Eleanor Rigby

Personally, I am not a big fan of the Beatles and this certainly is not one of their songs that I like. Additionally, I found it hard to find connections to our readings with this song. What some people were saying in class made sense though. There seems to be some disconnect between the church and the people. This Father McKenzie is writing sermons that no one is hearing; he is working but no one is being saved. We could say that this is how the church acts far too often. It expects people to come to it and it doesn't go out to the people. I have been a part of churches where all there was was talk about helping the poor and needing to reach out to the community of nonbelievers, but there was never any action. There is so much talk amongst religious people because it is easy to quote Bible verses and pretend to know all about caring for the poor. Few of us actually act on our concerns.
Eleanor is described as living in a dream and waiting at the door, but no one comes and she dies alone. It says that she hides her face in a jar by the door. This can go along with the Pilgrims Regress and how we put on masks to hide who we really are. Maybe she put on a mask to hide her true self and she goes to the church to find support. However, no one comes and she does not seek anyone else out. She is lonely and the song is asking where all these lonely people come from. I think far too many of us are wallowing in our own self pity instead of trying to change parts of our lives. We expect God to swoop down and save the day, but if we are not actively seeking Him we will develop eyes that can see Him on a regular basis. We have to be pursuing God and living a life that glorifies Him, not just waiting for Him to make our life perfect.