Thinking in Lyrics (August)

by Jan Hansen

I often find myself thinking in song lyrics. This is one in a series of short articles about some songs and a few of the thoughts that they prompt in me. None of these songs were written for a faith-based setting, but all of them have some elements that relate to faith, philosophy, or world view.

Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen)

One of my favourite readings from my faith group goes like this:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Its description of love is wonderful, and it ends with the thought that love never ends. And then we have Leonard Cohen’s song, where he asks us to dance until the end of a wonderful thing that never ends. That is a beautiful invitation.

You can listen to the song by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGorjBVag0I&list=RDNGorjBVag0I&start_radio=1