"The gift artists bring to the church may be no greater than anyone else's... but we need them desperately."

Simplify, Engage, Inspire is a blog leading up to a contemplative youth retreat, "The Altar," in Kansas in late September. Its owner has been posting about one of the speakers, Ian Cron, who has a novel out called Chasing Francis, in which a megachurch pastor loses his faith and goes on a pilgrimage, seeking to discover more about St. Francis of Assisi. A recent post on the arts quoted this novel, including the main character's "letter to Francis" telling the saint about a post-9/11 U2 concert.

It reminded me of the sermon in our book in which pastor Amy Lincoln describes her own experience at one of those same Madison Square Garden concerts. (If it won't load for you, try "full screen.")