Waving or Drowning?

Wave of Sorrow IV

Dammit my good friend David can write.

Wave of Sorrow III

Another post in the series...

"Wave of Sorrow" (more or less)
by U2   

Heat haze rising
On hell's own hill
You wake up this morning
It took an act of will
You walk through the night
To get here today
To bring your children
To give them away

Oh... oh this cruel sun
Is daylight never done
Cruelty just begun
To make a shadow of everyone

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now

Souls bent over without a breeze
Blankets on burning trees
I'm sick without disease
Nobility on it's knees

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now
Would it wash us all away
On a wave of sorrow
Away
On a wave of sorrow

Where now the holy cities?
Where are the ancient holy scrolls?
Where now Emperor Menelek?
And the Queen of Sheba's gold

You my bride, you wear her crown
And on your finger precious stones
Has every good thing now been sold

Son, a shepherd boy, now king
What wisdom can you bring?
What lyric would you sing?
Where is the music of the Seraphim?

And if the rain came
And if the rain came now
Would it wash us all away
On a wave of sorrow
Away
A wave of sorrow

Blessed are the meek who scratch in the dirt
For they shall inherit what's left of the earth
Blessed are the kings who've left their thrones
They are buried in this valley of dry bones

Blessed all of you with an empty heart
For you got nothing from which you cannot part
Blessed is the ego
It's all we got this hour

Blessed is the voice that speaks truth to power
Blessed is the sex worker who sold her body tonight
She used what she got
To save her children's life

Blessed are you, the deaf who cannot hear a scream
Blessed are the stupid who can dream
Blessed are the tin canned cardboard slums
Blessed is the spirit that overcomes   

For reference - The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10)   

Jesus Christ said:   

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.   

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.   

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.   

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.   

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."   

         

You Are Here

Resisting Evil

Merely to resist evil with evil by hating those who hate us and seeking to destroy them, is actually no resistance at all. It is active and purposeful collaboration in evil that brings the Christian into direct and intimate contact with the same source of evil and hatred which inspires the acts of his enemy. It leads in practice to a denial of Christ and to the service of hatred rather than love.

~ Thomas Merton, from Passion For Peace (via God's Politics)

Wave of Sorrow II

(a follow-up to this post, via the iLike application on Facebook...)

Rob Bell

Alright... I'm going to take the easy way out here. I'm still processing through Rob Bell's presentation in Seattle last night. And not so much what I heard, but how I heard it, if that makes any sense.

Regardless, here are some fantastic notes from Tim who caught Rob when he kicked off the tour in Chicago. As an added bonus, Lon has put together an extensive Rob Bell resources list, which I will definitely be taking advantage of.

(h/t to Matt for putting the whole road trip together. As he would say, it was one sweet night.)

Wave of Sorrow - UPDATED

Admittedly I haven't read anyone else's blog in weeks... been too busy. But yesterday Beth's Facebook status line caught my attention, and she pointed me here.

Beautiful.

Here's what Beth has to say:

...drop over to U2.com for a look at a video of Bono talking through one of the heretofore-unreleased Joshua Tree-era songs, "Wave of Sorrow." It's apparently a reflection on his time with World Vision in Ethiopia, but the reason I post it here is because it's interesting to watch him explain some of the Biblical allusions while he's singing along with the track. Appearances are made by Solomon, the Beatitudes (both new ones and paraphrased old ones), Ezekiel 37, and more.

Updated post here.

Lyrics posted here.

Borg on Spirituality

Spotted over at Matt's place:

"Spirituality I define as becoming conscious of and intentional about our relationship to God. I say conscious of because I firmly maintain that we are all already in a relationship with God and we have been so since our very beginning, whether we know that or not, believe that or not. Spirituality is about becoming conscious of that relationship. I say intentional because I see spirituality as being about paying attention to that relationship, being intentional about deepening that relationship and letting that relationship grow. Just as human relationships grow and deepen through spending time in them and paying attention to them, so also our relationship with God grows in this same way."

~From the sermon "Jesus and the Christian Life" by Dr. Marcus J. Borg

Organize XI, Or...

The Laing Lectures - November 14 and 15, 2007

Mike's Note: Again, I'm not sure I'll make any of these, but I'm passing the word along. Seems to be a topic on a lot of hearts and minds these days... (h/t to Mark for the heads-up)

Love & Justice

Featuring Nicholas Wolterstorff
Noah Porter Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University; and Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia

Host John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Regent Faculty

Wednesday, November 14
7:30pm Agape in Twentieth-Century Ethics

Thursday, November 15
11:30am Agapism’s Difficulties with Justice
7:30pm Justice Within Love

How ought Christians think and talk about justice? Where does the wariness concerning talk of justice come from? Should Christians really talk about love rather than justice? Or does the New Testament present us with a more integrated understanding of the relationship between love and justice? In his lectures, Dr. Wolterstorff will examine the New Testament textual grounds for a re thinking of our understanding of love and the integral place of justice in biblical ethics.

More info here

Hvarf - Heim

I've been listening to Hvarf - Heim from Sigur Ros all morning. Love it. (Thanks to Mark, who dialed me into the movie a couple of weeks ago.)