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It's been a good week, if you are into U2. The release of their new album, No Line on the Horizon, has had us fans in a happy place. The title didn't appeal to me at first, but as I've worked my way inside the sound (to use a Bono lyric), it's starting to make sense. Its' an album about what it means to believe in eternity. It's about the idea that the difference between 'here and now' and 'then and there' isn't much-if anything, a thin line on the horizon.

Like most of U2's work, it springs from within a Christian worldview. Plentiful sprinkling of biblical language remind us that Bono sings as someone who integrates his views on God--especially God's overwhelming and irresistible love, his grace to towards the sinner, and his unstoppable plan to bring creation to completion--into everything he sings, thinks and does.

My favourite track just now (it changes daily) is 'Stand Up Comedy'. Here, Bono gives us Christian eschatology with a beat--if you really believe that the story of the universe is a comedy (rather than a tragedy), in the sense that it will end well with God's love victorious, then you can be energized to 'stand up' for "faith, hope and love" in this "dizzy world", and stand up against ego, against dictators of all kinds, against apathy. The message is something like this: take to heart what you believe and get on with the important things—all the things that you can't leave behind. There's a great line in 'Stand Up Comedy' for those who want to do Christianity in public, too: "Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady".

For a video of Greg's thoughts on the album click here.

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C P X | Friday, March 06, 2009 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Comments

Greg, Glad you have enjoyed "no line on the horizon". I'm loving it too, and the admonition to "put on your boots" is pretty much "work out your own salvation in fear and trembling". Good stuff.

Posted: 12-Mar-2009 01:55 PM | Martin Morgan |

Thanks, Martin. I've just finished a longer video review for the site, which should be up shortly. "You don't know how beautiful you are" -- surely an evangelistic line, emphasizing God's love for the sinner! Cheers, Greg

Posted: 13-Mar-2009 10:46 AM | Greg Clarke |

Hi Greg. Doesn't knowing how it will all end up ("with God's love victorious") tend to de-energise and de-motivate? If you knew for sure that, say, Mugabe would resign on April 1st, 2009, would you risk your life to stand up against him? Surely what really motivates us is the fact that things are likely NOT to end well UNLESS we have the courage to stand up for what matters. It's like knowing the punchline to a joke someone's telling: you listen, but there's no anticipation, curiosity or engagement. Just a dull, polite waiting-for-the-inevitable. Perhaps that's why so many Christians find it so hard to get worked up about injustice, the environment, etc.. What's the point? It'll all work out in the end. God's no 'little old lady'. He may ask us to be ‘partners’ in some sense, but we all know that He doesn't really need our puny assistance. His "plan to bring creation to completion" is, after all, “unstoppable”. The punchline will be told no matter what we do. If apathy in the face of evil is a problem, then it looks like Christian eschatology ain't the solution. Cheers, Anon.

Posted: 27-Mar-2009 04:03 PM | Anonymous |

Anon, if you've become anesthetized to the idea of Christians caring strongly about injustice or the environment, I suggest you visit Sojourners.com. With regards to apathy, as the parable of the sheep and the goats makes quite clear, Christianity teaches that one who chooses to follow an apathetic road in life might actually end up not participating fully in God's end goal of a restored, renewed, redeemed order. In this sense, one's desire to engage with God's project of restoration (indeed, 'humanism' in the very highest sense) can be seen as indicative of one's desire to enter into relationship with God himself. cheers, James

Posted: 07-Apr-2009 09:57 PM | James Garth |

Hi James, thanks for your reply. First, I didn’t claim that NO Christians care about justice or the environment, only that those who do tend to be in the minority. Second, the parable of the sheep and the goats certainly does make a connection between the afterlife and the ‘desire to engage with God's project of restoration’. Who would not be motivated to steer away from apathy after reading (and believing) THAT parable? But the source of that motivation is precisely the problem: Do justice, help the poor, comfort the lonely . . . OR ELSE! The image is about punishment and reward. This is ethics for infants. It is doing what ‘the man with the big stick’ says you must do. It construes morality as a set of rules you must unquestioningly obey, or be punished. This is the worst kind of motivation for doing the right thing. It’s disempowering, demeaning, and more likely to lead to superficial compliance (like putting a few bucks in the collection plate). Once again, eschatology ain’t the solution to apathy. There’s a good reason why the ‘social gospel’ tends to de-emphasise (if not reject entirely) the afterlife. Cheers, Anon.

Posted: 08-Apr-2009 11:54 AM | Anon. |

I can understand your frustration with the notion that ethics are somehow derived exclusively from a dictatorial 'Divine command theory', ie. "what the Big Guy says goes." But I think there's an interesting way forward here - and that is to suggest that God's 'essence' is itself what drives his moral imperatives. I tend to think that deep morality is rooted in the notion of creativity; ie. that what is 'constructive' is good, and what is 'destructive' is bad. Thus, God, the Creator, IS, by his very essence, Good-ness itself. Or as the Christian would say, very elegantly, "God is Love”. Though this divine love can be difficult to implement in practice (yes, even sometimes, we must resort to 'superficial compliance'), yet still I've noticed a very interesting phenomena. When one starts to follow Christ's teachings, one’s mind gradually grows – strangely, gently and beautifully – more and more ‘in tune’ with these moral imperatives. In short, we actually grow to like doing these things, and we start wanting to co-operate with God’s plan! St Paul described this as the ‘renewing of the mind’, and it’s a fascinating phenomena that I’ve seen at work on numerous occasions. Cheers, James.

Posted: 11-Apr-2009 04:13 PM | James Garth |

James, the internalisation of God’s ‘moral imperatives’ is not as innocuous as you suggest. The same phenomenon can be found in all religions and even secular fundamentalisms, like Maoism. (If you pray 5 times a day, recite the Koran, and follow the teachings of Mohammad, then it is likely that you will grow to like doing these things, and to co-operate with Allah’s plan. Your mind will gradually grow more and more in tune with Allah’s moral imperatives.) Yes, it is a fascinating psychological phenomenon – but also extremely dangerous. It leaves you open to mind-control, manipulation, powerful group pressures, etc. You might argue that, if the ‘teachings’ are true, then what’s the problem. But how will you know? What if some of the teachings are false? How will you tell if your mind is 'in tune' with all of them? What if your interpretation is mistaken? To internalise ‘the teachings of X’, you must always defer to those teachings when it comes to a decision. You must suspend your critical judgment, until your own thinking has become virtually indistinguishable from the teachings. This is the path to suicide-bombing, Jihad, Crusades, and Inquisitions. Cheers, Anon.

Posted: 15-Apr-2009 12:45 PM | Anon. |

A house built on sand

When investment bank Lehman Bros imploded on September 15 last year, its application for bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history. The reaction of money markets was prompt and their panic lead to a freeze in global credit and stock prices plummeting faster than a Zimbabwe dollar after a Mugabe birthday knees-up.

Vanity Fair magazine included an article in its January issue that painted a picture of the dramatically altered worlds of Hedge Fund managers, art dealers and well-heeled residents of the hallowed Hamptons. Those who mid-way through 2008 would have thought nothing of flying in a private jet or ordering ‘$1950 Cabernet Sauvignon or the $26-per-ounce Wagyu beef’ suddenly found their net worth halved or worse. The Wall St party is over and estimates of job losses in New York are around 160,000.

And while it might be hard to dredge up any sympathy for those having to sell off Central Park apartments, the ripples being felt around the world are already crossing the socio-economic categories. None of us yet knows the full extent of the fall-out. People and institutions that, even a year ago, had a look of confidence and invincibility now display a decidedly pale complexion.

At the height of the panic there were reports of church numbers swelling as people looked for solace and hope, and whatever else they think the experience will give them. Moments of crisis have a habit of throwing up existential questions and this might be a positive outcome. A cancer scare, the death of someone we love, a serious loss of one kind or another frequently become crystallising moments where what really matters – family, relationships, community – come sharply into focus. Christians would add ‘relationship with God’ to the list of those essentials of life that nonetheless can become clouded out by busyness and routine.

Jesus had something to say about building a life on what matters most:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24 – 25)

It seems that the ‘rock’ of short selling, derivatives and quick profits proved more of a sandy base after all. The question we all must ask, regardless of financial standing, is how sturdy is the base on which we have built our lives.

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Simon Smart | Thursday, March 05, 2009 | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

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