Discussing
Beyoncé’s Lemonade: no rush to forgiveness

Beyoncé's Lemonade addresses hope only after she's rightly acknowledged the depths of her anger, pain and emptiness.

"Too often in our Christian conversations about marriage, we jump over the frightening stages of grief to rush toward reconciliation."

So true. I think it stems from and mirrors the ways in which we jump from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. We don't dwell at the empty cross, don't mourn at the full tomb. Instead, we rush to hope and to making-things-okay. If God only cared about things being okay, the resurrection could have happened immediately. Something must be important about an Incarnate One who suffers our despair. Something must be important about going through the grief process.

Thank you for your encouragement for engaging grief processes, Tamara!

I admire the point you were trying to bring about Jay Z and Beyonce's marriage. But I do not see her or him as a role model of any type for my children. Lyrics are explicit, the symbolism is disturbing and the lifestyle they encourage is not one of a born again Christian. That being said even the trailer for lemonade she said let me wrap my legs around you. In this context I beg to differ on the assumption that their marriage is that of one to admire. As a Christian we must follow hard after the word of God my marriage works because His word inspires it. I look towards healthy Christian marriages to inspire and encourage me. No Offence, Just my thoughts

In Reply to Kate Davis (comment #28121)
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Kate, thank you for this beautiful insight about the link between our temptation to jump over Good Friday to get to Easter as linked to our temptation to avoid the deep pain of grief. In both cases, our avoidance of pain and grief places a barrier between us and the Suffering Servant who is near to those who are broken in spirit.

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

In Reply to C.Manuel Gonzalez (comment #28123)
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Thanks so much for your comment. I'm not offended at all. These songs and this album are not for everyone, certainly. It's also true that most likely there are parts of Beyoncé & Jay Z's life that I wouldn't want my kids to emulate (as in really any other role model, other than the perfect Christ. For example, King David, described as a man after God's own heart, murdered Uriah and essentially raped Bathsheba.) At the same time, because I am a Christian, I value marriage as sacred. When I see couples who fight against the odds to preserve their marriage, that is something I want my kids to know about. Of course, if my kids were younger, watching the visual album together wouldn't have been the best way to tell them the story. The last thing I want to say is that the lyric you mention -- while maybe uncomfortable to hear -- is not really more explicit than much of the Word of God found in Song of Solomon. God created sex for married men and women to enjoy. I'm probably not going to sing that song working around the house, but I honor the story Beyoncé's trying to tell. Thanks again for adding to the conversation!