Welcome! You have accidentally reached the blog of a heteroclite follower of Jesus: dave wainscott. I'm
"pushing toward the unobvious" as I post thinkings/linkings
re: Scripture, church and culture. Hot topics include: temple tantrums, time travel, sexuality/spirituality, U2kklesia, role of the pastor, God-haunted music/art..and subversive videos like these.
Having been a fervent follower of U2 since 1980, upon hearing "I Will Follow" on the amazing WPLR New Haven (Thanks to St Stoneman) I did (follow)...
And having been a fervent follower of Jesus since Spring 1983..
..when I had the chance, just days after signing on to that second followership, to see/hear/experience U2 at the New Haven Coliseum--a concert that was so historic and Holy Spirited that the leitourgia had no name, and inevitably they later had to literally blow up the arena (watch it here!), as no act could possibly top U2 (or even their alarming opening act)...
As one with wholly/holy obsession with said band , and an unrepentant bibliophile, these three books are among my favorites...and I own a few...
thousand.
Scot Calhoun, who directs the U2 Conference, has edited and curated these three voluminous (and luminous) volumes. Academic books about U2, including one on religious impulse? Order them yesterday.
Oh, before you go any further, soundtrack this coming conversation about Angela's observations with an opening act/prelude: the classic interview excerpt of Bono on Gay Byrne's "The Meaning of Life"; you can watch it below. See you after the break. You might even sense the religious impulse to be baptized/renew your baptismal vows after viewing this short clip...which may be precisely the the point.
The short section I have in mind starts at 1:55 (though do watch the first section as well, as Bono masterfully adopts/adapts the classic C.S. Lewis trilemma apologetic ( popularly called the "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" apologetic).
Wow.. I hear that hushed silence from you after the video ended.
When I show this clip in class, it inevitably happens, even from non U2 fans!
That short section has moved me for years, not just because it is a humble, diplomatic but direct confession of Christian faith from the singer, but this particular exchange has often given me the chills and holy hush; it always felt deeply mystical...even liturgical..in a way I could never quite put my finger on..
Until now, thanks to Angela, who says on p. 162:
A video of an interview of Bono with veteran Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne, from his program "The Meaning of Life," includes an exchange oddly echoing the renewal of baptismal vows that take place in some Christian churches at the Easter:
Bono: I find it hard to accept that all the millions and millions of lives, half the earth, for two thousand years, have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter. I just —I don't believe it.
Byrne: So therefore it follows that you believe (Jesus] was divine.
Bono: Yes.
Byrne: And therefore it follows that you believe that he rose physically from
Bono: Yes. I've no problem with miracles. (Laughs] I'm livingaround them. I am one.
Byrne: So when you pray, then, you pray to Jesus.
Bono: The risen Jesus.
Byrne: And you believe that he made promises which will come true.
The simple call and response. The rhythmic cadence. The simple but heartfelt "Yes" of Bono's answers the the questions of the host/inquisitive inquisitor/pastor Byrne. And even though the interviewer has been characterized as an agnostic/atheist, Byrne didn't see himself that way. He was more of a struggling Catholic. Someone
called him "a loyal if questioning Catholic later in life."
His genuine interest in Bono's responses are based on decades of friendship . I felt he was even rooting/praying for Bono to confess in a very Christ-honoring and orthodox way.
At the funeral Mass for the late Gay Byrne on Friday, the principal celebrant, Fr Leonard Maloney SJ said those who knew the broadcaster well knew him as “a man of faith”.
In his homily at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin, the Jesuit provincial said Byrne’s faith was not the kind of faith that has all the answers. “It was the kind that asks all the questions. link
Bono's "yes" answers called to mind the many riffs and improvisations on the word I have heard over the years as a pastor officiating baptisms/ renewals. Sometimes it is said tearfully and barely audibly ; sometimes shouted as if from a rooftop. A student of mine's recent response was (video here)
But something about Bono's quiet, confident "yes' resonates with me...and I know it spoke to Gay Byrne like no armtwisting evangelistic sermon could.
"All the promises are yes," as St Paul asserted . . A confession of faith in summative one-word microcosm.
'Oddly echoing the renewal of baptismal vows," Angela so articulately commented.
Yes, that's what I had felt but had no language for.
Echoes are important.
Here is one version of the renewal of baptism vows:
V. Do you reject Satan?
R. I do.
V. And all his works?
R. I do.
V. And all his empty promises?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
R. I do.
V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.
Also, don't get me started on the two words in the sample ceremony above; and Bono's last and final answer, where it felt right to "say more" and add only two words: "Yes..I do"
They are still going strong as they near their seventieth.
May it be with all who we baptize, marry and speak to.
And interview about the meaning of life.
Amen,
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
"In his interview in ‘The Meaning of Life’ Gay said this to Martin Sheen: ‘Suppose it’s all true, and suppose you get to meet God at the pearly gates. What will you say to Him?’After hardly a pause, the seasoned actor said: ‘Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.’”
In a great sermon, Beth Maynard---on a day when her church is celebrating its architecture---picks up on the arch/arc of Philippians 2:5-11, and asks us to imagine where we "got on" it.
See below.
If you could go back in time and ask Ralph Adams Cram, the renowned architect of this church, what he meant by Gothic style, I’m sure you would get a very complex answer. I wish I were able to be at Adult Forum today to hear more about how Emmanuel’s building reflects Cram’s ideals. However, I think one part of his answer, and probably the major part of the answer you’d get from most of us amateurs if you asked us to describe Gothic style, would be this: It has arches.
Specifically, arches that soar up and come to a point at the top. Our arches here are in an earlier, less pointy style than some, but as you look around our building you’ll see arches everywhere. Even from the outside. And it’s quite lovely, I think, that the same day we feature Cram, we also have probably the most famous poetic arch in Scripture in our Epistle reading. ....
Except that it’s a reverse arch. It doesn’t start from the bottom and move to a point at the top and down again; it goes from unimaginable heights down to a tragically pointed depth and then back up.
The poetic arch that sits in the middle of today’s text from Philippians, scholars think, is probably a hymn that Paul is quoting, a familiar text everyone would already know. I wish it were printed as poetry in your insert today, but you can hear the reverse arcing movement, the down and then up, as it’s read.
[Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. [There’s the bottom point of the arch; and now we move back up.]
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
You can hear that arcing movement: From the ultimate height, equality with God, all the way down to the depths of human degradation, and back up into God’s life again. There are so many things one could say about this extraordinary text, this great reverse arch. But the two that I want to focus on today are first, what it shows us about God himself, and then, what it shows us about how God does business with us.
Some of you know that I was brought up an atheist. I thinkcontinued, link
There's a story about an Edge-Brennan Manning encounter that has been around for awhile, first recounted by Phillip Yancey. I just found Manning's own recollection of the encounter, as he tells it to Trudy Beyak in her 2013 book, "The Mother Heart of God: Unveiling the Mystery of the Father's Maternal Love."
Both accounts follow, as they complement each other well (I have always been intrigued by two of Beth Maynard's comments when she first blogged the Yancey version: 1)She once was a musician at a service Manning was speaking at (do tell!) and 2) "My personal theory: U2 answered such questions years ago and this was
more a test of Manning than a request for information. But maybe not")
Yancey:
Phillip Yancey : I think it’s OK to tell this story. U2 came to New Orleans and played in the Superdome. Brennan Manning [The Ragamuffin Gospel, Signature of Jesus was in New Orleans, so they looked him up because they had read his books. Edge [guitarist] said, "OK, Brennan, I have two questions for you." I forget the first one. The second one was: "Can I glorify God by being the best rock guitarist I can be?" And Brennan said, "Absolutely you can. If that’s your calling, you can." In a lot of ways Edge is a more thoughtful, content-oriented guy than Bono. But he’s aware that Bono’s the front guy. [He’s probably thinking:] "Bono is the media-savvy [one]. He can handle the crowds, and that’s not my goal, and that’s not my calling. I probably wouldn’t be very good at it. But I can be God’s guitarist!"
Steven Curtis Chapman : Wow, that’s incredible.
Philip : Bono is an interesting example here because [U2] tried intentionally not to be a "Christian rock band," even though some of the guys are strong Christians. Yet he came to a point where he said in USA Today, "We live in this crazy celebrity culture. Like an athlete, I’ve got the attention of the world; so what matters most? To me what matters most is the continent of Africa, AIDS and the debt and the poverty these people live under." It’s actually the most Christian continent in a lot of ways. "So I’m going to use this crazy platform I have because I play music and use it for things I believe in."
He wasn’t doing that 10-15 years ago, and all these Christians were wondering, "Are they still Christians?" But he’s very strategic. He waited until his credentials were secure. He can walk into George Bush’s office as he does because he didn’t get pigeon-holed as a Christian rock musician. But now he’s matured, and he’s saying, "How am I a steward of this crazy celebrity culture?" link
Bevak's book offers Manning's version, in a section called "U2, Grandma, and Butterscotch Pies":
When Brennan Manning shares his life story in public, the Spirit of God often moves people to tears and to their knees. Upon rising from prayer, many people, including members of the legendary rock group U2 are never the same.
Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, is renowned for hid down-to-earth manner of comforting people with the good news about God's love.
We sit down together during our interview, and he tells me a couple of great stories
One day he was asked to meet personally with U2 guitarist Dave Evans, otherwise known by his stage name "The Edge," because he needed some spiritual advice. The guitarist was anxiously striving to be faithful to God, but was worried about how to have a meaningful prayer life. He told Manning he wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. But would that goal make him arrogant? This was not a characteristic he wanted to have as a sincere disciple of God.
"I assured The Edge that his heart's desire to be the best guitarist in the world was borne out of God's wonderful love and will for him and his life," explains Manning.
The author gave him some practical advice.
God gives each one of us an array of talents and a burning passion to strive for excellence so that we may reflect glory and praise back to our Creator who formed us in our mother's womb in the first place, says Manning. As the guitarist contemplated Manning's advice, it transformed his prayer life and he experienced God's peace in a way he had never felt before. -pp 166-67 of Trudy Beyak's "The Mother Heart of God: Unveiling the Mystery of the Father's Maternal Love."
One of my fantasies for some time has been offering a retreat based around how U2 have worked and reworked “I Will Follow” over their career. Their 29 years of changes to this song track a classic spiritual pilgrimage: from seeking to fervor to sending to struggle to reconciliation. The constants have been the chorus and verse structure, Larry’s drums, Edge’s relentless two-string assault, and Bono’s stalker chant: a minor third in the verses and one obsessive note in the chorus. But so much else has morphed from year to year.
The lyrics are an obvious example. As the seasons of U2’s work pass, is it a “mother” or “lover” in verse 2? “They pulled the four walls down,” or “you tore my four walls down”? Is the narrator’s predicament being “lost,” “caught at a stoplight,” or “chased by amazing grace”? And does the story end neatly with him “found,” or is the verdict Popmart’s trapped, angry “you took the soul from me/you put a hole in me”? (Or do we even sing the song at all? Not on ZooTV we don’t.)
Then there’s the mood of the center bridge. The original on Boy to me comes out eerie and maybe even a tad frightening. (“Your eyes” — they fascinate me, I can’t stay away, but when I do “go in there,” what am I getting myself into? ) In the later 80s it’s a more trusting encounter, and the transition out of it turns exultant. But the whole section is summarily cut for the Pop era: not quite able to meet those eyes just now? After 2001, the bridge returns, often with an extended numinous improvisation, band and crowd hovering in the moment as
at the Elevation show in Turin: “Let the Spirit descend on this place/let the lines disappear off my face.”
Or finally the ending. “I Will Follow” concludes with a high-energy drive to the final note, but on the studio version 20-year-old Bono delivers his last word as if sleepwalking, almost as a question: “…follow…?” However, listen to a live performance just a year or so later, and caution is gone as he’s shouting “I will!”
The band rush the tempo. It’s a vow. In Popmart, he’s age 37, “I Will Follow” has become a cry of mother-loss paired with “Mofo,” and the end is broken and desperate: “Don’t walk away!” And post-midlife, during the Vertigo tour, sometimes the song actually winds up in Koine Greek: “Agape, agape.”
Stalking agape, or facing the reality that it will never stop stalking you, or renewing your vows to it as in a lifelong marriage – those kinds of relational negotiations backdrop all the different versions of “I Will Follow.” If it’s in the setlist for the upcoming tour, I’ll be looking for it to reveal yet another nuance of how four artists are living a life in love with Love.
--
Re: The quote at Turin mentioned above: variations:
PS an interesting exaltation i noticed during I will follow in the elevation san remo concert..."let the lines disappear on my face, let the spirit descend on this place..our spirits will never grow old..."also..i noticed a different intro than usual on the oakland Nov 15 concert to streets...."Who's gonna fall in front of Thee...Who's gonna fall in front of Thee...You have my heart. You have my heart" link
Hat tip to Beth for my title; and my apologies to her for my twisting it.
Her wonderful chapter on "Where the Leitourgua has No Name: U2 Live" should be read well by the well-read (it's in this book; for more on leitourgia, see this),
Actually, the way I nodded to her title and tweaked it is itself perhaps a cheap example of the liturgical experimentation I am encouraging below. Hopefully you will get the reference.
(As Beth herself has confessed about me, I can be "ever-prolix" (:..)
Paul Ryan blogs:
One ordinary Sunday morning, I sat in my pew praying customary words of
confession and hearing familiar words of assurance. My pastor
announced, as he did every Sunday, “God assures us with these words of
pardon . . .” But at that moment, the words surprised me. Immediately, I
turned to my wife and whispered excitedly, “Pardon! That’s an image of
the atonement!”
I had been studying notes outlining five images of the atonement: Christus Victor,
ransom, penal substitution, sacrifice, and moral example. My professor,
John Witvliet, had encouraged us to consider how we might balance these
images in worship. That morning, I realized that the word pardon
is a courtroom image (penal substitution). And I realized that we had
been introducing our words of assurance with this image exclusively.
Since that day, I’ve been reflecting on how we might enrich and balance
our confession through attention to other images of the atonement... LINK
SOO..what would it sound/look like to shamelessly incorporate into corporate worship/leitourgia a shameless
Christus Victor view of atonement (Ryan's article offers examples)
I don't know what it would look ;ike..maybe a high church Zoo TV? (: Think of ...and suggest below...some practical examples of such creative calls to worship, collects etc..
I know this next example is taking it too far; but I remember Shawn Rabon and I thinking out loud how to gently satirize (Yes, I know "gently satirize" is oxymoronic, but...) the tendency of some Christians to, during prayer meetings, address Satan more than God. We wondered if opening a meeting with "Dear Satan" would make the point. (:
Beth notes that Galbraith "employs Jean Baudrillard's distinction between the production of meaning and the seductive capacity of text' and uses such as a grid for the U2 discussion.
How
have U2 achieved popular and economic success in a music industry
which, on the face of it, is not terribly receptive towards pop-stars
who like to write hymns and - as on their U2 360 tour - build
cathedrals? This paper examines the role played by U2’s emphasis on the
formal, mystical, and experiential aspects of their music, and how that
emphasis coincides with a religious trend which since at least the 1960s
can be located throughout the arts, popular music, and—in a perhaps
surprising association—charismatic and evangelical Christianity. To do
so, the paper concentrates on the manner in which the sonic fabric of
U2's 2009 album No Line On The Horizon is subtly interwoven with
Christian hymns, in ways that are suggestive, evocative, and usually
highly ambiguous. When—as often in U2 songs—the song’s seductive form
takes priority over the production of content, and evocation takes
precedence over precise meaning, U2 manage to open up a space for what,
to many listeners affected by a prevalent neo-Romanticism, will count as
a spiritual experience.
More Info: in
The Counter-Narratives of Radical Theology and Rock’n’Roll: Songs of
Fear and Trembling. Ed. Mike Grimshaw. Radical Theologies. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. link
"the simplistic mysticism of the Alumbrados was superseded by the mystical theology of the Converso monk Francisco Osuna. Osunsa's follower, Saint Teresa of Avila, became the greatest mystic of Spain, and her own disciple and partner, Saint John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz), is Spain's towering mystical poet.
The mystical theology was opposed to the prevailing scholastic theology. God was not an object of knowledge--certainly not the kind of dogmatic knowledge promulgated by the ruling scholastic schools--but of love, and ultimately, union. To reach God the soul must sink deeply into itself and be purified of all thoughts of created things. The lover of God must be free of sensation, desire and rational reasoning; she or he must transcend all particular forms of life, thought, and wish, and plunge in silent concentration into
that "dark night of the soul" (the title of Juan de la Cruz's best known poetic collection), from which God alone might respond to his love. Ceremonies and vocal prayers are equally of little use. What matters is the heart; and the heart, in order to find its religious intensity and depth, must be liberated from external distractions like speech and ritual.
Yes, Osuna insisted, this does not lead to nothingness, but rather to supreme being and totality. Our thinking nothing is also thinking all. for in it we think nondiscursively of Him who by wonderous eminence is everything." -Yovel, p. 255
The line I am trainspotting here in U2's "Invisible" is one of the following (the actual lyric is debated; it's a new song and no official lyrics are available):
"I don't think about you that much..unless I stop to think at all"
"I don't even think about you that much...unless I stop to think it all"
"I don't think about you that much...unless I start to think at all"
"I don't even think about you that much..unless I start to think it all"
As if that's not enough, a few pages later, in an analysis of Teresa's spirituality:
"When the soul is out of itself in the state of union, it suddenly surges into great heights, like a huge tongue of flame bursting from a fire, or a giant eagle kidnapping the soul and flying with it to majestic heights. This creates an experience of sublimity, leading to sweet, painless suffering during which Teresa remembered herself as "flooded with tears without pain." Her description suggests that the whole human being, and not only the soul as opposed to the body, attains elevated existence." -Yovel, bold emphases mine
Of course, here is another tie to a key line of "Invisible":
a body in a soul
This line is probably partially triggered by a known influencer of Bono, C.S. Lewis.
(See a great post on this song by Tim Neufeld here. Excerpt: "He often suggests that spirit and flesh are inextricably linked : 'A body in a soul'—really, did he sing that?? Yep. That’s some great theology! Could be the subtitle for a whole course on theology of the human person.
But, it also makes one wonder..as Bono read Teresa as well
..or Yovel?
¿Quién sabe?
Of course, fans will also note Yovel/s/Teresa's reference above to elevation, yet another U2 song, based on a mystical prayer technique.
I have wondered
about his bedside reading before...See:
The video for the U2 tribute song for Mandela (for the "Long Walk to Freedom" film, and released just weeks before his death), "Ordinary Love," works on a few different levels, as do the lyrics.
But not many seem to have gotten that the basic inspiration was the relationship between Mandela and his wife:
U2.com: Can you explain the idea behind the words disappearing?
Oliver:
It’s about the difficulty of permanent love. The correspondence between
Nelson Mandela and Winnie (his then wife) worked so well within
confinement but when he was released, the real world took its toll and
made it go away. So it was about the lack of anything permanent, really.
It’s disheartening, but it's also heartening to a degree, where it
inspires you to hurry up a little bit. Mac: The idea of the
writing fading is that when things go away, it’s often not a clean
break. They fade away in different forms and different manners,
different ways. It’s not a clean process. You don't know how its exactly
happening but you can see that it is. I think Oliver and I both
responded to the song in that it didn't look to sugarcoat a real moment
for a very epic man. The opportunity to portray that human element of
someone so grand is pretty humbling. We wanted to do the best work to
represent that. link, full interview
As usual, Beth the detective has detected something else in the video that could be missed:
"I'm intrigued by the elevator inscribed with what seem to be sections of Dante's Inferno (I've identified Canto 11 which describes the tomb of Pope Anastasius"- link
Also, the Mandela version of "Breathe" below (backstory here; I love it..wish, though, the first draft chorus ( "Agape love forged like steel in the fire. Agape love like a
whisper that calls us to walk out into the street with your arms out
and the people you meet are neither down nor out, hey there is nothing
you have that I need. I can breathe. I can breathe") lyric has been left in.
Steve Taylor (I assume you're thinking this one; I mean the other one....(But around this bog, readers may well be familiar with both...see Beth's comment here) talks about a chapter he co-wrote in Spiritual Complaint, ed. Miriam J. Bier and Tim Bulkeley:
...The last chapter is mine, co-authored with my Old Testament colleague, Liz Boase, in which we explore the live performances of U2 after the Pike River Mining disaster and Paul
Kelly after the Black Saturday Bushfire tragedy. We use the Old Testament genre of lament to analyse these performances and argue that culturally lament still happens, just outside the church. Here’s our conclusion (227):
A consideration of both the history of the performers – U2’s past use of songs as memorial or lament works, and Kelly’s frequent use of biblical allusions within his music – alongside the production commentary of the U2 concert, suggests that there was some intentionality in the creation of these lament contexts. In both cases, the lyrical wording and allusions introduced a markedly “Christian” expression of eschatological hope which potentially provided the language through which new beginnings might be made. These public laments may not resemble the typical biblical lament forms, but they do form a vehicle for the communal expression of suffering and grief. link
Amazon blurb:
Personal and communal tragedies provoke intense emotions. In Scripture such emotions were given expression in complaints or laments. Such laments are the most frequent genre of psalm and are also found in the prophets and elsewhere in the Bible. The book of Lamentations is even named for this human response to tragedy. Yet neither lament nor complaint seems to be widely practiced in churches today, except at times of extreme communal catastrophe. Bringing together biblical scholars, liturgists, and practical theologians, this book begins to provide bridges between these worlds in order to enrich our ability to respond appropriately to personal and communal tragedy and to understand those responses. "[This is] an intriguing and helpful exploration of the biblical traditions of lament and penitential prayer, and their relevance to contemporary church and society. The context of the Christchurch earthquakes gives the book a particular poignancy." --Iain Provan, Professor of Biblical Studies, Regent College, Vancouver "In a world torn apart by discrimination, greed, and the ubiquitous presence of anti-Christian forces, those who live for the kingdom of God find it increasingly difficult to understand the times, much less how to feel in such a world. . . . The contributors to this book have provided the church a timely and eloquent reminder of this ancient spiritual practice for faith in dark times; and they have reminded us we need not be afraid of the dark, for God dwells there." --Myk Habets, Head of Carey Graduate School, Carey Baptist College "Suffering is part of life, and there are times when pain faces us with such gruesome fierceness we are rocked to the core. . . . Spiritual Complaint is a salve for those who are wounded in a broken world. It teaches us how to wrestle with God faithfully, in prayer and tears and worship. Far from being simplistic in its instruction, however, this provides nuance and depth on how to negotiate pain on the foundation of biblical exemplars. I highly recommend this much-needed resource." --Heath A. Thomas, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
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