Lent Reflection #7: Secular lyrics that grabbed me spiritually
Last night I watched The Farewell on Amazon Prime; quite interesting. For some reason they chose to use this song (only the first three stanzas given) at the resolution point.
The person who wrote this is not a Christian, but I like to apply the first stanzas to where we are in Lent. Jesus says, "gather up your brokenness and bring it to me now." (Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Matthew 12:28) "The fragrance of those promises you never dared to vow." What a line--those plans that you wanted to make, those commitments to God or others you thought about did not make real--did they have a fragrance that was never known?
The splinters that you carry, the cross you left behind. We do not take up our cross, and yet we have splinters of suffering as believers. I think the image here is like the "fragrance of those promises you never dared to vow." The ideal (the cross we should carry, the vows we made) even when not realized, have an emotional and psychological reality to us.
I know the original writer wasn't concerned about the journey to the cross, but. . . it speaks to me of our own weak, even thoughtless way of treating the Lord who gave us all.
Come Healing by Leonard Cohen
O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
The person who wrote this is not a Christian, but I like to apply the first stanzas to where we are in Lent. Jesus says, "gather up your brokenness and bring it to me now." (Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Matthew 12:28) "The fragrance of those promises you never dared to vow." What a line--those plans that you wanted to make, those commitments to God or others you thought about did not make real--did they have a fragrance that was never known?
The splinters that you carry, the cross you left behind. We do not take up our cross, and yet we have splinters of suffering as believers. I think the image here is like the "fragrance of those promises you never dared to vow." The ideal (the cross we should carry, the vows we made) even when not realized, have an emotional and psychological reality to us.
I know the original writer wasn't concerned about the journey to the cross, but. . . it speaks to me of our own weak, even thoughtless way of treating the Lord who gave us all.
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