Patrick Comerford
We are in the final stages of countdown to Christmas, with just five days to go to Christmas Day. The last week of Advent began on Sunday with the Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday (17 December 2023), and this is a very short Advent this year.
I have spent a few days in Dublin, and after an evening flight from Birmingham I got back to Stony Stratford late last night. Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer, reflection and reading this morning.
Throughout Advent this year, my reading and reflection each day includes a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. These Advent reflections are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 18, ‘Story of Isaac’:
The poem and song ‘Story of Isaac’ by Leonard Cohen was first recorded by Judy Collins on her album Who Knows Where the Time Goes, released in December 1968, and it was the second track on Leonard Cohen’s second album, Songs from a Room, released in April 1969.
This song has also been covered by a number of musicians including Suzanne Vega, Linda Thompson, the Johnstons, Pain Teens and Roy Buchanan.
‘Story of Isaac’ is of the Biblical story in Genesis 22 of Isaac’s planned sacrifice by his father Abraham, but told now from Isaac’s perspective. It is also an anti-war song, specifically about the Vietnam war, and it’s a story about the children being sacrificed on behalf of the older generation.
Almost 20 years after it was first recorded, Cohen explained to John McKenna of RTÉ in 1988 that ‘Story of Isaac’ was an anti-war protest song. But he added, ‘I was careful in that song to try and put it beyond the pure, beyond the simple, anti-war protest, that it also is. Because it says at the end there the man of war the man of peace, the peacock spreads his deadly fan. In other words it isn’t necessarily for war that we’re willing to sacrifice each other.’
He added: ‘We’ll get some idea – some magnificent idea – that we’re willing to sacrifice each other for; it doesn’t necessarily have to involve an opponent or an ideology, but human beings being what they are we’re always going to set up people to die for some absurd situation that we define as important.’
The song is a commentary on the nature of sacrifice and faith, and the idea that we may think God is asking us to give up something we love in order to serve a higher purpose. The song also touches on themes of war and violence, as well as the relationship between father and son.
Overall, the message of the song is one of questioning and reflection on the nature of sacrifice and faith, and the idea that sometimes we may be called on to give up something we love in order to serve a greater good.
According to Leonard Cohen, the song is ‘about those who would sacrifice one generation on behalf of another.’
In another interview, he reflected: ‘There’s a story in the Bible about Isaac, how his father summoned him to go and climb a mountain, how his father built an altar there after he had been commanded to offer up his son. And just at the last moment before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel held the hand of the father. But today the children are being sacrificed and no one raises a hand to end the sacrifice. And this is what this song is about.’
Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, formerly of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, discusses ‘Story of Isaac’ and many other poems by Leonard Cohen in his book Tangle of Matter & Ghost: Leonard Cohen’s Post-Secular Songbook of Mysticism(s) Jewish and Beyond (2017). The book is part of a series, ‘New Perspectives in Post-Rabbinic Judaism.’ Glazer notes the sudden and effective change of perspective as father and son ascend up the mountain and have a bird’s-eye view of the valley now far below. They are so high up that it takes a full minute for the bottle to fall and shatter, but Abraham calms his young son with a warm touch.
The tension is heightened, however, by Isaac’s continuing confusion over whether the scene was hurtling towards life, power and triumph, symbolised by the eagle; or towards imminent death, captured by the vulture. Either way, Abraham is secure in Isaac’s compliance and certain their destiny is firmly in God’s hands.
A stunning change of time and place juxtaposes the Biblical story with the still-unfolding tragedy between the descendants of Abraham. Cohen brings this ancient tale right up to the present, as he, through the voice of Isaac, begs us to tear down the altars upon which the children of our age are still sacrificed to settle age-old grievances.
He crystallises the parent’s grief and ambivalence by describing his ‘trembling hand,’ even as Abraham, and so many today, stands in awe of the divine command he believes he is obeying.
Cohen, whose father, like Abraham in this poem/song, also had blue eyes, always returned to his own Judaism. He refers to one of the most poignant messages of this Biblical passage, and one that recurs throughout the history of the Abrahamic people: this is a story of brothers. Earlier in the Biblical narrative, Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael was banished. Although they later come together to bury their father (Genesis 25), the effects of Ishmael’s exile and Isaac’s near-sacrifice reverberate through time.
Cohen deftly expresses the pain and power in this eternal family feud. In the end, he prays for mercy as these brothers take up arms against each other, and on which side one stands determines who is cast as the ‘man of peace’ and who is the ‘man of war.’
In Cohen’s telling, this tale becomes an anti-war hymn and a cautionary warning against all the ways we still sacrifice our children. Cohen expressed this in a BBC interview: ‘Just at the last moment before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel held the hand of the father. But today the children are being sacrificed and no one raises a hand to end the sacrifice. And this is what this song is about.’
The near-sacrifice of Isaac, or the Akedah as it is known in Jewish tradition, is a gripping, chilling and troubling story, and a story that seems to ask more questions than it answers.
Each time I hear it, I am listening in horror as Abraham seems to be preparing to sacrifice his only son. And the story comes with all the gruesome details, as Abraham climbs the mountain, builds the altar, arranges the wood, binds his son, places him on the altar, and takes the knife into his hand. The looming tragedy is averted only at the very moment second.
But at a time when child-sacrifice was a cultural norm in that part of the ancient world, when people believed that sacrificing their first-born children was a way of appeasing the gods, this story turns those old superstitions on their head.
Abraham knows the old ways. But his relationship with God becomes a startling new relationship, founded on love. And this God is different from all the so-called gods. No, he does not demand human sacrifice. No, he does not have a mean and violent, capricious streak.
Instead, this God that Abraham has begun to get to know, wants a relationship with us that is built not on fear and brutalism, but on love and on freedom.
The child who was at risk is saved, the child who was bound up is set free, the child who was the victim of old-fashioned, out-dated superstitions now becomes part of the relationship between God and humanity and the promise for the future that is sealed not by sacrifices like this, but by love.
How could Abraham hav forgotten God’s earlier promise so soon, the promise made to Abraham and Sarah that they would have children and through them they would be the spiritual ancestors of all nations?
And it is a story that challenges us to reassess our own notions about God.
Are our relationships with God founded on fear or on love?
Do we believe in a god who would treat us as slaves who must obey, or as faithful partners who are caught up in his love?
Once again, we are offered a choice between death and life, between slavery and freedom, between blind obedience and love.
Leonard Cohen, Story of Isaac:
The door it opened slowly
My father he came in
I was nine years old
And he stood so tall above me
Blue eyes they were shining
And his voice was very cold
Said, ‘I’ve had a vision
And you know I’m strong and holy
I must do what I've been told’
So he started up the mountain
I was running, he was walking
And his axe was made of gold
Well, the trees they got much smaller
The lake a lady’s mirror
We stopped to drink some wine
Then he threw the bottle over
Broke a minute later
And he put his hand on mine
Thought I saw an eagle
But it might have been a vulture
I never could decide
Then my father built an altar
He looked once behind his shoulder
He knew I would not hide
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You who build the altars now
To sacrifice these children
You must not do it anymore
A scheme is not a vision
And you never have been tempted
By a demon or a god
You who stand above them now
Your hatchets blunt and bloody
You were not there before
When I lay upon a mountain
And my father’s hand was trembling
With the beauty of the word
And if you call me brother now
Forgive me if I inquire
‘Just according to whose plan?’
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must
I will help you if I can
When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must
I will kill you if I can
And mercy on our uniform
Man of peace or man of war
The peacock spreads his fan.
Luke 1: 26-38 (NRSVA):
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34 Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38 Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 20 December 2023):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Joy of Advent.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (20 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
O Lord, help us to see the wonder in your creation, to find the joy amidst the trials. For in you, we can rejoice and be glad. No matter what the world brings, we can find joy in you.
The Collect:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
2 comments:
Thank you, Patrick. I love the polychromatic tones of today’s Blog
Thank you, Patrick. I love the polychromatic tones of today’s blog.
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