and satisfied with the crucifixion of Jesus.


07. Glory, Hallelujah!
The choir knelt down. Then one by one, each of them raised up, and lifted their hands towards the Cross (there is a big Cross in my church above the stage). They sang this song with a very solemn atmosphere... so holy...


"Glory Hallelujah... worthy is the Lamb..." (four times)


08. Isaiah 53
The part of narration from Isaiah 53:2-8. The two narrators spoke up with their utmost feelings, especially in the part "we are all astray like sheep!" it really made the people who saw this scene struck deep in their souls and cried. Because this part is rather difficult to translate to English, I will write it in Indonesian. If one person can translate this without losing its original meanings and its poetic aspects, please write to me, I'lll be really thankful.


"Sebagai taruk Ia tumbuh di hadapan Tuhan sebagai tunas dari tanah kering. Ia tidak tampan dan semarak-Nya pun tidak ada sehingga kita memandang Dia, dan rupa pun tidak, sehingga kita menginginkan-Nya."
"Kita menghindari-Nya, kita menutup muka terhadap-Nya."
"Tetapi sesungguhnya penyakit kitalah yang ditanggung-Nya, dan kesengsaraan kitalah yang dipikul-Nya."
"Padahal kita mengira Dia kena tulah, dipukul dan ditindas Allah."
"Kita sekalian sesat seperti domba! Masing-masing kita mengambil jalannya sendiri."
"Tetapi Tuhan telah menimpakan kepada-Nya kejahatan kita sekalian."
"Seperti anak domba yang dibawa ke pembantaian, seperti induk domba yang kelu di depan orang-orang yang menggunting bulunya, Ia tidak membuka mulut-Nya."
"Dari tahanan dan pencobaab mereka membawa-Nya untuk dihukum mati. Tapi siapakah di antara orang-orang itu yang sadar untuk siapa Dia mati - tersiksa untuk dosa mereka?"


If you are not crying when you hear this, well, you may not have fully understood how much He have given you...


09. The Heights of Heaven
"A holy Lamb... was made as sacrifice for our sins. His blood was spilled... to purify all of us. The savior of men... was killed for us. Freedom was given... until the heights of Heaven! Glory Hallelujah, worthy is the Lamb!"


I love the "until the heights of Heaven" part where the choir raised their hand and waved it in form of a rainbow. It really made me feel the Glory of God, that have given us freedom and everlasting live. I feel like I want to praise His glory until the heights of Heaven. A magnificent song, and they sang it with all of their feelings... *sighs*


Narration:
"So the Son of God was afflicted"
"We were strengthened"
"He was rejected"
"We were accepted"
"He was hurt"
"We were healed"
"He was separated"
"We were reunited"
"He received punishment"
"We were forgiven"


10. Father, Forgive Them
This song shows you how GREAT is the love of Jesus. Even though He received harshness and sufferings, He never cursed the ones who did it to Him but He forgives all of them in the name of Father. Can you do that? This song really made me cried, and from what my friends told me, the people also cried most in this song. Touching.


"He was betrayed. He was chained. He was cursed. He was crucified. He was denied. He was forsaken. He was left behind. He was crucified. Father, forgive them, prayed the Savior. Father, forgive them, I have taken up their sin. Father, forgive them, when they believe. Father, forgive them, for what they have done. Although we knew Him, we rejected Him. We didn't listen Him, we crucified Him. We denied Him, we don't protect Him. We rejected Him, we crucified Him. Father, forgive them, prayed the Savior. Father, forgive them, I have taken up their sin. Father, forgive them, when they believe. Father, forgive them, for what they have done."


11. Alive Today!
This song depicts the resurrection of Christ, and this is the best song among the others, because the moves of this song are so nice and in this part the choir have to run, move around and do many moves. It is the most entertaining part that will make you can't sit in your seats when you watch it, you will want to move with them ^^


"He is risen! God has risen from the grave! He is risen! He has won over death! He lives now in eternity. He lives now as the Eternal King."


12. He Loved Me
The part with four solo performances from the most gifted choir members. It is also touching (well, aren't all of them touching?) because it depicts how much He loves us, and yet we left Him, and we made Him suffer and die.


"Chosen when the world was made. Chosen as His own. Crafted, given freedom, but I left Him."
"His love never changes. His love never changes. We was won by the blood of Christ, the Son of God."
"Who can take me away? Dreams and the future, sadness and sorrow? Hunger and riches. Warfare and chastisement. A crown of victory have been provided for all of us in Christ our Lord."
"For I am convinced, dead or alive, angels or principalities, and powers of present of future. All cannot separate His love from me."


13. Your Love Compels Me
The choir sang this song accompanied by a solo performance from a ballet dancer, and that made this part so beautiful, and this really taught me many things about what Father wants me to do in my life with His love.


Narration:
"His love moved Him to gently answer what His disciples asked Him on the night before He died."
"His love did not think about Himself when He prayed to Father, "Father, not my will, but Your will be done."
"His love touched a thief that was crucified with Him when He said, "Today you will be with me in Paradise."
"His love shown forgiveness when he said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
"His love for those who are lost and for the dying world, abled Him to stay crucified on the Cross, in sufferings, pain and humbleness."


"Your love o LORD, taught me to give, to love, to live like You. Your love o LORD, taught me to serve, to have mercy, to live like Christ. Your love o LORD, taught me to live like Christ."


14. All Power
FINAL SONG! And it really shows all the power of the LORD! It is so majestic and so grand... very "wow"!!! :)


"All power are given, on Heaven and on earth. All power is given to Me. Go and tell all nations, baptize them in My Name. Teach them to do all things I have commanded you. I will be with you, forever, until the end of time.
--repeat Your Love Compels Me-- I will be with you (Amen), I will be with you (Amen), Amen Hallelujah, Amen Hallelujah, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.... Amen, Amen, Amen..... Amen!"

---

This cantata really taught me much about Jesus, this cantata made me knew more about Him like never ever before. And I can feel His power and His glory, which, in actuality would be far greater than what is depicted in this cantata. I told Him after, "I was never so proud to have a God like You, Dad!". I wish that all of you can see it, but maybe it cannot come true, but I'm trying! This is what I can give to you at the moment, and I am really really sorry for those of you who cannot see this >_< If you are on Jakarta, I will come there on July/August and I will bring the VCD with me, we can see it together later. The ones I really think about are Chette, David, Aibou and Marisa... what can I do to make you able to see this? Oh... I really feel like I can do nothing for you... >_<


••• Tuesday, April 13, 2004 •••