I was aware of musician Brandi Carlile's name (she is a multiple Grammy and Emmy winnner) but not much else before her association with Canadian music icon, Joni Mitchell. Joni appeared to be on death's door after a brain aneurysm in 2015 and while she survived she couldn't speak or walk, and certainly couldn't play the guitar. All this she relearned and a key factor was Carlile's involvement, creating a circle of musical friends who supported her. Carlisle was on stage during the tribute concert when Mitchell was awarded the Gershwin Prize last March and the affection was evident. After more than twenty years away Mitchell has returned to the stage with adoring crowds (27,000 at one concert) and Carlile has been there.
I came upon a Sojourner's article from a few years ago about Carlile by Jenna Barnett with the irresistible title, Brandi Carlile's Radical Gospel of Gentleness. It turns out that Carlile has a Christian background, although not the helpful kind -- maybe there is good and bad Christianity like good and bad cholesterol. Carlile is a lesbian and as a teen she had the horrendous experience of being about to be baptized when the pastor told her he wouldn't proceed unless she repented of what he deemed the sin of homosexuality. While she left that congregation her faith has remained, remarkably.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the theme of forgiveness keeps welling up in her music and her way of understanding life and relationships. The title of one of her albums is By the Way, I Forgive You which was a Grammy winner in 2019.
Apparently, when Carlile started to realize how much forgiveness “was rearing its head” while writing her previous album, she felt a little queasy about it, too. She was nervous that people would think she was talking about the “white-washed,” “hashtag blessed-y” version of the word. “But what I'm talking about is radical, filthy, trembling, scary, life-changing, beautiful forgiveness,” she told me.
“I didn't write By The Way, I Forgive You because I figured out forgiveness,” she continued. “I’m still on that journey. [Forgiveness is] going to be thematic in my life because I think it’s a cornerstone of whatever I’m put here to learn.”
Carlile believes that we each have our own definition of the word forgiveness. But for her, forgiveness is “a willingness to look foolish to those who don't understand. It looks like naivety. It looks like being a doormat. It looks like being walked on, but it's so much more radical than that.”
There is a lot of wisdom and insight here. The older I get both the more and less I comprehend about forgiveness. I ponder Jesus' words and his example, all the way to the cross, and I know that forgiveness is at the core of what it is to be Christian. So I'll just keep at it, seeking and offering, in my own muddled way.
2 comments:
One could study the topic for years - and still not get the whole picture...forgiveness is necessary when you feel you have been wronged, and whether that is the true situation or not, you need to move on and let go of old hurts (real or perceived) to save your own sanity.
Sometimes, we need to forgive others for just being human - imperfect in wisdom, knowledge and actions. And trust that a loving God will also forgive us.
I agree Judy. I have studied the subject for decades, leading groups in most congregations I served, always well attended. Forgiveness is a complex subject, & the longer I live the more I realize this. It's still a worthwhile endeavour to give and receive.
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