Women Alive

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

(“Hallelujah” ~ Leonard Cohen, 1984) 

 Worship comes in many forms.  In my life, the most powerful form is most often in music.  Even though Leonard Cohen’s famous song “Hallelujah” wasn’t necessarily written with the intention of being a purely worshipful song, this last verse has always cut right through to my core.  It rings absolutely true for me, and describes my soul crying out in those moments of desperation where I have been stripped bare and can only stand before the Lord with “hallelujah” on my tongue.

 I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Since its debut in 1984, this song has been covered in many different languages by 200 artists (201 if you include me… check out this link  to my cover if you’re interested!). In 2005, it was voted the tenth best Canadian song of all time.  In 2008, two covers of “Hallelujah” (by Jeff Buckley and Alexandra Burke), occupied the top two spots on UK charts at the same time!  Cohen himself said in an April 2009 CBC radio interview that he found the number of times his song has been covered “ironic and amusing,” as initially the record label he was recording for didn’t want this song included on the record

In a 1985 interview with Guitare et Claviers magazine, Cohen said the song “explains that many kinds of ‘hallelujahs’ do exist. I say: ‘All the perfect and broken Hallelujahs have an equal value.’” Later, Cohen began adding and changing verses to the song when he performed it live. Eventually, he had composed 80 different verses, although the last verse (quoted above) stayed the same. He reflected in a 1988 interview about the deliberateness of the increasingly secular nature of the song: “I wanted to push the hallelujah deep into the secular world, into the ordinary world. The hallelujah, the David’s Hallelujah was still a religious song. So I wanted to indicate that hallelujah can come out of things that have nothing to do with religion.”  

Regardless of how secular the song has become, the chorus still remains “hallelujah,” which means, “praise God.”   It would be hard to find a person who hears this song and does not associate the chorus with praise.  And yet, even in the midst of a world that fights to keep God out, this song has sold over 5 million copies in CD format alone! The secular world is relating to this need to praise God, even if they can’t articulate this need.  Why is this?

In Luke 19:37-40, Jesus enters Jerusalem and is surrounded by “multitudes of disciples” who are shouting praises to Jesus in “a loud voice.” The Pharisees ask Jesus to rebuke the disciples, and He responds, “I tell you, if these were silent the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40)  The very earth aches to praise its Creator.  This need is even greater in humans, made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).   God truly does call people.  He does not need a church, or Christians to reach the lost.  I’ve heard many testimonies where people say they simply felt lost – they knew all on their own that something greater was out there…and worthy of praise.  I remember myself coming to a very confused and broken state, standing on the beach in Victoria in the dark wanting to either believe, or just be able to get over Christianity and move on.  But there on the beach, with those rocks aching to cry out, I could just feel that God was real…and very near.  Even in the depths of my brokenness I couldn’t help but believe.  Deep in my spirit I just knew:  God is real.  I have no choice but to believe. 

 Yes, there are many different ‘hallelujahs.’ We are certainly blessed when they are shouts of joy in happy times.  But sometimes, as Cohen’s song also says, “It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.”  At these times, we can offer God the most sacred praise of all.  In Psalm 51:17 David writes, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

 If you are at this point in your life, take heart. It doesn’t matter what you do, say, or pray.  When everything is stripped away, you may find yourself with nothing left to say but “hallelujah.”  And because of the blood of Christ poured out for us on the cross, that ‘hallelujah’ will always be enough.