This week I was invited by the UMW to be the program at their fall INterest Group gathering.

 I spoke about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and shared some reasons why so many of us felt

drawn into the issues and to the Middle East.  I sang this song mid-way through, to evoke some

imagery and emotional texture.  It's by Leonard Cohen from the mid-80s.

“Hallelujah”  

By Leonard Cohen

I heard there was a secret chord

That David played and it pleased the Lord,

But you don’t really care for music do you.

I goes like this the fourth the fifth,

The minor fall and the major lift

The battled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya

She tied you to a kitchen chair

She broke your throne, and she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

You say I took the name in vain

I don’t even know the name

But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?

There’s a blaze of light in every word

It doesn’t matter which you heard

The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

I did my best, it wasn’t much

I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch

I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool ya

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.