Good, huh?
Fascinating website (set up and organized like a ski resort...www.elevationchurch.cc), too.
More videos are on the site. ..including:
"Jesus Loves Red States" and (of course) "Jesus Sells Insurance."
See them all at: http://www.elevation.cc/ and click , about in the middle: "Services/Resources."
Cool value statements, too. Remember, the whole website is set up like an "elevated" ski resort. Places names are in that theme. For example, in the "Rest Room" is the Reading Room page copied below:
Quote:
Values
We recognize that God is big. He is difficult to make fit into finite
human minds. For example, how can a being be both perfect justice and perfect
mercy? In our minds we understand in part. Elevation Church believes that we are
created in the image of God. As you read our values you may notice that they
seem to contradict...
In our collective search to know God these are some of the
things that we think are important:
High-Speed and Slow Paced A church that
moves efficiently employing technology while embracing a "stop and smell the
flowers" attitude
Prayer and Laughter Paying constant attention to our physical,
spiritual and emotional life, realizing that God created humans with a body,
soul and mind
Justice and Mercy Showing mercy to our neighbors while not shying
away from correction Youthful and Maturing Handling life with wisdom, yet daring
to view life through the eyes of a child
Loud and Quiet We value "knowing the
seasons" in our gatherings, mixing the charismatic with the liturgical, speaking
and listening to God Local and Global Our goal is only to change the world, but
teaching that goal begins in our homes, offices, jobs and church.
I was thinking this might be a church that liked U2, then I saw the pastor's picture on his blog!
On the name of the church, I have to tie it to what Bono (and other rabbis) mean by the term. An excerpt below from my chapter "And Elevation begat Vertigo":
==============================
SEX LEADS TO ELEVATION
All right, let’s get to the elevation of "Elevation, " because as you will recall, it’s the only path up to Vertigo (I promise we’ll get there!) . To my amazement and delight, I stumbled upon a stunningly insightful commentary on U2’s song (and therefore prayer about, and theology of) "Elevation."
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, as theological analysis of U2 is all over the world and web. (Even as scholarly papers at the business meetings of the "I guess they’re not so square and stodgy after all" Evangelical Theological Society…Baptist PhD’s contemplating the theological catalog of Bono!) .
But this particular piece grasped and grappled so well with what U2 are (in Bono’s phrase) "on about" in "Elevation, " and in general, I cannot anymore hear or pray the song without this review at hand. It has rocked my world, theology and prayer life. I had always intuitively felt the song was about, indeed was, prayer. But to definitively second that motion it took these words, which should be read slowly, and with "Elevation" playing softly (!) in the background:
Prayer is not something (Bono) just recites...it is an
experience he enters into. There is no room for inhibition; singing and dancing are essential means by which he expresses his emotional cleaving to God….but such ardor/desire for God has to be so overwhelming that any extraneous thoughts
are excluded…If distractions are erotic in nature…and (Bono) faces to the predominance of the sexual urge at both conscious and subconscious levels, and its capacity to intrude even during prayer...then he has learned to take measures…by introducing the (ancient) doctrine of the "elevation of strange
thoughts." This is a Chasidic Jewish technique not of sublimation, but of thought conversion, whereby the beauty or desirability of the woman is latched upon and used not as a sexual but rather as a mental and spiritual stimulus. We are taught to "elevate" these thoughts by substituting the beauty of God for the
physical beauty that is currently bewitching us. (Bono) has learnedto
immediately contrast the pale reflection of beauty that humans are endowed with, on the one hand, and the supreme Divine source of authentic and enduring beauty, on the other…This is not sublimation; This is elevation.
Wow! Surely anyone who re-reads the lyrics to "Elevation," (or ventures and voyeurs a watching as Bono sings/prays/dances/incarnates it on concert DVD), will surely fall at the feet and conclusions of the reviewer, admitting that he astoundingly accurate. And I (seminary grad!) didn’t even know until I found this review that "elevation" was the official name for an ancient and established style and form of prayer. Surely this is exactly what Bono is fundamentally "on about" in this song; even in wider life and mission. Just for starters, lets interlace the lyrics to the song "Elevation" itself, and the review thereof:
Prayer is not something (Bono) just recites...it is an
experience he enters into. There is no room for inhibition; singing and dancing are essential means by which he expresses his emotional cleaving to God….but such ardor/desire for God has to be so overwhelming("You make me feel like I
could fly") that any extraneous thoughts are excluded…If distractions are erotic in nature…and (Bono) faces up to the predominance of the sexual urge ("I’ve lost all self-contol")at both conscious and subconscious("Digging up my soul/Going down/Excavation") levels, and its capacity to intrude even during prayer( "Tell
me something true/I believe in You"")...then he has learned to take measures…by introducing the ancient doctrine of the "elevation of strange thoughts." This is a Chasidic Jewish technique not of sublimation, but of thought conversion,whereby the beauty or desirability of the woman(the corner of your lips/the orbit of your hips")is latched upon and used not as a sexual but rather as a
mental ("I need you to elevate my mind") and spiritual("you elevate my soul") stimulus. We are taught to "elevate" these thoughts by substituting the beauty of God for the physical beauty that is currently bewitching us. (Bono) has
learned to immediately contrast the pale reflection of beauty that humans are endowed with, on the one hand, and the supreme Divine source of authentic and enduring beauty, on the other. This is not sublimation, but elevation.
Because it so convincing, I hope Bono read the review I quoted, and I’m guessing he may well have. Not because I found it in Rolling Stone, or another obvious publication that Mr. Vox has been known to frequent, but because it’s in a classic book called "Blessed are You: A Comprehensive Guide to Jewish Prayer," by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen, copyright 1993. That’s right, a commentary on U2’s "Elevation" written long before the song. (And of course, "elevation" as the name of a prayer-vehicle has been around for centuries).
No, I didn’t truly trick you; though I did keep that card up my sleeve (All I did to the text was insert Bono’s name where the author had "the praying person" and the like). But surely this passage is radically relevant review..uh, preview..of the record. As much as we can often find more God in the lyrics than Bono (or God) intended; this would be a case where, even if the song is about different things on different levels, it at heart revolves around this technique of prayer. It is too close a match that it’s precisely "the orbit of the hips" that catapult elevated (versus sublimated, in the rabbi’s terms; "excavated and going down" in Bono’s) prayer into action. Whether or not Bono has the "Blessed are You" book in the mad stack by his bedside or not; there can be no divorcing this song’s inspiration from its interpretation by the rabbis; or from...
continued here
Hey, Elevation. Glad you found me.
ReplyDeleteForgive my stupid mistake. Ii will fix). We californians are geographically challenged.
keep up the great work