Well, it is Friday again … and this week’s focus on musical ponderings lead us to one final song to feed our reflections and close out the week. The choice was a difficult one. But I am drawn to the poetry of Leonard Cohen, and in particular his song Hallelujah – a word based on two Hebrew words – Hallel (all praise be) and Jah, a shortening of the divine name (YHWH) which means “praise be to God”.
There are many verses to that song first written in the mid-1980’s and which pushed the boundaries of the integration of the spiritual into the earthy and visceral aspects of living. In the verses most commonly sung, the following appear to be the most often used ……
Now, I’ve heard there was a secret chord, That David played, and it pleased the Lord …..But you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, The minor fall, the major lift, The baffled king composing Hallelujah: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof, You saw her bathing on the roof, Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya, She tied you to a kitchen chair, She broke your throne, and she cut your hair, And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain, I don’t even know the name, But if I did, well really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light in every word, It doesn’t matter which you heard, The holy or the broken Hallelujah: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn’t much, I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch, I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you, And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song, With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Quite apart from the haunting music, the earthy imagery in the lyrics, the simple melody that is so powerful in how it stirs the spirit, I am particularly moved in this time of Pandemic by two images he uses in the song.
The first is how King David, human in so, so many ways – in the living of his life and struggling with his demons – had no inkling of the significance his life would have for the following millennia. Cohen captures this image in the first verse … the “baffled king composing Hallelujah”. As Christians we are well aware of the significance of the lineage of David. As human beings of faith, David becomes for us a reminder that God works within humanity, in all of its flaws and messiness, and perhaps it is better that we don’t know the impact our lives may have in the future. For me, it is a powerfully real and authentic perspective …. no fairy-tale stories and too-holy-to-be-human portrayals. Which gives people like me hope.
The second image for me comes in the third verse, and particularly the phrase “there’s a blaze of light in every word – it doesn’t matter which you heard – the holy or the broken hallelujah”. Perhaps for the same reasons that the first verse touched me, these words remind me that prayer (and praise) of God exists independent of the holiness of the pray-er. We like to think that the prayers of a “Holy” person somehow carry more weight than the prayers of one less-than-holy, don’t we? Yet scripture tells us again and again the opposite. Indeed, what is most important is not the pray-er’s holiness in the eyes of the world, but rather their authenticity in the eyes of God. Or as Cohen says ..it doesn’t matter which you heard, the Holy or the Broken Hallelujah.
So often we tie in our sense of Holy to the externals of our faith. So, entering a church, sitting in a pew, singing a hymn, are all seen as holy things in a holy place sitting on holy ground. If this time of distancing and seclusion has caused us to ponder anything, it has to be that holiness exists beyond the familiar pew, singing the favourite hymn within the expected liturgy. What is the most holy is not the external trappings of our prayer, but it’s authenticity. And I have to believe that in these times of uncertainty, of worry, of fear, and of grief over life lost and lives lost – there have been many many very real prayers with God. Authentic and guttural conversations with God. Real, unabridged dialogue with God. A lot of “broken Hallelujahs”.
And that’s ok. Because we are all broken and wounded and in need of healing. We all struggle in our lives in one way or another. Yet in the midst of doubt and fear we find the energy to look to God for help. Whether it is in these moments when we struggle with the pandemic, or at the end of our lives in earth, you and I stand before God, no pretences, totally revealed, with nothing on our lips but a word of praise – Alleluia. As it should be.