Old Time Worship Music (and I don't mean "that old tyme religion")

Yesterday, I decided I'm not keeping it a secret anymore that I love classical music. I know people will probably think I'm a geek but I really don't care. I'm allowed to like it and I don't care if people think of me as a weirdo if I drive through Doylestown with my stereo playing Bach instead of rock. Just thought I'd share that. By the way, if you haven't listened to Handel's Messiah (the full 3 hours, not just the highlights that everybody knows) you are missing out on a true musical portrayal of the life and suffering of Christ. If you are like me and think musically (sometimes even dream musically) you will gain a deeper understanding of the suffering of Christ through the music in the second half of the oratorium. On the other hand, the joy of those around Him when he rose from the dead is portrayed in the final group of songs. The lyrics are taken straight from the Scriptures and you can feel them in every note. "Behold the Lamb of God" for example, represents the procession of Christ with the cross on His back. As you listen to this piece, you can "see" the Man of Sorrows dragging Himself up the mountain with the weight of the sins of the world on His shoulders. At the beginning of the next section, while still recovering from the onslaught of vibrations in the Hallelujah Chorus, the calm joy and utter disbelief of the realization that Christ has risen is portrayed to the listener by a soprano aria, "I know that my redeemer liveth." When I hear this one, I can feel the sorrow being lifted from my weary soul for I know that He is alive and full of power.
I know most people only listen to "the Messiah" during the Christmas season and limit themselves only to the first half of the work (the part about Christ's birth). That part is great and a wonderful masterpiece, I'm not trying to devalue it, but I think people overlook the rest (actually most people haven't even heard the rest).

Just a suggestion for if you are bored of the same old chord progressions and repeated lyrics of modern worship music.