Sunday December the 19th, Perth Western Australia.

Having grown in my love and admiration of the Rock Band U2, their concert in Perth on a balmy Sunday night promised much, and delivered more.

As a Pastor and Christian I have grown to appreciate U2 beyond the obvious musical skill and entertainment factor, which they certainly have. The biggest rock band in the world putting on the biggest show in the world was enough to justify the ticket price, but they gave so much more.

The seminal moment for me occurred when Bono, who sung so much better than I thought he could, had the whole 60 thousand strong crowd singing along to “Amazing Grace”. As I filmed the moment on my Iphone and panned around I wondered how many people understood the song they were singing, and the fact it had real meaning and significance to U2 who have a full time Chaplain who travels with them, and has since the early days.

While Bono’s activism on human rights issues is well known, his deep Christian faith, while obvious to all who look, is not as well publicized.

The fact that Amazing Grace led into the most well received and possibly most significant song they sing, “Where the Streets Have no Name” was also wonderful. This song is about the Kingdom of God coming to earth, and heaven to come. It talks of a place and a time where there are no street signs to designate religion, race and creed. A time when, in the words of another of their songs, “all the colours bleed into one”.

Bono is not as universal as you might think. He talks a lot about grace. In my view, grace is the separating factor between Christianity and other religions.

As we head towards Christmas we think about grace, the grace of Jesus to come to a world which neither knew Him, nor what he stood for. Perhaps a little like many in the U2 Crowd.

This one covers the biggest constitutional change the church has ever had in its 60 year history.

The Seven Year Itch

I am going to my first ever U2 Concert tonight. To say I am excited is an understatement. In honour of that, here is a reprint of a post I did a while back….

Message on BONO
Posted on November 2, 2009 by Mark Edwards

I spoke on Bono from U2 on Sunday,
“As the names of those lost on Sept. 11 scrolled up a towering screen, the singer kept reciting a verse from Psalm 51, in which King David pleaded for God’s mercy.

“Oh Lord, open my lips,” he said, “that my mouth shall show forth thy praise.” Then the music rose in a crescendo, soaring into a song about heaven, a vision of a new heaven and earth, of a city “where there’s no sorrow and no shame, where the streets have no name.”

This didn’t happen in a safe Christian sanctuary, in a church worship service.
This happened at halftime of Super Bowl XXXVI, in front of 131 million or so viewers around the world.
As the people drunk their beer and ate their hotdogs and some very unfit people watched some very fit people play americal football.
U2 brought into that very secular environment a psalm of David….and a song about heaven…and a Christian reflection on world events….”

Here is the message audio

Pictures and videos are not included….obviously, but you will probably get the idea!

Part of some peoples philosophy of leadership is to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
This is sometimes applied to Church Leadership. There is a sense that you need accountability built into leadership structures so the Pastor is kept accountable.

Firstly let me say I totally agree with the need for accountability. Leaders in churches are charged with serious responsibility, and need to be accountable.

But there is something flawed in our thinking if we apply the same sort of culture in Churches which we apply to our politicians, in other words, “keep the B… honest”.

Churches should be places built around trust, not mistrust.

The issue for some has been that sometimes churches are not acting missionally.
If a church is acting missionally, it is up against it, because evangelism and real church growth is hard work.
Maintaining the status quo is not hard.

If results, in a missional sense, real growth, is measured and leaders are kept accountable for that, then that is in my belief appropriate accountability.

All this to say, I love journeying with friends on this missional journey of church life. We are a busy and purposeful church. There is lots of discipleship, growth, evangelism….mission….happening. We are too focused and challenged as a church to have time for silly squabbles. There is a real sense we just need to get on with it. Travelling with friends is the way to go if your church is like this, because we have enough challenges from the outside, without worrying about ones from the inside.

This morning my wife prepared the most amazing food and our 15 strong leadership team came over for a gastronomical feast, a few laughs…and lots of thanksgiving. To God…and for each other, as we journey together as friends.

One of the methods I am using now to keep my preaching fresh is to use the gift I believe I have been given. What I mean is this.

Often I will read a passage of scripture, and as I am reading it, thoughts come into my mind of how I would preach it, what I would say.

It sometimes frustrates me when I sit in front of an empty screen and that same sense of ‘flow’ does not come.

So what I have done lately is print off the scripture (thankyou Biblegateway) and take that piece of paper into the Ministry Centre here and actually start preaching from it! No commentary, no internet, no computer. I will jot down my notes from that 10 or 15 minutes onto the printed out scripture page.

It has really helped me use the gift of preaching I believe I have into my preparation time.

Here is some media I have put together in the last year or two which you can download and use.
This first one is a nice loop I have just made.
Let me know if you find them helpful!

Download Here

This is a nice illustrative Clip

Download