Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Neil Diamond's Holly Holy And Prayer: A Call To Holiness

Prayer: A Call To Holiness---Using Neil Diamond's
Soolaimon/Holly Holy As A Catalyst For Discussion


First listen to this song:



Now pay attention to these lines:

...Ride on the night
Sun becomes day
Day shall provide...

...God of my want, want, want
Lord of my need, need, need...

...God of my day, day, day
Lord of my night, night, night
Seek for the way, way, way
Taking me home...

(Full Lyrics: Here).

And:

Holly holy eyes
Dream of only you
Where I am, what I am
What I believe in
Holly holy

...And I run just like the wind will...

...Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out
Sing it strong

Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun's gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can't walk upright
And that lame man, he's gonna fly
And I fly
And I fly

Holly holy love
Take the lonely child
And the seed
Let it be filled with tomorrow...

(Full Lyrics: Here).


Now, what do you notice about Neil Diamond's quasi-religious language? To me---Neil's phrases invoke a sense of the urgency of prayer and it's use as an act of a call to holiness such as:

...Day shall provide...(God provides)

...God of my want, want, want
Lord of my need, need, need...(human longing)

...God of my day, day, day
Lord of my night, night, night
Seek for the way, way, way... (the human need for discernment of God's Will for our lives)

And: ...Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out
Sing it strong
Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun's gonna rise in the sky... (the act of prayer itself)

...Holly holy love
Take the lonely child
And the seed
Let it be filled with tomorrow... (future longing and hope)


What are your thoughts? Prayer indeed is a call to holiness for it provides us a sense of God given wholeness and spiritual peace. See: The Freedomist: Prayer And Wholeness, Part I (v.1) for example.

See also: Is Neil Diamond a Christian?, Neil Diamond-I Am & Holly Holy and Songs Sung Blue
Leonard Cohen and Neil Diamond: separated at birth?
.

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