Hallelujah<\/em> is wicked <\/a>\u00a0and should be redone in a more \u201cChrist honoring way\u201d. As an orthodox (reformed even!) evangelical, this sort of holy-cleanup of culture sits uncomfortably\u2026 not to mention it\u2019s a total buzzkill.<\/p>\nUntrue to the Human Condition<\/h3>\n
Olasky\u2019s attempt to \u201creclaim\u201d one of the greatest songs of the twentieth century is quite worrisome. The article, if you didn\u2019t click over, essentially states that the music is wonderful but the tune is wasted on lyrics that are \u201ca brooding, angst-filled, lonely ode to failure\u201d. So the author suggests that Christians rewrite the lyrics to be \u201cChrist-honoring\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\nBut the problem with this is that it is completely untrue to the human condition.<\/p>\n
Hallelujah<\/em> may be \u201can ode to failure\u201d (or whatever), but are not the feelings of shame, brokenness, and longing in Cohen\u2019s song true expressions of the world, marred by sin, which God himself made and loves? I am saddened by not only this attempt to smooth over life with a glossy evangelical coating, but by the fact that this fundamentalist \u2018anti-culture\u2019 sentiment is still alive and well within the mainstream Christian subculture.<\/p>\nPain, Truth and Beautiful Mystery<\/h3>\n
Sure, it may not be as curmudgeonly as it is in a pure fundamentalist church, but by denying the reality of suffering, hurt and human emotion in non-believers, evangelicals unknowingly distance their message and beliefs from the reality of the lives of those they want to reach.<\/p>\n
I am afraid that the Olasky\u2019s post encourages Christians to change the lyrics to Cohen\u2019s masterpiece because it isn\u2019t tidy and the truth in it is dusted in our shared fallen nature. There is pain, truth and beautiful mystery in Cohen\u2019s words but if you aren\u2019t willing to dig for it, you\u2019ll judge it.<\/p>\n
\u201cLove is not a victory march, it\u2019s a cold and it\u2019s a broken \u2018Hallelujah<\/em>\u2019.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat does it mean? It can mean so much. It was created with a keen awareness of the Creator, and though it may not be in line with the Nicene Creed, these words speak prophetically to how terribly difficult it is to love and how much pain is caused by exposing yourself to others. The liturgical imagery conjuers up images of Christ\u2019s death or of faithful prophets of Israel, weak from their tears and the taunts of their national brothers, all but lost in paganism. It is there, but one must seach, it is not easy.<\/p>\n
The Bible is clear that the world and all in it were made by God and give glory to God (Psalm 24:1, Psalm 89:11, Psalm 98:8). Still, because of the curse of sin in this world and the otherworldly nature of our salvation, we must train ourselves to pay attention to the image of God in creation. But life is hard and we all have a tendency to withdrawal to comfort zones, especially Christians.<\/p>\n
At the End of Themselves<\/h3>\n
The Christian subculture is safe. As I write this I am sitting in a coffee shop that is a young evangelical hub in my city. Everybody looks kind of docile and I am sure that there is a lot of deep, edifying conversation going on around me. But it\u2019s a bubble, safe and free of any brooding, angst and loneliness.\u00a0Not that the feelings of brooding, angst, loneliness aren\u2019t there, but they are not expressed. It seems as if American evangelicals are trying to hide a deep dark secret: that they sin.<\/p>\n
We need a vision of the Church that, in meekness, can wrestle with their sin out in the open, without pretending that everything is neat and tidy. We need to long for more stories about people, at the end of themselves, who cry a cold and broken \u2018hallelujah\u2019 at the feet of Jesus, not just looking for a quick and edifying fix to get them through the day.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Holy-cleanup of Culture It\u2019s not a secret that there is a lot of bad, bad art being made by Christians. Art that, like a senator\u2019s campaign ad, disposes of quality and creativity to allow for an airtight theological agenda. And to be fair, this is not just a \u201cChristian\u201d problem. Turn on the radio and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1232,"featured_media":44939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,1484],"tags":[1807,1808,724,68252,1806],"class_list":["post-29468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-culture","category-music","category-ofthemoment","tag-christian-subculture","tag-hallelujah","tag-leonard-cohen","tag-music","tag-world-magazine"],"yoast_head":"\n
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