Through Facebook this year, a friend intro'd me to Kelley Mooney's authorized adaptation of Leonard Cohen's original Hallelujah. It hit a necessary chord this year, so I ended up downloading her published version through iTunes and using it as this Easter Sunday's Gospel processional (the hymn before the Gospel reading).
The image she creates of the Roman centurion looking with fear upon his sword, turning to face his Christ and Lord (Jesus), and falling to his knees to cry alleluia, was particularly poignant, considering not only the international military actions we endlessly endure, but also the more intimate, interpersonal wars we wage daily (and ongoing, for years, in the grudges we keep). What if we each were to look with fear upon the swords we're carrying, drop them, and turn to face our Christ, falling to our knees in both repentance and joy?
This combination of arresting, humble repentance and overwhelming thanksgiving and joy (that Kelley Mooney has successfully wed to Cohen's classic chords) is in holy contrast to the darker somewhat ambiguous, if not outright ambivalent and broken 'hallelujah' that the Leonard Cohen hints at in the lyrics of his haunting original (see an interview Cohen). Whereas the poetic songwriter Cohen seems to have been suggesting a cathartic (even orgasmic) utterance that reflexively bursts forth from the dark nights of our souls as a dim glimmer of innate hope (E.g., cover by K.D. Lang), the inspired Kelley Mooney utilizes his same emotional original chords while singing with new, more explicit words right into the brilliant, holy light of Easter, inviting us to join a heavenly chorus of thanksgiving and praise that can melt the hearts of even the most stoic soldiers (ref: Kelley's explanation of her journey with this song).
"But as they went to move the stone, they saw that they were not alone... but Jesus Christ has risen, Hallelujah!"
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