Hallelujah

In America, the Thanksgiving holiday marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season. But for music lovers, the Yuletide spirit doesn't manifest itself until the strains of Messiah, Georg Frederick Handel's oratorio supreme, begin wafting into the December air. "He is the master of us all," said Franz Joseph Haydn on hearing the celestial "Hallelujah Chorus" for the first time. "Handel understands effect better than any of us," echoed an effusive Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. "When he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt."

The concluding "Amen" from George Frederick Handel's "Messiah" has seldom sounded jauntier than it did Monday night when conductor Edward Polochick put 60 singers from the Baltimore Symphony Chorus through their paces in preparation for this weekend's performances of Handel's greatest oratorio."

In an article July 17 about Brenda Davis, a Mass Transit Administration bus driver and church pastor who advises, prays for, and sings with her passengers, MTA spokesman Frank Fulton, was quoted: "We're real proud of her. She represents the standards of bus operators that we like to encourage." Fulton was speaking only of her driving record and not endorsing religious activities on the bus.Brenda Davis pulls out of the Mass Transit Administration's Eastern Division yard at 3: 40 a.m. each weekday, hours before sunup or rush hour, embarking on what she sees as a personal mission.

An article in yesterday's Today section said last night's gospel concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was taking place tonight.The Sun regrets the error.Though Moses Hogan and his chorale are the central attractions of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's "Gospel Christmas" tomorrow, gospel is not their specialty. The 40-year-old conductor is better known as an arranger of black spirituals.Spirituals and gospel are two separate strands in the tapestry of African-American music, Hogan explained recently in a telephone interview from his home in New Orleans.

YESTERDAY I was about to declare a total victory in my battle with the Christmas tree when I saw the dark green extension cord was missing. This cord, which was supposed to connect the tree lights to the wall outlet, was also supposed to blend in with the greenery, making it appear as if the tree were illuminated by magic, not dad.It was the seamless electricity look I was after, and I was angry that it had eluded me. Instead of a pleasing Christmas-green, the...

Gil French is a man who sings for joy. All it takes is a few EEEs, OOOs and UUUMMMMMs, and he's limbered up and ready to go. Sometimes in his car. Sometimes in his home office. Definitely under his breath. Most important to him, however, is the time he spends singing with his choir.The retired math teacher is a member of the Handel Choir of Baltimore, one of the oldest community choral groups in the state. In the 39 years since he joined, little has come between Mr. French and his rehearsals.

On this cold rainy morning, a warm wind is blowing through New Shiloh Baptist Church, the warm breath of divine inspiration. With a choir of 200 dressed in scarlet robes, with the sounds of the drums, organ and piano, with the praisings of hundreds of congregants, New Shiloh is making a joyful noise unto the Lord.Rev. Harold Carter, now celebrating 30 years as pastor of one of the city's largest and most influential black Baptist churches, is presenting the Word. Every so often, he breaks into song, like a bird taking flight.

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POTOMAC MILLS, Va. -- In the parking lot of a Shoppers Food Warehouse here, Ollie North is greeting well-wishers and autographing lawn signs until shouts of "Liar!" and "You're despicable!" force him to take refuge inside his Winnebago.With a full moon rising behind the stream of taillights on Interstate 95, he sets out in his trusty RV, a traveling war room nicknamed "Rolling Thunder," heading south in the twilight for friendlier terrain.Once in Fredericksburg, at a Christian Leadership Forum on Tuesday, Mr. North, with his well-worn Bible and cowboy boots, luxuriates in cheers of "Ol-LIE" and "Hallelujah!"

Come Halloween, costumed witches and goblins won't be haunting Bethel Baptist Church in Ellicott City -- the Rev. Bruce A. Romoser says they're not welcome.Instead, he wants children to dress as shepherds, angels and other biblical figures as part of an alternative, Christian-themed event known as "Hallelujah Night.""We don't want them to come as witches . . . Frankenstein . . . no kinds of evil costumes," said Mr. Romoser, who is concerned about what he sees as the emphasis on evil in some more traditional Halloween observances.