Messiah

It had been a forgotten building. The paint was chipped. The foundation was cracked. Some of the wooden siding hung from a single nail. As population growth had made the tiny Gwynedd Post Office obsolete, time and the elements left it in a state of disrepair. This was all to change. Sixteen-year-old Andrew Brunt of Lansdale was to stand in the way of time and return the old post office to the appearance of its historical past. Last Sunday, Brunt stood at the altar of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Gwynedd as his father proudly pinned the Eagle Badge, the highest award conferred by the Boy Scouts of America, on his chest.

You can get your first burst of holiday caroling on the way home from work Wednesday on the steps of the Academy of Music. The Treble Clef Choir from Philadelphia High School for Girls will hold forth from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m., under the direction of Sonya Garfinkle. Music director Dimitri Kauriga provides piano accompaniment. It's part of a free Make It A Night event. The Philadelphia Orchestra will open its lobby gift boutique and the ticket booth for its three-concert packages, and a guest from Pennsylvania Ballet's "Nutcracker" is scheduled to dance over.

Music is never so much a part of our lives as during the holiday season. Soon the sounds of the season will flow not only from mall loudspeakers, but from carolers, choristers and players dipping into this vast repertory of inspiring, familiar friends. Hundreds of organizations will offer their musical gifts in the next month, but the following list can be used as a guide to the area's highlights. DEC. 3 Handel's ubiquitous "Messiah," in the 1754 Covent Garden version, by the acclaimed Philadelphia Singers led by David Hayes, 7:30 p.m., Academy of Music ($10-$40; 567-0670)

Handel's Samson, an oratorio based on the biblical story, yielded numerous rewards Sunday in a performance by Pennsylvania Pro Musica at Holy Trinity Church on Rittenhouse Square. Handel wrote Samson shortly after he completed Messiah in 1741. Though initially less successful than Samson, Messiah now overshadows it (and other Handel oratorios) in popularity. Sunday's modest-sized audience certainly heard music of similar vigor, inventiveness, and dramatic effect. The choruses, often punctuated by florid writing for trumpet, made that point loudly and with conviction.

In a stunning display of triumphalism, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, is taking out ads in major newspapers proclaiming that Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha - even God - have told him he is now "the Savior, Messiah and King of Kings of all of humanity!" The ad, which appeared in yesterday's Inquirer, is part of a $720,000 effort to place the treatise in papers in all 50 states, a church official said. Forty-seven papers, including the Los Angeles Times and Houston Chronicle, have accepted thus far, he said.

A second Messiah? Or just good music? This much is known for sure: George Frideric Handel's massive musical output just got a bit bigger with the discovery of his Gloria in excelsis Deo. The world was supposed to find out at a news conference Thursday in London. However, news of the work, which was written around 1707 during Handel's creatively rich apprenticeship in Italy, leaked out yesterday, both on the New York-based classical-music Web site andante.com and in the Times of London, which went so far as to call the piece "the new Messiah.

This town's got it all: Slots. Craps. Booze. Girls. Shows. Where to go? Check out the billboards along Atlantic City Expressway. Liza's at The Grand. Belafonte is at Resorts. There's an Elvis impersonator at Bally's. And King Moshiach is over at, uh . . . Yo! What's a rabbi in a white beard doing on a billboard here? And who is "King Moshiach?" The New Jersey Chapter of the International Campaign to Bring Moshiach thought you'd never ask. So, just to wake you up, this splinter group of Hasidic Jews this week installed a provocative, mysterious billboard alongside the Atlantic City Expressway.

Time for some good old-fashioned holiday music, songs about Bethlehem and verses about Saint Nick. Old-fashioned is the operating word, for this weekend's Saint Nick music comes from between 1200 and 1350, and the Bethlehem hymn comes from 1618 - making even Handel's 1741 "Messiah" newfangled. The "Legends of St. Nicholas" anthems will be sung by the mistresses of medieval chant and polyphony, the remarkably successful female vocal quartet known as Anonymous 4. Their many CDs draw choral music lovers as well as fans who revel in their rainwater-clear harmony.

Villanova tried to do a David and Goliath number on Seton Hall last night, but the Wildcats were overwhelmed by the host Pirates, 72-58, in a Big East game at Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J. "They have so much size over us. You almost have to play perfect basketball to beat them," Villanova coach Harry Perretta said after his team's seven-game winning streak was ended by the Pirates' 20-6 run in the last three minutes. Villanova (17-6 overall, 12-3 conference) made its shots count early and rode a 53.3 percent field-goal percentage to a 36-28 halftime lead.

Ashley Oswald scored in the 54th minute yesterday as the second-ranked Messiah field hockey team defeated top-ranked Ursinus, 3-2, in Grantham, Pa. It was a rematch of the 2006 NCAA Division III national championship game, which Ursinus won. Ursinus (1-1) scored first yesterday as forward Kait Sutherland connected at 18 minutes, 15 seconds on an assist from Jamie Doperak. Messiah (3-0) struck back with a goal at 27:32 when Lauren Tennis scored on a Beth Sandwich pass.