Gatekeeper's Prayer
Imagining God with Help
from Heaven by Brett Dennen
Rock Music as a Lure for Prayer
Rock music can be a springboard for prayer. We at JJB don't know if Brett Dennen prays. He is a well-known rock singer from Northern California, whose music many people like very much. But we do know that he helps people pray.
The philosopher Whitehead speaks of language as a lure for feeling. We would add that language wedded with melody and sincerity can be a lure for prayer. A lure for prayer is a phrase, an idea, a sound, a feeling that prompts people to reach out to the mystery at the heart of the universe and share their feelings in an honest way. Many people address this mystery as God. Sometimes the word gets in the way of prayer and sometimes it helps. We use it below.
What is important about Brett Dennen's song Heaven is that it invites people to imagine God as gateless. No walls separate the mystery of others. Indeed, God dwells within us as a hope that we might become gateless, too. We are made in the image of gatelessness and our calling in life is to grow into its likeness.
Below you will find an example of a prayer for gatelessnes and, equally important, the song which prompts it. For more about Brett Dennen, see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Dennen> and <www.brettdennen.net>.
The philosopher Whitehead speaks of language as a lure for feeling. We would add that language wedded with melody and sincerity can be a lure for prayer. A lure for prayer is a phrase, an idea, a sound, a feeling that prompts people to reach out to the mystery at the heart of the universe and share their feelings in an honest way. Many people address this mystery as God. Sometimes the word gets in the way of prayer and sometimes it helps. We use it below.
What is important about Brett Dennen's song Heaven is that it invites people to imagine God as gateless. No walls separate the mystery of others. Indeed, God dwells within us as a hope that we might become gateless, too. We are made in the image of gatelessness and our calling in life is to grow into its likeness.
Below you will find an example of a prayer for gatelessnes and, equally important, the song which prompts it. For more about Brett Dennen, see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Dennen> and <www.brettdennen.net>.
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Heaven
Beyond the rules of religion The cloth of conviction Above all the competition Where fact and fiction meet There`s no color lines or castes or classes There is no fooling the masses Whatever faith you practice Whatever you believe Heaven. heaven. What the hell is heaven? Is there a home for the homeless? Is there hope for the hopeless? Throw away your myth misconceptions There ain`t no walls around heaven There are no codes you gotta know to get in No minutemen or border patrol You must lose all earthly possession Leave behind your weapon You cannot buy your salvation There is no pot of gold Heaven. heaven. What the hell is heaven? Is there a home for the homeless? Is there hope for the hopeless? Heaven ain`t got no prisons No government no business No banks or politicians No armies and no police Castles and cathedrals crumble Pyramids and pipelines tumble The failure keeps you humble Leads us closer to peace |
Gatekeeper's Prayer
Dear God, when I heard this song I wanted to call you. I didn't have your phone number, but I know you've been calling me many times over the years. I guess Jesus was one of your calls. Maybe the Buddha, too. And now this song. You are saying that heaven is a hope, a dream, a calling, within each of us. Hope for a world in which there are no color lines, no economic classes, no rules for getting in. Maybe no religion, too. I do not live in a loving place. There's hopelessness all around, and I find myself putting up a fence between myself and strangers. I don't stop for homeless or hopeless people. I don't even stop for myself. I guess you'd say I'm a gatekeeper, always busy keeping "others" out. I fear that if I welcome strangers into my life, if I open the gates, I will lose something. I'm afraid of openness. The song says that there are no codes to unlock heaven. Not even religious codes. This is good because I am not religious. Is heaven really gateless? So many people claim to have its keys. I'd like to be unlocked. There many castles and cathedrals, many pipelines and pyramids in the way. Most of them inside me. Every once in a while I feel some crumble. Usually it takes a failure. A few people I know say that everyone -- even the gatekeepers like me -- might one day find peace in gateless heaven where you live. Or you really that loving? May I share in your gatelessness even now? I'm ready for the pipelines to tumble, and for the failure to humble me, so that I might become, like you, a home for the homeless. Let me become gateless, too. Here's my heart. Please open it with your freedom. |
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