Broken Halleluiah

I'm having a Leonard Cohen night. I'm listening to Jeff Buckley's interpretation of Halleluiah
This is one of those songs I heard in the car and had to pull over to listen fully. This has been a stressful week of constant action - school-work-meetings-homework-little rest. I preach at Spirit Garage this Sunday on the Lord's Prayer and putting what we've learned about eco-stewardship into action - no small task.

The last two verses always get me in this song:

Well there was a time when you let me know
what's really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you
but remember when I moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well maybe there's a god above
but all I've ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
it's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

We live in a broken world. We are capable of toxic relationships with each other and the earth. To juxtapose brokenness with hallelujah is what pierces my heart. I still sing hallelujah. I cannot not sing hallelujah. Yet there is mourning in this joy, death in living, brokenness in loving.

This song became a hit in the movie Shrek when Rufus Wainright sang it. I still love the Jeff Buckley version but k.d. lang gives it a female voice. Thank you Leonard.