serene cathedrals God has left/pastoral listening to drifters

As Beth knows so well, it is thrilling to find commentators (Christian or otherwise), who"get" U2.
Like this guy who writes for a Christian magazine that isn't Christian, and is a "thinking person's 'Rolling Stone'. Two excerpts that are seminary-level theological education:




"In the video for for the album's lynchpin, 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' even the vapid neon whirl of Las Vegas feels like a desert cathedral, serene and awesome--but a day after God left town for points unknown."
-Jeff Leven, Paste Magazine 2/08 p, 72
Amen; our context is always vapid neon cathedrals the day after.



"The revelation in U2's 2oth anniversary reissue of the Joshua Tree slips in through the back door. Tucked into the bonus DVD...is a 40 odd minute documentary...this short film catches a band in transitionally vulnerable moments. The members of U2 lope around a middle of nowhere bar humming country songs...Bono even makes a polite audience for a dirt-caked drifter in an empty parking lot. Capturing would-be rock starts in a moment of pause that's simultaneously earnest and mournful, this glancing snapshot of the band's self-imposed sojourn in the American hinterlands bleeds a humlity and a sense of pregnant promise that--reflected back into the album itself--is nothing less than glorious."-Jeff Leven, Paste Magazine 2/08 p, 72

That moment of Bono with the "dirt-caked" drifter is haunting: it's a liminal image of every pastoral listening moment...one listens to learn; as the drifter is inevitably an angel, America, and/or Jesus in thin disguise. It's viewable in the clip here (as is the aforementioned music video)if you start at about the 24:48.

Seminary indeed.

Pastor Bono has even been know to go bowling with fans after a concert...
Outside, it's America.

More on Joshua Tree idea from Beth, and also in the book accompanying the reissue, especially the piece by the Edge.