Triduum Musical Reflection #1 :: Holy Thursday | American Tune

The lyric video was terrible, so you can find the lyrics here. You'll need them. 

"American Tune" by Paul Simon

There's a two-fold reason I chose this song, the lyrics and the melody. Perhaps that seems obvious, but they are almost not connected. Almost.

First, the lyrics. This song was written about the American experience, and all the contradictions and hope included in that. We live in a country built and sold on dreams, and reality can sometimes be a sharp and harsh contrast. Immigrants were told the streets were paved with gold, but the reality was a struggle in a housing project. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, but those words were written by slave owners. Tired and poor are welcomed here by the Statue of Liberty, and find derision and suspicion even from and immigrant people, sometimes only a generation removed. We are sold the dream that working hard can get you anywhere, but sometimes factory work is outsourced and the student debt can never be paid.

We are, however, an extremely hopeful people. And I can hear these words from Jesus's perspective on this night. He gathers with his friends to celebrate a beloved holiday that remembers the love of God for his people that saved them. He knows what will happen, and though his friends may not grasp the precariousness of their position, many were probably worried. Every act of that Last Supper is colored with the joy of the now, fellowship, love, service and the sorrow of the future, the uncertainty, pain, death.

Imagine Jesus, washing his disciples' feet:

I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right
For lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
We’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

And a little later, giving them his body and blood to eat and drink:

And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
...
Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right
It’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

That sorrow and hope are all mixed together, like it was to live then, as it is to live now.

Then, the melody. You probably recognize it, as we tend to sing it this time of year with the words "O Sacred Head Surrounded" (or "Now Wounded," in some circles). It's one of my favorite melodies, one that when I sing in church it usually brings tears to my eyes. Simon took it from JS Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and it was a Hans Leo Hassler German tune before that. The melody's origins in the Passion of Jesus cannot be coincidence. The Passion is a story of sacrifice, pain, and love, one that should sound familiar when we look at our own lives - very few of us escape without those being part of our existence. 

That brings both of these together. St. Augustine said that singing is praying twice, and I think he would have appreciated this song. The words and the music express two different but connected ideas, and if a prayer then we pray two ways, in two ideas. We truly pray twice. 

With this song today give it another listen, to the words and then to the music. Where do the two take you? Is it the same place, or different places? Imagine Jesus sharing earbuds with you. What would He say about it?

Triduum Musical Reflection #1 :: Holy Thursday | You've Got a Friend in Me

"You've Got a Friend in Me," Randy Newman

Does this seem like a strange choice? It shouldn't. ;)

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13

The story of Holy Thursday is all about friendship. On the first level, it is about Jesus and the people who were his friends during his life on earth. He prepares all week to celebrate the Passover with the people closest to him. I myself am preparing to celebrate my high holiday with friends, and I am making sure my space is ready and the food is purchased and decorations are just so. My friends are loved and important, so I am happy to serve them.

When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed

Jesus loved his friends. These were the people he traveled with, the people who supported and protected him. He listened to them describe their lives as fishermen and tax collectors and widows. Some knew the Torah well and some could only listen. Any time you have been able to look around a table with love for each one sitting there, you know what it was like for Jesus at Passover that year.

You got troubles and I got 'em too
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you
We stick together, we can see it through

When Jesus started washing their feet, Peter (of course) was upset. Peter always got upset about the wrong things, but gosh darn it his heart was in the right place. I have grown into a respect and love of Peter as I've gotten older. He is so faithful, so terribly flawed, and terribly misguided most of the time. Think of one of your friends who is loyal to a fault, but drives you nuts. That's your Peter. (Granted, in a few hours even Peter's loyalty fails, but he's still the rock of our Church)

The duality of Christ's nature come to a confusing head here. If the fact that Jesus is both fully human and fully God isn't confusing enough, we have this scene of footwashing mixing them all together. Just a few months ago we celebrated the Incarnation, the Nativity of Jesus. God being human. Emmanuel, God with us. I think on Holy Thursday we should call him Emmanuel more often, because here God is, with us, washing our feet. Is there a more visceral image of the Incarnation? God using water and oil to get rid of the dust and mud of the road off the feet of his disciples. Jesus is telling his friends that he may be the rabbi, but they all have the same troubles. His feet are tired and dirty, too, but there isn't anything he wouldn't do for them. Even when he goes to pray, facing the hardest thing he will ever face, asking his friends to wait with him and they all fall asleep. He still allows himself to be arrested, beaten, humiliated, and crucified.

But none of them
Will ever love you the way I do

These words are for the disciples, and these words are for us. We cannot fathom the love of God; but whenever we love others it is a reflection of God's love for us. Has the love of a friend ever held you up? Made you a better person? "We love because God first loved us." (1 John 4:19) If we really allow God's love to fill us our wounds are healed, our scars are soothed, light is brought to our dark places. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) (Could you say that better than Paul?) 

In a New Testament class in graduate school my professor quoted something I will paraphrase as "There is no despair like knowing that you can never love God as much as God loves you." (Does anyone know the actual quote or who it's by? I can't remember, and I think about it all the time) Usually, we can fully reciprocate the love others give us. God's is too much to even comprehend, much less give back. Think of the story of the Hebrews: they constantly turned from God's love and God constantly accepted them back. What kind of love can do that? God's constant love and mercy. 

And as the years go by
Our friendship will never die

A constant, loving friendship is what God offers us. A God who washes our feet, suffered, died, and rose from the dead for us. In return God does not require us to die for him, at least not physically. I assume most of the people reading this are in the US, and there probably won't be many opportunities to die for God. We are not necessarily asked to be on the cross, but we are asked to stay awake in the garden. God does ask us to live for him. 

You got a friend in me

Carol's Music Triduum Reflection #1 :: Holy Thursday | You Got the Love

"You Got the Love" by Florence and the Machine

If you've heard me talk about Florence and the Machine before, you know that I am convinced that she writes her songs about the Sacraments. If you remember, "Dog Days are Over" was last year's Easter song, as it is definitely about the Paschal mystery. Then, "Shake It Out" (Reconciliation) came out, followed by "What the Water Gave Me." I'll grant you it's a stretch, but with a title like that how could it not be about Baptism? I tried to make "Kiss with a Fist" about Confirmation, since back in the day the bishop would slap you, but I don't think it works. Hey, no metaphor is perfect.

So today I bring you "You Got the Love," which is obviously about Eucharist. The Eucharist is a Sacrament of Initiation, but unlike the other two (Baptism and Confirmation) you can receive it every day if you so choose. Sacraments of Initiation pull you into the church community; the love and support found there is all yours for the taking! (That's why it's called Communion) They envelop us in the signs of God's love on Earth.

Let's get back to the song. It starts and ends with "Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air... Sometimes I feel like saying 'Lord, I just don't care'" And sometimes we do. Look at the verses - she's saying she often has bouts of despair where everything seems wrong and she's drowning in misery. We all have days, weeks, months like that. It seems the only feasible option is to give up.

At this year's parish mission where I work our speaker was Dr. Terry Nelson Johnson. He asked us to define our lives in terms of the Paschal Mystery - am I feeling Holy Thursday today? Going through that was Good Friday for me... etc. For Holy Thursday he defined it in terms of hunger and feeding. What feeds us? What are we hungry for? The woman in the song is hungry for comfort and love. (Who isn't? I mean, I'm on OkCupid for goodness's sake) Fortunately, she knows where to get it.

Love is of course the point of the Paschal Mystery, but it is showed in a special way today. We have the kind of love that causes a man to wash his disciples' feet. The kind of love it takes to change the diaper of a mewling baby or vacant parent. The kind of love it takes to walk into certain death. The kind of love it takes to commit completely to another person.

I cannot remember the quote now nor can I find it on a quick Google search, but one of my professors brought it up in class one day: that one of the great tragedies of our lives is that we cannot love God as much as God loves us. And we can't, it's impossible. That could be sad thought or it could bring an incredible amount of comfort - that there is an unimaginable amount of love freely given to us at any time. On this night of love and service, Jesus institutes the Eucharist. A physical meal that is viscerally his love. We can receive it everyday.

"When food is gone you are my daily meal / When friends are gone I know my Saviour's love is real / You know it's real" We DO know it's real - isn't that what we say about the Eucharist? That's it is REALLY the Body and Blood of Jesus? We hunger for God's love and it's not easy to always see or feel it. We have to come back and come back and come back. So you can be initiated again and again by eating this meal, this sign of love. After all, God's "got the love I need to see me through."