Boston area readers

I have an extra ticket for Monday's show. Face value of course. Email if interested. Gone, thanks.

"I don't get it, but I'm not giving up."

A sermon from Encounter, which seems to be a student ministry in Lawrence, Kansas, on John 14 and the most-preached-on U2 song, borrowing from Steve Stockman and featuring an interactive exercise in the middle.

Contest reminder

One more week until the deadline to enter our 100,000th hit contest. Get those PEOPLE GET READY emails in by midnight Wed Oct 5.

Portland Oregon class

A journalist from Oregon writes to let us know he's offering a 3-session U2 class in Portland at Trinity Cathedral. "Unforgettable Fire: Theological Reflections on the Music and Words of U2" meets at 9 AM on Sundays October 9, 16 and 23, and will include among other things a panel of those "whose souls have been fed and challenged by U2." For more information, email bicyclejoe -at- gmail.com.

Theology of popular culture

Chris of faithasawayoflife (I can't look at his U2 "One Step Closer" blog to link it at the moment because it has concert spoilers) emails to say that Kelton Cobb, who has taught Theology of Popular Culture at Hartford Seminary, has a new book coming out, The Blackwell Guide to Theology of Popular Culture, that references U2 at many points. Like most Blackwell guides, it ain't cheap.

the grenzian: Faith in the Future

Catching up... Here's some musings inspired by a live performance of "Miracle Drug": are you an eschatological pessimist, or an eschatalogical optimist?

Speaking of live performances: thanks again to those who are nicely avoiding emailing me spoilers until after the Boston concerts next week.

Random roundup

Hyper-vigilant readers may remember my mentioning a flurry of press (such as this article) on a forthcoming Open Court book called U2 and Philosophy. I've been having an enjoyable email conversation with the editor, Mark Wrathall, and was really delighted by the nimble and illuminating use of U2's work in a rough draft of some of his own material.

Also: Keep the contest entries coming!

A little leaven leavens the whole lump

It would be interesting to know how many times U2 are quoted in passing in works of academic religious scholarship. I mentioned earlier that Bono's meeting with Jesse Helms is cited in The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics (ed. by Stanley Hauerwas, Samuel Wells, Blackwell Publishing, 2004). This post clued me in to the fact that Walter Brueggemann uses an older Bono quote in First and Second Samuel in the "Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching" series.

Contest for our readers

Amazingly to me, U2 Sermons has just today had its 100,000th visit. When I started this blog to track the experience of publishing Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog, I had no idea it would ever last so long! So, in celebration of our mini-milestone, I'm holding a little contest, one that will offer an actual prize: a vintage white Zoo-era t-shirt, definitely used and faded, but not falling apart or anything. It has the band on the front, Achtung Baby written in a red scrawl, and "every artist is a cannibal" on the bottom.

To enter, email (with subject line PEOPLE GET READY) to bmaynard -at- gmail.com your answer to the following question:
For years U2 have been inviting audience members onstage to play guitar; when they do, "People Get Ready" is often the song of choice. What obviously theologically-motivated change does Bono usually make to the lyrics of one verse of this classic Curtis Mayfield hit? (You may either quote any version of the changed text, or simply explain the doctrinal correction.) Feel free to link this contest on other sites.

The deadline to enter is two weeks from today: midnight USA eastern standard time on Wednesday October 5th. If I receive more than one correct answer, I will pick a winner by a spontaneous selection process reflecting grace over karma. Have at it!

Melancthon Sins Boldly: "40"

Some comments on "40" and "deferred redemption" from a blog with a wonderful name. It also cites the description of the U2 workshop at the upcoming Generous Orthodoxy conference that's been getting posted around the blogosphere.

New Student Orientation at Georgetown

I blogged about the upcoming Williams College course a while back, and I just heard about this already-offered event at Georgetown University: "The purpose of this program will be to explore the philosophy, theology and politics of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on the Millennium Development summit

PBS featured Jesuit Fr. Drew Christiansen and the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals last weekend in a segment on how religious leaders in the US are lobbying for expanded commitments to the world's poor. They also have a nice collection of links on the summit, including this article on last week's vigil and fast.

Journal of Lutheran Ethics

The Journal of Lutheran Ethics' September issue is on media culture, and it features two excerpts from Get Up Off Your Knees: the essay "Woo me, sister; move me, brother! What does Pop Culture Have to Do with Preaching?" by Raewynne, and three weeks' worth of my six-week Bible study in dialogue with U2 themes. Both are in PDF format.

The Statesman - New York Times

A better link that doesn't require you to click through all 14 screens of the New York Times Bono profile here.

"Actual solutions"

As the Global Summit ends, the folks at ONE remind us, "If you want to learn more about real-life examples of effective international assistance and the Millennium Development Goals, you can tune in to The Diary of Angelina Jolie and Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa tonight on MTV at 8pm [EST]." (You can preview the show a little at that link, as well as purchase one of Sachs' "quick wins.") MTV adds: "The facts are staggering - but there is hope. There is now a feasible plan to end extreme poverty in our lifetime, and Sauri, a cluster of villages in Western Kenya, helps to show the world how we can make that happen."
Very attentive readers of this blog might possibly remember that I'd wondered how someone could follow results in Sauri; now we know.

Faith and Theology: U2's Grace

A quick reflection on the song "Grace" from the blog of a Ph.D. in seventeenth-century theology and literature.

"The American people would demand action on Africa if only someone would tell them the facts."

Another World Summit post: This coming Sunday's NY Times Magazine has a huge political article by someone working on a book on the United Nations. Its topic is "a new and heretofore undescribed planet in an emerging galaxy filled with transnational, multinational and subnational bodies.... a kind of one-man state who fills his treasury with the global currency of fame....the most politically effective figure in the recent history of popular culture." Um...that would be Bono.

The article (here) gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the amazing impact he's had for Africa has happened and what the outlook is now. I certainly hope there aren't many of our blog readers whose interests are so strictly and narrowly religious that you'll only want to skim this thorough and serious 14-page profile -- but if there are and if you do, you'll miss finding out what church Bono is raising his kids in. And no, I'm not telling you what page that's on.

Here's an excerpt from the New York Times Bono profile, recounting a famous story:
In mid-2000, Bono received an audience with Senator Jesse Helms, viewed by Bono's fellow lefties, including members of the band, as the archfiend himself. Bono quickly realized that his usual spiel about debt service and so on wasn't making a dent. So, he recalls: "I started talking about Scripture. I talked about AIDS as the leprosy of our age." Married women and children were dying of AIDS, he told the senator, and governments burdened by debt couldn't do a thing about it. Helms listened, and his eyes began to well up. Finally the flinty old Southerner rose to his feet, grabbed for his cane and said, "I want to give you a blessing." He embraced the singer, saying, "I want to do anything I can to help you." Kasich, who was watching from a couch, says, "I thought somebody had spiked my coffee."

And here's another which I just like:
By the summer of 1999, Bono was ready to take on Washington. The Clinton administration was already committed to canceling two-thirds or so of the $6 billion that the poorest African countries owed the United States, but Bono wanted 100 percent cancellation - not only because he thought it was right, but also because you can't sing about two-thirds of something. "It has to feel like history," he says. "Incrementalism leaves the audience in a snooze."

"less than Europeans spend on perfume - or than Americans spend on cosmetic surgery"

The World Summit begins today in NYC, as does the three-day fast for those of us who have signed up to fast and pray for it. (Quite an ironic week for the announcement that the UK has banned Make Poverty History advertisements from TV and radio, a fact which I found easier to learn about on U2 sites than anywhere else.) The NY Times has some sobering words on the summit and the MDGs, among them these: "the gap between the current trendline on child mortality and the one the leaders committed themselves to amounts to 41 million children dying before their fifth birthday over the next decade."

3rd leg

If anything theologically interesting happens on the U2 tour between now and the first Boston dates in early October, you probably won't hear about it here, since I'm trying to avoid spoilers so there'll be some surprise elements when I see them. This also means, please don't email me and ask for my comments on last night's fascinating live cover from Toronto of, you know, "God Said No," or "I Radio Heaven," or something. Just FYI.

The Well - Experience the Almighty

I was flattered to see that the folks at The Well at Langley Vineyard, a place near Vancouver whose worship recordings have taken some top honors, list Get Up Off Your Knees on their resources page along with works by Yancey, Yaconelli, and others as one of the books that "have especially influenced us." They even sell it in their online store. Well, thanks!

White Band Day - Wake Up To Poverty

With only a few days left till the World Summit, today, Sep 10, is White Band Day 2. Some photos of actions around the world are already here. I was really glad to see that the US has now stepped back from efforts to soften the draft document's commitment to poverty reduction through the MDGs.

Williams College course

Williams College will be offering in its winter term a poli-sci cource called "The Gospel According to U2" (PSCI 11.) This may be the first course on the band's theological significance I have seen at a non-Christian institution. Although the professor kindly sent me a nice flyer, you guys'll just have to scroll down to the P's on the main site if you want to read the whole course description. Here's an excerpt:

We will also read serious theological and philosophical tracts on U2 lyrics and explore the band's complicated interweaving of faith, sexuality, grace, fame, doubt, justice, and the meaning of America in a way which makes them a surprisingly popular and poignant spiritual voice in our superficial and materialistic age.... How does a band which quotes psalms at the Super Bowl and routinely stirs millions at its concerts to chant an Old Testament lament ("how long? how long?") get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? ...Is U2 following the Church, leading it or rivaling it? How far can you go with a red guitar, three chords and the truth?

Backing off the promises

Bread for the World has issued a press release about the World Summit next week, which will be the largest gathering of world leaders in history, and which is supposed to focus on improving implementation of the five-year-old Millennium Development Goals (eight objectives covering poverty, sexual discrimination, hunger, primary education, child mortality, maternal health, the environment and disease). If you've been wondering how the US's recent effort to disavow the Millennium Development Goals entirely relates to the US's commitments at July's G8, they can tell you. Call-in information in reponse is at Church World Service. Incidentally, to get a comparative sense of how this move looks to the rest of the world, you might visit EUROPE CARES, a project of the entire European Union publicizing what they are doing post G-8 in fulfillment of their promises on the Millennium Development Goals.

Who's that in the last row?

Hat tip to Waving or Drowning, perhaps the record-holder for hat-tips, for this funny story about Steve Stockman's session on Ubuntu theology and U2 at Greenbelt.

Also: I'm aware that the reblogger comment system is currently down; sorry to those who've emailed me about trying to leave comments.

You knew it was going to happen

Hyper-observant Get Up Off Your Knees readers may remember the name Robert Vagacs, whom our contributor Brian Walsh thanked at the end of his sermon "Walk On: Biblical Hope and U2," for "opening up new vistas of interpretation" of the band's art. Robert has emailed to let me know that within about six weeks a reworked version of his Wycliffe College Masters of Theological Studies thesis on U2 will be published in book form, under the title Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective.

"For those who have been in a monastery for the past 20 years, it may be useful to fill in a few details..."

The July / August 2005 issue of Eureka Street, an Australian Jesuit magazine "of public affairs, the arts and theology" reviews Bono on Bono.

Katrina Blogswarm

Joining today with lots of bloggers through Truth Laid Bear to raise awareness of flood aid relief efforts in the wake of hurricane katrina. You can donate through all kinds of places, including (just to pick one ecumenical group known to most readers of the Get Up Off Your Knees blog) World Vision.

I am always moved to see how charity efforts like this get such a huge response, and it really makes me think about the power of news/internet coverage to spark empathy. Most people are caring, and when they see their neighbors suffering, they want to reach out. And the media are helping: There are about 136,000 Katrina stories on Google news right now as I type, and it has been easy to find hours of coverage on TV and keep updated on the extent of the losses.

And what also is running through my mind: along with responding to people who suffer in sudden emergencies like this one (donate!) how could America generate this kind of cultural uprising of empathy for, say, the many more people whose lives are devastated every day by extreme poverty? Will we at some point see bloggers buzzing about not just tragedies that can be relieved by reactive charity, as important as that is, but about saving the lives of some of the millions of people, just as much our neighbors, living on less than a dollar a day -- but whose tragedies can only be changed with proactive justice? Since I'm wondering, I hope no one will mind my also linking ONE's signon letter in the runup to the World Summit.

For the required U2 content, since a lament Psalm counts as U2 content, we could all offer up Psalm 69 in the name of the victims of Katrina.