Blessings Aren't Just for the Ones Who Kneel.

Another song from the album, The Best of: 1980-1990, that contains Christian connotations, is the song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For ” While there are some Christians who maintain that Bono is renouncing his faith in this song, others maintain that Bono is simply expressing personal struggles with his faith and with temptation. Still others maintain that Bono is expressing his struggle with the current world.

Whether or not Bono is indeed facing a crossroad in his faith is mere speculation, but there can be no speculation on the Christian imagery that is so evident throughout this song. Verses seven through eight read,

                      I believe in the Kingdom Come
                      Then all the colours will bleed into one
                      Bleed into one
                      But yes, I’m still running

                      You broke the bonds
                      And you loosed the chains
                      Carried the cross of my shame
                      Oh my shame, you know I believe it

This last verse seems to indicate that Bono is a follower of Jesus Christ because he acknowledges that he has been set free from shame on account of what was done for him on the cross.  If Bono is affirming his faith, then how can he also be asserting that he has not found what he is looking for in Jesus Christ?According to Stockman, Bono is not speaking of his discontent in Jesus Christ but of his discontent with the current world. Stockman writes, “To have found what you’re looking for actually means you have died and gone to heaven!”

At the same time that Christians believe the cross has changed their lives.  There is still a hope in one day moving on to a place where there is no AIDS, poverty, violence, division in the Church, selfish motives, and other things associated with a fallen world. This whole idea of Christians still not finding what they’re looking for, falls in line with what Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

From U2’s album, “U2 - The Best of 1990-2000Mysterious Ways,” also contains Christian content. It is interpreted that Bono is speaking about the Holy Spirit moving in mysterious ways, because the last verse directly refers to spirits.

                     Move you, spirits move you
                     Move, spirits ‘its move you, oh yeah
                     Does it move you?
                     She moves with it
                     Lift my days, and light up my nights, oh  

Bono has publicly said that he believes the spirit is a feminine thing, which explains the feminine imagery he uses throughout the song. Another Christian component to this song is the last lines in the fourth verse which read,

                    If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
                    On your knees, boy!

These lines indicate that prayer, or more specifically, repentance, is needed to reach heaven.This falls in line with Romans 10:9-10, which reads,

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

U2 has made music for the people, for you and me. Its not only about faith and the idea that you must follow one God, clearly if you listen to the music as a whole you will find that that blessings are for everyone.

Calling All Christians

Many believers criticize Bono for claiming to be Christian and failing to live in accordance with Evangelical standards and norms.  Steve Stockman summarizes the cynicism of Christians as, “they drink and smoke and swear, how can you believe that they are still Christians?

Likewise Mark Joseph explains many believe U2 is successful in the entertainment industry because “they [are] willing to submerge strong and devout statements of faith and devotion, and instead write songs that [are] vague at best, avoiding whenever possible direct references to God” Despite criticisms, it is clear that Bono’s personal spiritual journey deeply impacts his music.  He boldly quotes Psalms, chants Hallelujah, and openly worships God in front of stadiums of secular audiences.

His lifestyle reflects a strong relationship with his wife Alison Stewart and commitment to his four children.  The humanitarian causes he advocates resonate from a Christian point of view with Biblical imperatives declaring the necessity of faith’s alignment with social justice.

Ultimately, the extent to which Bono lives between Christ and culture is debated.

Todays suggested reading One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God

Oscar Snubs, Denver Rolls, Jesus Rocks U2

While there were 63 songs contending for a place at this year’s Oscars, only five made the final cut. Last year it was Oscar champ Bruce Springsteen who was snubbed for his Golden Globe-winning title track to “The Wrestler.” This year U2 and Paul McCartney got slapped down by the music branch of the academy for tunes written specifically for films. U2 wrote and performed “Winter” for “Brothers,” while McCartney did the same for “(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine.”

Both of these musical powerhouses have a connection to the Academy Awards. U2 lost a best song bid at the 2002 Oscars for “The Hands That Built America” from “Gangs of New York” to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” from “8 Mile.”

This year, the Irish rockers and Sir Paul both lost the best song race at the Golden Globes to “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart.” That track — written by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett — is in contention at the Oscars, as are two tunes from “The Princess and the Frog” by Oscar champ Randy Newman, “Take It All” from “Nine” by two-time Tony winner Maury Yeston and “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas.

With such musical pedigrees, how did U2 and McCartney not make it into the final five this year? Oscars’ Rule 16 sets out the criteria for winnowing the list of eligible songs down to the final nominees. There was no need for the executive committee of the music branch to recommend that there be only three nominees, as the number of songs far exceeded the threshold of 25 that might have triggered such action.

Unlike other branches — such as acting, which uses a preferential ballot — the music makers screen clips of all the eligible entries and then score them on a sliding scale from 6 to 10, with half-point increments in between. If a member has a song in contention, they are ineligible to vote.

As per the rulebook, “If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees. If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees.”

With five nominees this year, we know they all scored at least 8.25. Perhaps the tunes by U2 and McCartney broke that barrier as well but fell short of the even higher scores registered by the nominees.

U2 Appears Mile High

U2’s appearance at Invesco Field at Mile High on June 12 will be the biggest single-band concert in Colorado this year, but the third annual Mile High Music Festival will likely draw more people. The event will take over the fields surrounding Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Aug. 14-15, organizers told The Denver Post. Moving the festival from July to August has multiple benefits, according to promoter Chuck Morris.

“It won’t be as hot in August,” Morris, president of AEG Live Rocky Mountains, predicted. “And we’re also a week after Lollapalooza, which will help with the routing of some of these bands.”

Morris’ team is busy booking, but he’s not announcing any acts until his initial artist announcement, due in early March.

U2’s Bono Says Yes to Jesus,

By Stephen K. Ryan

“but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma”  …Bono of U2

Before President Obama commits  to  a meeting with cause celeb, The Dalai Lama, in Washington D.C., a meeting that will certainly enrage the already testy Chinese, he may want to brush up on the more sublime spiritual aspects of Buddhism and the Dalia Lama’s notion of Karma. Mr. Obama seems to be surrounded by bad Karma at a time when the healing benefits of “Grace”, at least according to Bono may be what is called for.

According to U2’s Bono, many people  in the United States misunderstand, or at least he did initially, the ideals of  “beauty and goodness” found in Buddhism and Karma, and he suggests  that the “Grace” of Christianity is often overlooked and may do wonders for one’s soul.

In the  book, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books), the iconic rocker shared his thoughts on numerous topics with the  French music journalist and friend who has been with the band since the beginning.  In the book, Bono, offered the reader a glimpse into his “Christian” heart rarely seen.

Bono makes an explicit confession of faith. Bono says “but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one,” explains Bono. “And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that… . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

Bono says to Michka Assayas, a secular journalist “Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate.’ … So what you’re left with is either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nut case… . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nut case, for me that’s far fetched.”

Perhaps with a little more grace in the President’s life, Mr. Obama’s karma may begin to improve.

Letter to the Editor

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