Acapella Broken Hallelujah
On October 21st, Pentatonix released a cover of Hallelujah alongside a gorgeous music video on their new holiday album. After three days, the music video had over seven million views. It’s now approaching 45 million. They’re singing about the love God has for King David; a broken hallelujah. The song reaches out, grabs my heart, and dares me to listen. But what’s more, thousands of other people listen, too.
Here Pentatonix stands, singing about love, acceptance and forgiveness. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking. Maybe the vocal group and the millions of viewers singing along comprehend what they are singing about and maybe they don’t, but they certainly know what they are feeling. It’s love, acceptance, and a call to something or someone bigger than themselves. Music is incredibly powerful. It’s a venue through which emotions can be shared without fear of judgement.
Christmas can be a joyful time, but also a difficult one. Let’s not forget to share the redemptive power of Christ in our lives. It doesn’t need to be through words, sermons or soap boxes. It can be shared through music. A vessel that, at least at Christmas, seems untouched by the censorship of secularism. People come together and sing about the fulfillment of the covenant made by God with His people thousands of years ago. So allow your heart to be softened by the Season, and share the love in whatever way Christ has given you the ability to.
For me, I desire to share the emotion I feel in this song. Love is not a victory march, for we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. It’s a cold and broken Hallelujah, just like Jesus’ first cry in that tiny stable so long ago. It’s not somebody who is whole inside or somebody who’s seen the light. It’s a cold and broken Hallelujah because Christ became one of us. He came down and dwelt among us so that all might be saved. That’s the true Christmas story. Let us enter in, and never forget that we’re also broken. We’re broken just like those we call our enemies deep in the secret places of our hearts or out loud to their faces. We’ve known that same dark room and walked that same floor. But Christ called us out of our brokenness so that we might be whole within Him, and tell the whole world of His love.
Dedicated to Leonard Cohen, who penned the words that would touch millions of hearts. September 21st 1934 - November 7th 2016.
