The Promised Messiah is a Christmas oratorio that consists of songs I’ve written throughout my life about my Savior, Jesus Christ. It celebrates the significance of His holy birth by focusing on the many great and marvelous events of His life. I wrote Mary’s Song for my own perfect little baby boy who made me a mother. This piece became the inspiration for this program as it is today. Often, as I would tend to my new little baby boy in the middle of the night, my mind would turn to Mary. I would ponder how she might have felt as she tended to her own perfect little baby boy in the middle of the night—the Savior of the World.
As we celebrate the tiny Babe born in Bethlehem, we not only celebrate His humble birth, but all of the miraculous things He did during His mortal ministry. As I wrote these songs, I pondered how it might have been for those who were touched personally by His ministry. How might they have felt as Christ ministered to them individually, healed them, forgave them, and showed them the way? How might those who were closest to Him have felt during His most difficult times?
There would be no reason to celebrate the tiny Babe born in Bethlehem if He hadn’t grown to fulfill the sacred mission He was sent to do. As our Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem all mankind from their sins, and to provide a way for us to return back home to our Heavenly Parents. Without His infinite Atonement made in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross at Golgotha, there would be no reason to celebrate His humble birth in Bethlehem so long ago.
Because He willingly came to earth and fulfilled all that He promised to do, we have reason to rejoice! We have reason to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for giving us the greatest gift of all—His Only Begotten Son. A gift with no comparison, that held the weight of all mankind in His hands. The greatest gift of love that is now sealed in the palms of those very hands.
The Process
The Promised Messiah originally consisted of seven songs when we first performed at the Oakland LDS Temple in 2014 and the few years following. However, as I went through the process of getting the songs ready to present to a producer in the fall of 2021, (and even after already working with my producer Shane Mickelsen), songs kept coming to me that I felt needed to be a part of the oratorio.
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