Waving or Drowning?

Vertigo II

I'm sitting here in the Calgary airport waiting for the bus to Banff, and mulling over last night. I made some notes on the flight this morning, but I'm not going to make the mistake of sharing any half-baked thoughts just yet.

There is one thing that makes more sense to me now. I mentioned the blue glow that spread through GM Place last night as people pulled out their cell phones and dialed the Prime Minister's office. It occured to me then that cell phones are the 21st century version of the "concert lighter", but the reality is they are much more than that. They can be an incredibly powerful tool. I get it now when the folks at MakePoveryHistory say "We don't want your money, we want your voice."

I get it now.

PS. Call Paul!

PPS. I've edited my original Vertigo post to indicate where they shot video during last night's concert.

Vertigo

Just back from church. (Actually, we're not home. We're crashing at Jen & Pete's... they're closer to the airport and I've got an 8 am flight to Calgary.)

I can't find the words to properly articulate tonight. I think Jason said that in Denver it was 2 hours of the band talking about Jesus. I concur. Either by his name, or by his other name... LOVE.

Incredible.

City of Blinding Lights (video)
Beautiful Day
Vertigo
Elevation
Gloria
The Ocean
New Year's Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday (video)
Bullet the Blue Sky - When Johnny Comes Marching Home (video)
Running to Stand Still (video)
Bad
Pride
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore 1:
Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways

Encore 2:
All Because Of You
Original of the Species
40

One memorable moment: Before the set closed with One, Bono talked about Paul Martin and the 0.7% commitment. While they flashed the number on the screen, he suggested we take out our cell phones and Call Paul. There was a blue glow from all the phones. Beautiful.

UPDATE: They shot some video last night; I've indicated which songs.

The Last Word: Chapters 16 & 17

Chapters 16 & 17 itemize a long list of thoughts on various Christian views of hell that Dan's friend Casey has researched. As she points out to Dan, "I mean, they're all over the map."

Here are two contrasting views from Casey's notes that caught my eye:

"Scripture clearly speaks of hell as a physical place of fiery torment and warns us we should fear."
(R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville)

"How can Christians possibly project a diety of such cruelty and vindictiveness [as to inflict] everlasting torture upon his creatures, however sinful they have been? [Such a diety] is more nearly like Satan than God."
(Clark Pinnock, in Criswell Theological Review)

I'll resist the urge to rant on about the uselessness of the label "Christian" as it applies to the two points of view above, and everything in between. Instead, I'll suggest that to argue about the "right" answer is to forever foster disunity. Furthermore I'll boldly suggest that "Christians" will never agree on a common doctrine of hell. Our only hope is to move beyond the question, and that, of course, is the big challenge.

The greatest exchange I found in these two chapters:

"I'm not sure of all the details, but here's something I'm pretty sure of. Hell might have a place, but it can't get the last word. I mean, if hell seems to have the last word, there's got to be a word after that."
"What would that be, Casey?" I asked.
"Grace," she said. "I think the last word is always grace."

That took me back to something I posted over a year and a half ago, and the resulting conversation.

Take a minute to read it through.

Think about what your last word has been. I believe you have one - we all do. Do you know what it is? And the question we all need to ask ourselves is "should there be a word after that?"

City of Blinding Lights

Apparently in one hour - 3 pm our time - the first 4000 people at GM Place will be in the City of Blinding Lights video U2 is shooting!

1 more day!

UPDATE: Here's the email from U2.com:

The GM Place in Vancouver will today host the filming of U2's latest video clip, for the track City Of Blinding Lights.

U2 fans are invited to attend this exclusive filming at the Arena in Vancouver.

Wristbands will be given out from 3pm after which, upon entry to the building, fans will receive a ticket to a reserved seat surrounding the stage. The first 4,000 people will be permitted - on a first come, first served basis - to enter the venue.

Organisers ask that guests arrive no earlier than 3pm. Full security searches will be implemented at the door - no recording devices of any type will be permitted in the venue, this includes cameras and cellphones. Anyone entering the venue with a recording device will be denied entry.

This live video will be shot by French directors, Alex and Martin. The pair recently won a Grammy for directing U2's Vertigo, the debut single from the Number 1 album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Alex and Martin have also worked with The White Stripes, Kylie Minogue, Air, Jane's Addiction and Noir Desir.

Call Paul!

From our friends at MakePovertyHistory.ca

"I'm going to be the biggest pain in his ass."
Bono

That's what Bono warned one year ago if Paul Martin didn't follow through on his promise to commit Canada to set a timetable for achieving 0.7 per cent allocation of Gross National Income to foreign aid.

Guess what? A few days ago, Paul Martin decided to back away from that promise - and Bono's not happy. On CBC Radio this weekend, Bono encouraged all Canadians to CALL PAUL to pressure him to keep his promise:

"I want to give Canada his phone number…. If anyone's listening, I would call Paul. It's 613 992-4211."

Mike, we urgently need you to take up the Bono challenge.

Since last week's campaign bulletin, your efforts helped send over 2000 emails to the Prime Minister urging him to move on this issue.

In the meantime, from the Ottawa Citizen to CBC Radio's "The House", Bono has been encouraging all of us to CALL PAUL. Reuters picked up the story and Bono's challenge has made news all over the globe.

Bono and U2 will rock Vancouver later this week with real-time political action directed at our Prime Minister. That's why we really need to ramp things up.

Here's what you can do right now:

1. Call Paul at 613-992-4211. Tell him you want a firm timetable for achieving 0.7.

2. SEND ANOTHER EMAIL to Paul through the campaign website (your personal information will only be logged once).

3. Then, forward this message to everyone you know and ask them to CALL PAUL TOO.

We have an opportunity RIGHT NOW to press the Prime Minister to make good on his commitment to end poverty.

What will it take? Our goal is to deliver 10,000 phone calls and emails to the Prime Minister's office by the end of this week from Canadians coast to coast. You can be part of making it happen.

So do it - take up Bono's challenge RIGHT NOW!

Thanks Mike, for your support. There is no way we can Make Poverty History without you.

Looking forward to making history... with you.

Pam Kapoor and the MPH Campaign Team
[email protected]
Tel: (613) 241-5293

What are you waiting for?

Call Paul!

Update:     The Sun News Group, The Globe and Mail 

Come on, Canada. We're usually an apathetic bunch when it comes to our politicians... This is worth the trouble. Make the call and leave us a comment to tell us if when you did.

Update 2: I actually did leave a voice mail... figured that's what everyone did. However, my mother just called to let me know she had a "nice chat" with a real live staffer in the PMO!

So call already.

2 Days

Paul - Rachelle's husband - lets it all hang out after taking in the U2 concert in Seattle Sunday night. Well worth the read.

When Faith Is Lived

More insightful thinking from the guy who was enamored with Jesus but struggled with his followers:

"I do not believe in people telling others of their faith, especially with a view to conversion. Faith does not admit of telling. But when it is lived it becomes self-propagating."

Mohandas K. Gandhi

The Last Word: Chapter 15

This is a pivotal chapter in the book for plot development, and for Dan's tenuous hold on his job as pastor of the Potomac Community Church. The statement I want to focus on, however, comes from Carol, Dan's wife.

"It's kind of strange," she said, almost whispering, "to think that what might help our daughter's faith could actually hurt mine and that what helps my faith - having everything clearly defined and at the core at least, not changing - could actually hurt our daughter's faith."

That is a very powerful statement that personally I need to keep in mind. The questions that get me excited about being a follower of Jesus are, in some cases, the very same questions that terrify others. Sometimes I forget that and barge ahead.

As I have often said this is a conversation that we need to be invited to. You cannot rationally convince someone that deconstructing their faith is a good idea. They must reach a point where they start to ask questions... usually as a result of a crisis.

And to those of you who still think this is just a different way of doing the same thing... well, you're probably not reading this any longer anyway.

NOTE: We're half way through posting on the 29 chapters, plus introduction. I've actually finished reading the book, but I'm trying to avoid rushing - I want to maintain the discipline of commenting on an important thought from each chapter.

On Friday morning I'm hopping on a flight to Calgary, then a bus to Banff. I'm going disguised as a Baptist (there's not much I can do about the earring, but I did cut my hair...) in order to crash the Baptist Union of Western Canada's annual conference, where one Brian McLaren is speaking. I'm still trying to decide what I want to say to him about this book. I think when you distill these thoughts out of the narrative this is actually the most profound of his works - even more so than A Generous Orthodoxy, which is a bold statement to make. I'm looking forward to catching up with him in beautiful Banff!

The Last Word: Chapter 14

In Chapter 14 Neil and Dan tour the Holocaust Museum, and it was as profound an experience as you might imagine.

Neil asks Dan two profound questions. These are jarring questions; anytime you make comparisons to Nazi Germany you are inviting trouble. First, Neil approaches the issue on a national level:

"Could the same sort of thing be happening today? Could the so-called war on terrorism be keeping the churches here in America from speaking prophetically to the state?"

Ouch. Dan does not answer the question, and neither does Brian. Each of us is left to consider to what extent this may or may not be true. My own mind immediately went to the statement "If you're not with us, you're against us." While we're at it, there's the filibuster thing to consider. I'm not sure how the church could speak "prophetically to the state" in that environment. For some, this may be the most thought-provoking question in the entire book. For others, it may be the most anger-provoking. (Just the fact that one question could result in such diverse reactions from people of one faith is worth pondering.)

Neil then reframes the question on a personal level:

..."And could our preoccuption with individual salvation from hell after death distract us from speaking prophetically about injustice in our world today?

Personally I don't need to ponder this one for long. Dan does not answer this question either, but I will. I believe this is the case. I know because I had to shake this off myself. I am more convinced than ever that the gospel is about justice, about God's will being done here on earth. A gospel that is mainly concerned with life after death puts little stock in justice for the here and now.

As the people of God these are questions we need to ponder, and it will not be easy.

Moonshine

Last night I finished reading The Last Word. (I couldn't hold back any longer!) We'll see if that helps or hurts my discipline of posting on each chapter - I'm about half way through.

As I've already pointed out in the last few chapter posts, we've pretty much hit the end of the line for those who absolutely require propositional truth to form the backbone of their gospel rationale. This morning as I surfed around I came across this Eugene quote on Tom's site that has something to say about that:

"The great attraction for distilling Scripture into truths and morals and lessons is simply laziness. The lazy pastor no longer has to bother with the names, the cities, the odd embarrassing details and awkward miracles that refuse to fit into a modern understanding of the good life. Across this land pastors have turned their studies into "stills," illegal distilleries that extract ideas and morals from the teeming narrative of Scripture. People, of course, love it. They come to get their Mason jar lives filled with pure truth so that they won't have to deal with either the details of Scripture or the details of their own lives. Drinking this pure white lightning bypasses the laborious trouble of hoeing the garden, digging the potatoes, preparing and cooking the meals, eating and digesting. This distilled liquid goes directly to the bloodstream and gives a quick rush of exhilaration. But it is, in fact, poison. We are not constructed biologically or spiritually for ingestion of this 100-proof stuff. We have mental-emotional digestive systems with complicated interconnections that notice and savor an enormous variety of words and sentences, stories, and songs, runinatingly take them in and assimilate all the vitamins, enzymes, and calories that give us healthy lives." 
Living the Message, p.95

As always, Eugene tells it like it is.