by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg
The Lord God—Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, loves us (humanity) with an unconditional love and one of
the most wonderful expressions of this great love for humanity is the gift of
music. God built this wonderful gift into the DNA of the universe. It blesses
our lives in so many ways, from the privilege of listening to its beauty,
or perhaps, even participating in the creation of music through singing or
playing an instrument. To some God even gives the gift of composition, so that
He is able to share the music of heaven, by putting it into our hearts and
minds so it can be written, and sung, and played, for the enjoyment of us still
here on earth.
Recently I had the
experience of hearing a recording of Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen, as sung by
K. D. Lang at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I don’t know if either of them
are believers—Cohen is Jewish, but I’m not sure if he is a man of faith. On the
other hand, God must have great faith in him or he wouldn’t have given him such
an amazingly beautiful song. The song is really about the brokenness of humanity,
and how God is able to draw out worship from our brokenness so he can inhabit
our praise and thus fill us with his healing Presence.
And God’s praise breaks out
in some of the most amazing places! I’ve never had the least desire to even see
the movie Shrek. I don’t care much for cartoons. But I understand this song was
included in that soundtrack. It reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said, “If
we don’t praise God the rocks will cry out.” In our day God’s praise is
breaking out in some amazing places through the medium of music.
God is amazingly generous with his
marvelous gifts of life and love….such as the ability to sing and play inspired
music. For his wonderful gifts, let us give heartfelt praise, genuine
appreciation, and most of all, sincere worship. Hallelujah is such a marvelous
word of praise to be sung so beautifully and thus penetrate the hearts of those
who are not yet believers, but cannot help but be so when they hear it sung or when
they sing along in these words of exuberant praise to Almighty God.
Thank you,
Leonard Cohen and K. D. Lang, and all of you “sweet singers of Israel” who use your gifts to praise the God of heaven and all creation.
I’m Rick Blumenberg, and
that’s My View from Tanner Creek.
No comments:
Post a Comment