U23D

Last night I went to see U23D with some friends here in DC, and wow, was it incredible! You need to go see it now!

No joke, but watching/experiencing a U2 concert is a deeply spiritual event for me. I connect with God so much through their music and lyrics, more than I do in many church services to be honest.

I watched this massive crowd of people being caught up in something that is so much bigger than any of their individual experiences.

They connected with each other, with the music, with the message. It makes me question what we as a church can do to draw people towards Jesus. Why do we not make better use of the techniques used in experiences like a U2 concert and redeem them?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the theology of music. I think I’ll do a separate post on it, but over the last month especially I have been connecting with God so much through “secular” artists than through “Christian” artists. U2 are the modern-day theologians for many Irish people, and probably many other nationalities. It was a strange experience to be sitting in a room full of Americans listening to Bono sing Sunday Bloody Sunday (Bloody Sunday wikipedia), knowing that it probably has an entirely different effect on you than on anyone else in the room. When you come from a country where your entire land has been torn in two because of religion, where the only differential is whether you go to church or chapel at the weekend, to hear a fellow Irishman sing, “No more…” is a powerful experience.

And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, how long?
‘Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.

I may not agree with everything Bono says or does, but in a country where church is irrelevant for many people (check out this video from the Republic of Ireland for an idea), to be getting your theology from U2 is not a bad starting place I reckon…

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahewh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn…

The Big Idea

As I mentioned before, on Wednesday over the duration of my flight and time at the airport waiting, I read The Big Idea by Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson and Eric Bramlett. I found it a very easy read, and a quick one too, yet it has so many little snippets that if implemented could have a huge impact on the way we think about church. Here’s a few brief thoughts…

“The average Christian is educated to at least three years beyond their level of obedience.”

Dave quotes this as being something his teacher in seminary said, and it’s one of those statements as soon as you hear it, it cuts, but you know its true. I know way more than I do. What would happen if we stopped learning and started doing? And yes, I know we (I) talk about that a lot… but really, if we actually acted out the things we know we should be doing?

“More often results in less action, and less often results in more action. It’s a paradox.”

It’s another one of Jesus’ beautiful paradoxes… less is more, the least is the greatest, the servant is the leader, lose your life to gain it… I am convinced more and more that this life Jesus calls us to is one of incredible paradoxes.

“If artists are going to do art in the church, the leadership must trust the artists’ judgement regarding which risks are worth taking and which risks are not… One of the greatest gifts a church can give its artists is the space or time to create.”

“Competition is a good thing. It can be tremendously motivating, and surrounding yourself with capable people breeds healthy competition.”

Rick wrote a great post on competition a while ago, I’ll let his words speak on this subject…

“Many in that first launch team had not explored far beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem. And now Jesus was telling them that this great adventure would be led by someone they couldn’t see, would cost them all they could see, and would take them places they’d never been! That’s Jesus’ really Big Idea for every church.”

Christian Peace Witness (Pt 2)

This is the view of my table at Caribou where I am grabbing a coffee and jotting down some thoughts on todays Christian Peace Witness events. I attended the ’emergent worship service’ at New York Avenue Presbyterian, a church famous for being where Abraham Lincoln’s church, and in a similar vein as today, the church where Martin Luther King, Jr., preached against the Vietnam war.

The Cobalt Season played a few opening songs as people were arriving, leading into a time of worshipful reflection through video, liturgy, music and readings overlayed with one another. Gilda Carbonaro spoke about the loss of her son Alex in Iraq in May 2006. Brian McLaren shared a few words of focus regarding Jesus call to us to be disciples, apostles, and witnesses all at once, stating that ‘disciple’ and ‘apostle’ are two sides of the one coin – we are called in to learn the Way of Jesus and then we are sent out to share that with others. In closing, we shared communion, and a piece of final liturgy I thought was so powerful I wanted to type it up here…

One: And now let us walk together, to join our brothers and sisters to appeal for peace, humbly echoing Jesus’ call:

All: “Follow me.”

One: Let us walk, bearing the weight of our complicity in this war, openly confessing:

All: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

One: Let us walk with the weight of sorrow, mindful of the many thousand who have died, and of those who will carry the wounds of war for all their days, trusting Jesus’ promise:

All: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

One: Let us walk in peace, to love and serve God, rejoicing in the reconciling power of the Holy Spirit.

All: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

One: Let us walk with hope, led by faith, ever certain that the Spirit goes before us.

All: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Amen.