An authentic blended worship: part three... (creativity and U2)

NOTE:  Here are my worship notes for this coming Sunday, August 21, 2011, in what is Part Three of the "authentically blended worshp" series.  In the previous Sunday's I have spoken about listening for God's still speaking voice in popular music, the prophetic presence of the Lord in contemporary music and now U2's creative use of imagination.  I am deeply grateful, too for Raewynne Whitely and Beth Maynard's work, Get Up Off Your Knees, which I read again for this message as well as Christian Scharen's One Step Closer. This quote says it all for me:  "I see U2 as an icon leading us one step closer to the cross - a place of both suffering because of the world's rejection and violent killing of Jesus, as well as a joyful hope that comes from God's raising him to new life over violence, hatred and even death."  If you are around on Sunday morning at 10:30 am, please join us.

“In a culture where religion belongs to the private world and pop culture to the public,” writes the Anglican scholar, Raewynne Whiteley, “we have tended to think of religion and pop culture as two areas divided by a vast chasm.” The return of the American Culture Wars – just in time for the presidential battles of 2012 I might add – are a case in point pitting the fiercely devoted fans of liberation music, art, style and culture against the overtly pious advocates of the End Times.

Usually this clash between contemporary Puritans like Governor Rick Perry or Representative Michelle Bachmann, who discern the Devil lurking in everything from economics and race to sexuality and art, and the vast majority of us – hip hoppers and soccer moms and dads, rock and rollers and middle of the road business people – who fear an erosion of our hopes and dreams through the threat of a renewed theocracy, is marketed and manipulated by both camps and framed as a collision of essential values.

• “Either you with us… or you’re against us” claimed one of our Presidents. Either you stand for God and Country or you fall for those who want to destroy America.

• Their opponents are equally as divisive and dismissive in their eloquence: If you want to keep Big Brother out of your bedroom… if you want to end the greed of Wall Street and take care of your neighbors on Main Street… if you love Mother Earth and hate those who are raping her with pollution…

Enter the unique public ministry of the rock band, U2, who found a way of making allies with the Religious Right and the so-called Secular Left around feeding the hungry and caring for HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. Not only have they harnessed the genius of capitalism with the sin of conspicuous consumption to serve the Lord’s call to compassion and justice, they have also challenged presidents and prime ministers, religious leaders and movie stars to stand and deliver healing and hope for the wretched of the earth. As front man, Bono says with his usual aplomb: "Eight million people die every year for the price of going out with your friends to the movies and buying an ice cream.”

Literally for about $30 a head per year, you could save 8 million lives. Isn't that extraordinary? Preventable disease – not calamity, not famine, nothing like that -- but preventable disease - just for the lack of medicines. That is cheap, that is a bargain….But we've got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are. Outside these gates, and even within them, the culture of idealism is under siege, beset by materialism and narcissism and all the other isms" of indifference. (Bono)

And let me suggest to you two truths that embrace to inform the music, spirituality, commitment and conviction of U2:

• First, they understand themselves to be artists of irony and creativity in a strange and wonderful era where celebrity is currency and can be used for good or ill.

• And second they know that in truth religion and pop culture have not been opponents but have always been connected.

In the medieval period, mystery plays and their accompanying and often bawdy music taught the great themes of Christian theology to the uneducated; in the sixteenth century, (the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther wondered why “the Devil had all the good music” as he listened to the tunes in German beer halls.) Even in the twentieth century, faith has frequently found expression… in the popular music of jazz and blues or even the explicit questioning of Joan Osborne’s song, “What If God Was One of Us?” (Whiteley, Get Up Off Your Knees, p. 158)

So this morning, we’re going to share four key songs from the U2 catalog – four songs that speak to their unique commitment to compassion and justice born of their equally profound calling as Christians of the 21st century – that are simultaneously prayers and a summons to action. In ways that have eluded US politicians and church leaders alike, these guys have found a way through the culture wars.

• They get things done in the name of the Lord and build a true community of former enemies in the process.

• They insist that God’s grace trumps karma – and that this demands a response of gratitude and hope that becomes flesh in our broken world.

And they do it with artistry, humor, finesse and irony: U2 never hides their doubts or their faith – they see them as embracing – nor do they hide their darkness from the light or their fear from their courage. This is part of what it means to know God’s creative invitation with our imagination. If you were here last week, I spoke about meeting God in the prophetic presence: the embrace of the Lord in solidarity, challenge and paradox. Today let me call your attention to the One who is Holy through the creative use of our imagination. Preacher and scholar, Eugene Peterson, puts it like this:

One of the maddeningly enduring habits of the human race is to insist on domesticating God. We are determined to tame God. We figure out ways to harness God to our projects. We try to reduce God to a size that conveniently fits our plans and ambitions and tastes. And we are pleased when we find that there are men and women coming alongside us, offering a rendition of gods and goddesses that give us what we want, when we want it and on our own terms. Publicists and propagandists, joined by a surprising number of leading religious figures, are among this company. They cannily manipulate our hunger for meaning and mystery to sell us their product or enlist us in their cause. They are masters at using some so-called “spirituality” as a ruse for exploiting our anxieties and hormones.

And then a prophet shows up and tells us we can’t do it. We can’t fit God into our plans – rather we must fit into his. We can’t use God… like a tool or an appliance or a credit card. For prophets, you see, confront us with the sovereign presence of God in our lives – and if we won’t face up, they grab us by the scruff of our necks and shake us into attention. (Peterson)

So, rather than explaining this truth with even more words, like John Calvin said about Holy Communion, I would rather experience it. Let’s enter an experiential conversation in four parts by listening to the Creative Imagination of the Lord with U2.

Part One: Hopefully Searching for God in Reality: Genesis 9:8-17 – “Beautiful Day”

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time these days weeping: not because I’m clinically depressed, but when I consider what is taking place to God’s green earth and my sisters and brothers throughout creation, many times I am full to overflowing with grief.

• The famine in the Horn of Africa – and the agony of everyone involved.

• The painful and excruciatingly complex wars for liberation in Libya and Yemen to say nothing of the futility of Afghanistan and Iraq.

• The mean-spirited greed and impotence of our own politicians.

The return of religious fanaticism to national politics – the pollution of our resources – the abuse of our loved ones – the agonizing if existent economic recovery: I’m not alone in my tears and fears as the riots and rage in England, the Tea Party in the US or the war on public employees make clear. This is a sad and bewildering time, yes?

And in a eras like our own “it is easy to imagine that God has abandoned us… not so much as individuals… but abandoned us on an earthly scale… abandoned the human race, left us to our own devices, to the consequences of our own flawed (and sinful) decision making. (Whitely, p. 5)

To which U2 says, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself – or alienated from the love of God – there is something going on that is much bigger than your feelings or social analysis. There is God’s historic commitment to be with us ALWAYS – even unto the end of the ages – born of a time when God’s people were completely clueless.

• Read Genesis 9: 8-17

• We don’t have to believe the historicity of Noah’s tale to know what it feels like to be given a sign that the rain and the flood and all our fears are not the end of the story.

Each of us has experienced something of the rainbow sign in our lives often when we needed it the most. But just so that we don’t miss the point, the Bible concludes by telling us: NEVER again, saith the Lord, will I leave you alone or feeling abandoned. NEVER – and my proof is my sign – the sign of the rainbow.


With creativity and imagination, we are reminded that God has given us a sign and the assurance that earth will never again be destroyed – and this is a promise born of the heart of the Lord. Part one of today’s story involves learning how to search for God with hope in the midst of reality.

Part Two: Creatively Using the Pain of Reality: Psalm 40 –“40”

Now no one – God included – said this search was easy or even simple – and that is clearly the second part of this conversation with U2. That’s why they use the Psalms so often in their music – especially the songs of lament – there is honesty and anger and real humanity in the Psalms.Bono once said, “King David was the first blues singer… a man of faith who believed enough to get angry when it looked like the Lord wasn’t coming through. In fact, David is to the Psalms what Elvis is to rock and roll: authenticity – depth – passion and honesty.”

• Have you ever cried out to the Lord, “How long?!?”

• Have you ever despaired that God wasn’t listening – or didn’t care?

• Have you ever cried yourself to sleep wishing that you might die before the morning arrived so you wouldn’t have to face the aching emptiness?

THAT is part of what the Psalter asks us to pray – pray with the integrity of Job – and with just as much passion. And maybe you will want to join in on when the Lord’s servant cries out: how long?!?


If you have ever seen U2 live – and I know some of you have – you know how powerful it is when 40,000 – or 100,000 other voices join yours in worship in a concert stadium and cry out to the Lord: How long? This quest to use our pain creatively to move into God’s hope is hard work…

Part Three: Honestly Accepting the Cross: John 15: 12 – “When Love Comes to Town”

In the Christian tradition, you cannot escape the Cross of Jesus Christ in the journey of faith: you may want to avoid it, you may think it too horrible or irrelevant for a 21st century faith and you may think you know better than God because YOU would never make the Cross the center of a religion. But the Cross is what gives shape, form and meaning to Christ’s words:

• Read John 15: 12

• Preacher, Julie Bogart, once said that most preachers focus on the first part of this word – YOU love one another – but Christ’s emphasis was on the ending – as I have loved you.

On the Cross – on a trust born of God’s love and presence – not human ethics or discipline: you don’t think Jesus was able to endure the Cross because we was smart or committed do you?
That is only a piece of the story – because the truth is that he could only go to the Cross in love and grace by God’s presence – not his own sense of right and wrong. Jesus looked into his own fears and opened himself to the only power capable of leading him through the wilderness all the way to Golgotha: God. And I am talking about God’s love – God’s grace – God’s strength – God’s presence – and God’s promise.

• How did St. Paul put it? Left to our own we will be okay for a bit but then no matter how hard we try on our own we will end up doing exactly what we hate.

• Romans 7: the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope.

So using a really ROUGH and tumble sound – bringing the premier blues man of the Americas, Mr. B.B. King into the mix, too – U2 gives us an example of what it feels like to face our need and then surrender to God’s love so that we can face even the cross.


Part Four: Openly Facing the Challenge of Grace – Philippians 3:8-16 – “I Still Haven’t Found”

Let me bring this to a close: with creativity and imagination, U2 works at being prophets to pop culture – and through pop culture to the world beyond – even religion. They speak of hope as well as fear, they see both the light and the dark, too. What’s more, they insist that an authentic faith is NEVER private. There is always an inner journey – Jesus was explicit about spending time quietly in prayer – and the 21st century needs a LOT more introspection.

At the same time, without a commitment to challenging injustice with compassion, religion can often be part of the problem. St. Paul understood that as well as anyone and insisted that those who followed Jesus never come to think that they have the quest for faith all figured out.

• Read Philippians 3: 8-16

• If we think that having a private faith is enough who will speak for the forgotten and voiceless? If we trust only in our hearts but do nothing with our lives to give shape and form to Jesus, how will others come to know the Lord?

• And if our faith is built just on words, how does the Word become Flesh in our generation?

This closing song asks all those questions – and I thought it made sense to ask them as a community rather than just a singer or a band – so let’s have the gospel choir come up so that we might bring this home, ok?



Hope in reality – creatively using our pain to move closer to God – embracing the Cross – and wrestling with the challenges of grace are a pop culture catechism that I am down with. Like St. Paul told us:

Let's keep focused on these goals, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.