The song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen seems to be tracking me this year in my season of lament and praise. At the grocery store. When my son turned on the radio while carpooling. When Google played it as a Christmas song while I flipped pancakes.
At first, it bothered me that a song that co-opts biblical stories to express a broken romantic relationship was deemed a Christmas song. Hallelujah means “praise Yahweh.” What does that have to do with unrequited love?
But every time the line rang, “the broken hallelujah,” my heart clenched and my eyes started to sting.
Broken Hallelujah has become an invitation for me to worship God this Christmas, even as I grieve the losses this year carried.
The Holy or the Broken Hallelujah
There’s a blaze of light in every word
Leonard Cohen
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah. . .
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
Life is a blend of the holy and the broken, with moments we saw God’s hand at work and the longing for him to come and fix our hurts.
The Broken Hallelujah of the First Christmas
The first Christmas was also a broken hallelujah, a time of lament and praise.
The Israelites lived in darkness for hundreds of years without a prophet and without a word from God. They were back in the land from captivity but under oppressive Roman rule. Then an angel appeared to both Zechariah and Mary and reality began to rumble with hope of the Messiah (Luke 1). Would someone come to rescue them from the Romans?
Toward the end of her pregnancy, Mary and Joseph were forced to travel for a census. Caravanning by a donkey or walking for days would be torturous for Mary (Luke 2:1–5). Giving birth in a borrowed stall where animals are kept and dung was swept would be uncomfortable, at best (Luke 2:7). Fleeing genocide with a young child to live as an immigrant in Egypt would be fearsome. Waiting for years for Herod to die so they could return home would ache anyone’s soul ((Matthew 2:13–15)
But Mary was favored by God? (Luke 1:28) Yes. But God’s favor didn’t exclude her from hardship or suffering.
It seems that even the mother of our Lord lived a broken hallelujah.
A Christmas of Reflection and Hope
The glory of the gospel at Christmas is that even in the brokenness of our lives—there is a greater hope. This year I am sitting with gratitude for Jesus, with wonder of the God of the Universe becoming God-with-us—and with the ache in my heart for the loss of my mother-in-law October 29. Today I miss her clinking the dishes in the sink as she washed them. I’m missing her laugh, the glow in her eyes when she opened the annual Christmas calendar full of pictures of her grandkids, her fried noodles she’d stuff in our fridge.
The Promise of the Second Advent
This year, my heart aches. What might be aching your heart?
In our aches, Jesus is our hope. His first advent (coming), was to bring the way of salvation through faith in him—in our brokenness. But one day, he is coming again (second advent) when he will make all things new.
Until then, “even though it all went wrong, we can stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on our tongue but Hallelujah.”
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be His name (see Job 1:21).
Reflecting on Our Own Hallelujahs
Let this season be one where we honor God even in our brokenness, trusting that the best is yet to come. Engage with our Christmas devotionals to nurture a well soul, and join our community for regular encouragement on this spiritual journey.
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