The basic distinction between religion and Christian faith is the propensity of religions to avoid suffering: to have light without darkness, vision without trust and risk, hope without ongoing dialogue with despair – in short, Easter without Good Friday. ~ Douglas John Hall

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♦ My favorite pieces of music for Good Friday, music that’s big or beautiful enough to capture the pathos of the passion narrative are “If It Be Your Will” written by the late Leonard Cohen and performed by Antony and “Pie Jesu” written by Andrew Lloyd Webber performed by too many artists to count. I’m not sure if Cohen, a Jew by birth and in spirit and a Buddhist by persuasion and practice ever imagined his song being used in this context, but many years ago I prepared a Good Friday service in which I asked a friend, Sister Ellen, to do a liturgical dance to Antony’s haunting rendition. Originally I gave her two versions of the song to listen to, one sung by Jennifer Warnes and the one below by Antony. Warnes’ version is characteristically gorgeous. But I favored Antony’s version and, in fact, had already decided that I would not use Warnes’ version in the service. Too exquisite for an event so brutal. After she gave each of them multiple listens, I asked Sister Ellen, “So which one do you want to do?” She looked at me and said, “This one (Warnes’) is beautiful. This one scares the hell out of me (Antony’s).” “Exactly,” I said, “Let’s do it.” I knew we were on the same page. She heard it as I heard it. And she danced it on Good Friday as she heard it. It may not be hyperbole to say, there was not a dry eye in the chapel.

I know that the moment cannot be replicated, and that’s not my intention here. Quite the contrary. I want you to be rooted in this moment, aware of the worries and woes and yearning and hope in your life, in the life of your family, and the life of your neighborhood, country and world. And I want you to let the Spirit connect Jesus’ passion in first century Palestine to wherever Jesus is being tortured, brutalized, and crucified today. For the songs to have their full impact, I invite you to hear them not as performance pieces but as part of the prayer on this day that marks a dark time when it appeared hate, violence, and death had won. I strongly urge you either to read the passion narrative here (John 18:1 – 19:42) before listening to the songs or, if you prefer, to spend five to ten minutes in silence to remember yourself to the passion story beginning with Jesus’ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I have highlighted moments of Jesus last day here:

• Recall Jesus’ friends falling asleep despite being asked three times to stay awake with him. Remember Judas showing up the next morning with the high priest’s soldiers and guards, betraying Jesus with a kiss, Peter pulling a sword out with bravado and cutting off the ear of one of the high priest’s slaves, and then Jesus being arrested.

• Remember, Peter following at a distance as they took Jesus away. Then outside the courtyard of the high priest being asked three times if he wasn’t a friend of Jesus, wasn’t one of his followers? Remember Peter denying Jesus three times. Hear the cock crow as Peter did, and then feel the swell and the wave of grief and the gravity of his betrayal.

• Remember Jesus being interrogated first by Annas, then brought to Caiphas the high priest, and finally appearing before and interrogated by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect (governor) of Judea, who gave the order for Jesus’ to be scourged and executed.

• Remember Jesus being whipped, crowned with thorns, forced to carry the heavy instrument of his death from Jerusalem up the hill to a place called Golgotha, where he was nailed to the cross like a common criminal, and there left to die.

• Remember Jesus speaking reassuringly to the repentant man being crucified near him, Jesus’ anguished words “I thirst,” and his cry of abandonment to abba, and then his surrender as his final gift.

Sister Ellen danced from Jesus’ perspective, a long piece of purple cloth her only prop which at the end was the horizontal crossbeam of the cross on which he dies.

I have posted Cohen’s lyrics below. I encourage you to hear the words as if spoken, sung, or cried out by Jesus as his honest and raw lamentation. Finally, Antony is a passionate performer and this is sung live as a tribute to Leonard Cohen. But since we are using it as part of our Good Friday prayer, I urge you to simply hit the play symbol, then close your eyes, and hear the words in light of the passion narrative which you have just reread or reimagined beginning with his pleading prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. You can always listen and watch it later as a performance.

After the song, I invite you to push pause, then close your eyes and take five minutes of contemplative silence. Then read the next section introducing Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu,” then the lyrics from his version.” After that, press play, and listen to the song in light of the gravity and grace that this day holds.

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IF IT BE YOUR WILL
by Leonard Cohen

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will
If it be your will

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The “Pie Jesu” comes from the last two lines of “Dies Irae” a Gregorian Chant that goes back to the 13^th century. In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s composition which is from his 1985 Requiem, he has combined the last two lines of “Dies Irae” with lines from the “Agnes Dei” (Lamb of God). The story goes that the impetus and inspiration of Lloyd Webber’s requiem were two tragedies that touched him deeply: the first was the death of a journalist who had interviewed Lloyd Webber and then weeks later was killed in conflict (“the Troubles”) of Northern Ireland. The second was a story he heard of a young Vietnamese boy who, under threat of death, was forced to kill his mutilated sister or be executed. Lloyd Webber wrote Requiem as a way to process his feelings of grief. His “Pie Jesu” is offered as a prayer for these poor souls and was dedicated to his father who died in 1982.

“Pie Jesu” Latin Lyrics

Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Sempiternam
Sempiternam
Requiem

“Pie Jesu” English Translation

Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
everlasting
everlasting
Rest

ARTWORK: (Top) Green Christ, Blue Cross, Dan Miller, 2020. (Bottom) La Pieta by Oswaldo Guayasamin