Today’s Word from Minister of Music Karl Olsen…
Good Tuesday morning to you!
Last Sunday I sang a song during worship called Come Healing. The song is from Leonard Cohen’s album “Old Ideas.” As I was researching the song before recording, I came across a blog by “Rev Kev,” an Anglican priest from St. Aidan’s church in London, Ontario.
Sometimes lyrics of a song, heard once, can drift on by, not really heard, or be ignored because they don’t “make sense” right away. Rev Kev’s analysis of the song and of Cohen were well done, so with some editing for concision, here is his blog post (from 2012), as we head into the Sunday of the Transfiguration and the season of Lent:
The album title [Old Ideas] reminds me of an expression I have heard my mother use often: “It takes a new broom to sweep clean…but it takes an old one to root out the corners.”
At nearly 78 Cohen is proving this saying to be true. … it takes an Old Broom like Leonard Cohen to root out the corners and write lyrics to songs that are poetic and indeed are artistic. He has given us an album of great music but also a great album of deep spiritual poetry.
A friend queried me today about which track was my favorite on Old Ideas. Without a doubt I love Come Healing best. The Webb Sisters begin the song:
O, gather ’round the brokenness, Bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises, You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carried, The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
For me this is call to the Spirit to be present. In the Christian context this song can mean much, knowing of course the story of the cross. As we gather each week we come around the table to pray for healing of body and mind. We come together to name that we are at our best when we embrace our brokenness. It is at the Eucharist that we ‘gather round the brokenness.’
Leonard breaks into the song with:
Behold the gates of mercy, In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving The cruelty or the grace
O, solitude of longing, Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
“None of us deserving the cruelty or the grace.” That line resonates with me. Which of us at some point or another has not felt that we were undeserving of our suffering? Surely we have all looked at the cruelty that has besieged us at some point and cried out, ‘why me?’ At the same time is there one of us who has not felt that God’s grace is more overwhelming and more abundant that we imagine? These words of Cohen are a reminder that we all live the human condition and we all have to long for Love and long for healing of body and of mind.
The song also declares that darkness has no victory.
O, see the darkness yielding that tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason, Come healing of the heart
When I first heard this I was reminded of Psalm 139 where we read,
If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!
It is as if each word of this piece is dripping with theological meaning. Indeed, Cohen has lived his life in such a way as to declare by his very presence that darkness will not win. Touring and supporting himself again after being betrayed by people he had trusted, he has declared by the joy of his performances that darkness will indeed yield to light.
And let the heavens hear it, The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
…
Cohen died in 2016, but his poetry still speaks. So, in our current 2021 context, we might say ‘Come Healing’ for the ones who have lost loved ones to COVID, or ‘Come Healing’ for those who have been touched by violence this past year, ‘Come Healing’ for those who have been confined to home by concern about the virus, ‘Come Healing’ to those many who have lost their incomes, and ‘Come Healing’ to those on the front lines who serve us as we move toward the return of gatherings and darkness yielding to the light!
Despite the fact that in-person worship is not happening yet, the church is open! Caring isn’t canceled, praying is permitted, lamenting is allowed, reaching out to others is encouraged! We can all be part of this healing, each in our own ways! Fear not, Come Healing!
Karl Olsen
Click HERE to listen to Karl’s version of this beautiful song.
