The reason the Kyrie in Rutter’s Requiem is so appealing is the sense of resolution it brings to the tension built up in other sections of the piece. It is a metaphor for the release of tension at the end of a Christian life well-lived. The Christian story is all about this sense of tension waiting to be resolved. In Romans 8, Paul says “[w]e know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” This universal sense of frustration and brokenness, of waiting and straining for resolution, captures us all, as Paul continues in the next verses:
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Why doesn’t God resolve every problem and question now? Why is it that even Christians — especially Christians — feel a painful sense of longing? Because resolution now is not what our present faith and hope are about. Our faith and hope concern a resolution that only begins to break into the world now. The beginnings of that resolution make us long for its fulfillment.
What is its fulfillment? We often speak of some sort of an individual “heavenly reward.” That is part of it, I suppose, but only a small part. It is really about the resolution of the longings of all of creation. It is about the setting to rights of injustice, the healing of brokenness, and the restoration of loving relationships, through the consummation of the peaceable reign of Christ. It is about coming to “Aslan’s Country,” and finding it filled with richer songs, deeper stories, more fruitful industries, all more “real” and beautiful than any present shadow.