I was replying to a post on a blog focused on culture and this first quote came to mind, so I thought I might as well post it here as well and see if it causes any nibbles or responses:
"Music is Worship; whether it's worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer, whether it comes from that ancient place we call soul or simply the spinal cortex, whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire...the smoke goes upwards...to God or something you replace God with...usually yourself." - Bono from his introduction to "Selections From The Book of Psalms" Grove Press, 1999.
My other quote comes from www.billycorgan.com
"...a kid said to me the other day, 'like, I heard you found God and stuff, is that true??' uh, no, I didn't find God...you cannot find something if it has never been lost...ok, maybe, in that thinking, God found me? It is not important, I am Billy, spirit made flesh, word made whole, insanity made mainstream, love made lover...life is good!!! Jesus people, please save someone who needs saving, there are many who are in greater need than I... I will never be a puppet for man's vision of the whole deal..." - Billy Corgan from his website post entry 10.24.04
2 comments:
G,
Two of my favorite music boys are quoted here.
Bono never ceases to amaze me. Here is a fabulous quote from a recent interview with U2 in Vanity Fair:
"At periods in your life you start to doubt yourself. A third of the world is starving to death and you're in a rock 'n' roll group getting completely overpaid for doing a job that you would do for nothing anyway. There are all these contradictions. And as a believer, I want a bit of heaven on earth; I don't want pie in the sky when we die. I'm not going to sign up for some religious organization where I've got to accept wading in the sewers for 70 years on earth so we can all wear flowers in our hair when we die."
- Bono
I often feel that too many believers are waiting for the big pay-off in the sky after death. This has never really rung true for me. So, it's somewhat comforting to note that Bono and I think alike :).
Very cool quote E! Bono opened up the Psalms class I taught this past module and I think my college students actually figured out that the psalmist of the Bible was very close to the Bono of today. "Wake up dead man!" U2 vs. "Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! Why do you hide your face?" Ps. 44.
I'm definitely with you that faith in God is more than a ticket to heaven. I think I ranted somewhere on my blog by some of the tactics of a local baptist church that actually handed out cartoons of the difference between someone on the road to heaven and on the road to hell - there was even a picture of the grim reaper? I think it was an attempt to scare people into heaven but the result was more than likely scaring people from ever attending that church.
Part of the problem is the transition from a modernist to a postmodernist culture - unfortunately, the church has not been good at adapting to culture since at least the reformation...I do see the role of the church as we all are in need of community but it needs to reinvent itself if it seeks to change the world as Christ did.
I've been tempted to write an article entitled "confessions of a post-mennonite" - in other words - how am I different and how am i the same from the culture I have come out of? We live in a post-christian society - no longer are the values associated with Christianity the norm. So how do we adapt?
I think authenticity is critical - that we don't hold the monopoly on theology - on understanding what it means to follow God - but we are trying! I'm into a messy spirituality that recognizes I'm not there yet but that doesn't stop me in my pursuit of God.
Eugene Peterson (the message) talks about how "the streets of our cities & pews of our churches are crowded these days with emaciated men and plastic women." He suggests an authentic faith, one that acknowledges both the human skin we where and the mystery of faith, one that recognizes that we are in process, not yet perfect but ever-striving for change!
He uses the term "earthy spirituality" to describe a more authentic characterization of faith.
Earthy: down-to-earth, dealing with everydayness, praying while doing laundry, singing in the snarl of traffic.
Spirituality: moved and animated by the Spirit of God and therefore alive to God.
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