Not for very long, anyway.

Beautiful performance! I could fall in love with your voice, you're still up there with my favourites (of course the voice I like above all is Cleo Laine's especially in her performance of Pierrot Lunaire).
Is it really that uncommon for a melody to end out of the scale? Probably for most of the classical period and now (except for atonal music but that doesn't count). But lots of late medieval/renaissance music doesn't end 'normally'
Well, nevermind, most music doesn't. Again wonderful performance! I can feel the longing. Bravo!

Yes, it is uncommon.

Check out any song, and try to sing it using solfege (do re mi...etc.). You'll find that most end with do. A few will end with sol, fewer still with mi. This one ends with fa. Almost no songs end with fa.

This piece is well-done! Nicely performed, with such a wistful voice!

I don't know whether you also created the backing music. If you did, did you try the same song with a minor, instead of a major, final cadence?

This was a karaoke file. There weren't very many, and I liked this one the best.

beautiful piece even if I do not care for the religious core of the message

Beautiful job Maxgoof! This brings back memories of many a Christmas as I used to sing this song most every year with a choir I was in. You really do have a beautiful voice! Thanks for sharing this!

To be honest, I'm not so sure Jesus ever lived in the first place -- whether he came to earth to die or not is irrelevant to me. On the other hand, something very unusual seemed to have been going on in or near Jerusalem in the first century AD anyway. My views on matters like this are best described as agnostic. I won't lie to you, I have no idea what the fuck was going on back then.

All the same, this is a great song. Thank you for making me aware of it...