God's License Plate

Get used to it. I'm a U2 fanatic. The new album is coming out next week. So, more U2 musings. One of the songs is called, "Unknown Caller." The meaning of the song is clear...for those who have ears to hear. Bono calls Jeremiah 33:3 God's phone number--"Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." Other followers of Christ have called "Jer 333" God's license plate. Bono loves the verse so much that on the cover art to their 2001 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind," they photo-shopped J33-3 as a gate in their picture in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Well, one of the lines of Unknown Caller is:
I was lost between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company
3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face
Speed dialing with no signal at all

Clearly a reference again to Jer 33:3 (obviously there is no time on the clock of 33:3 so he had no choice but to use 3:33). It's a call to get quiet before the Lord and listen to Him in prayer. Read all the lyrics...

Sunshine, sunshine
Sunshine, sunshine

Oh, oh
Oh, oh

I was lost between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company
3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face
Speed dialing with no signal at all

Go, shout it out, rise up
Oh, oh
Escape yourself, and gravity
Hear Me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Oh, oh
Force quit and move to trash

I was right there at the top of the bottom
On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be
I had driven to the scene of the accident
And I sat there waiting for me

Restart and re-boot yourself
You're free to go
Oh, oh
Shout for joy if you get the chance
Password, you enter here, right now

Oh, oh
You know your name, so punch it in
Hear Me, cease to speak that I may speak
Shush now
Oh, oh
They don't move or say a thing

Why I'm Repenting

I need to repent. It's Lent, so it's a good time to repent. Actually, everyday is the right time to repent. When Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door at Wittenburg which sparked the Reformation, he wrote, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent," He willed the ENTIRE life of believers to be one of repentance." Ok, so what do I need to repent of today? Well, if you've been following my Blog, my tweets, my Fb updates, you know I've been getting pretty amped up over U2's new cd to be released on Tuesday. Now, before you jump to conclusions, I'm not repenting over getting amped up over that! I need to repent over the fact that I may have been giving folk the impression that ALL I'm psyched up about is Bono's blatently bold Christian lyrics on the album. That may have given the impression that all the Father cares about is music that has "Jesus" in it. The fact is, the Father, the Great Musician, loves good music for music's sake. Our Father, the Creator, loves creativity...and all creativity, art, music, literature, dance, cinema, etc is evidence that there is a Creator from Whom flows all creativity. So, whether we're talking U2's No Line on the Horizon, or Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son or Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, good art, simply as ART, is pleasing to God. It honors Him. It glorifies Him, whether or not the artist in question mentions Jesus, or spiritual themes, or even whether or not the artist intended to honor God (think of the Wachowski Brothers and the Matrix!). So...my brothers and sisters, I repent. There really is no such thing as "Christian music." There's just good music and bad music. But it's still pretty cool that Bono is so boldly proclaiming his faith in Christ...

The Justified Praising The Magnificent

Another great song on the new U2 cd, to be released on Tuesday...Magnificent

Magnificent
Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with You
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven't had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for You
I didn't have a choice but to lift You up
And sing whatever song You wanted me to
I give You back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent
Magnificent

Bono Writes a Hymn

From the new U2 cd, out this coming Tuesday:
White as Snow
Where I came from there were no hills at all
The land was flat, the highway straight and wide
My brother and I would drive for hours
Like we had years instead of days
Our faces as pale as the dirty snow

Once I knew there was a Love Divine
Then came a time I thought It knew me not
Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not
Only the Lamb as white as snow

And the water, it was icy
As it washed over me
And the moon shone above me

Now this dry ground it bears no fruit at all
Only poppies laugh under the crescent moon
The road refuses strangers
The land the seeds we sow
Where might we find the Lamb as white as snow

As boys we would go hunting in the woods
To sleep the night shooting out the stars
Now the wolves are every passing stranger
Every face we cannot know
If only a heart could be as white as snow
If only a heart could be as white as snow

Snap! CRACKLE? Pop!

There's a video being sent around among followers of Christ. It's a good video. It's a moving video. It's a video blog by Penn Jillette, half of a very popular comedy/illusionist team in Las Vegas. In his video blog, Crackle, Penn talks about being given a Gideon New Testament and Psalms by a guy who had seen his show. It's a powerful video. Why? Because Penn, who calls himself an atheist, is visibly moved by the "goodness and sane-ness" of this guy who gives him a Bible. He says, as an avowed atheist, that you must really be filled with hatred for humanity if you believe that faith in Christ, or not, impacts other peoples' eternal destiny, yet you do not kindly and compassionately share Christ with others. It's rare to hear an atheist talk like this. Most of the time the world tells Christians that to open our mouths to others about our faith is obnoxious...and unfortunately, the Church has beleived the lie. Penn says that if a truck were speeding toward an unsuspecting pedestrian and you see it coming, at some point, you tackle the guy...then he says something a lot more important is happening if we believe faith in Christ impacts eternity. Love for others, he basically says, demands that followers of Christ find ways, in word and deed, to share their faith. Funny...I think God already told us that. But check out the video anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM&feature=channel

No More Mr. Nice Guy--Reprise

If you've read my No More Mr. Nice Guy post, you'll be interested in checking out this post...(ht to my brother-in-law, Brian--Thanks!) http://www.forerunner.com/blog/2007/12/rc-sproul-alice-cooper-van-halen-axis.html

The Gospel Snowman

I don't get to build snowmen much anymore...moving away from PA to the deep South took care of that. But in one sense I am building snowmen every day. Oh, and by the way, so are you, even if you live in Florida. If you've ever built a snowman, the perfect shape is very illusive. The perfect shape of the head, the trunk, the lower body, all in proportion, well...it's almost impossible unless the snow is perfect! The same challenge presents itself to every follower of Christ as we seek an integrated life. Some believers are spiritual snowmen/snow-women with big heads...they KNOW a lot of stuff ABOUT God or ABOUT the Christian life...but they may have tiny trunks (small, shriveled hearts) or they may have small "legs and feet" (no practical outworking of their faith on a daily basis). These followers of Christ are "brains on a stick," (and in some cases their heads roll off and break on the ground!) Other believers have a large trunk...big hearts but lack any sound theology to ground their passion. Sometimes this reveals itself in a very emotionally-driven faith that is based more on existential feelings than truth. In addition, Christian "snowpeople" of this type tend to be so consumed with seeking new spiritual/emotional experiences, that engagement with the real world, ie, fighting injustice and evil, is often lacking. Then there are snowpeople of the church that are known to be great activists. They have a large "base," but their hearts can be small and their brains can be disengaged. These people tend to be doers, but there may not be anything distinctively Christ-centered about their activism. When it comes to the gospel, we are to seek God for the grace to make us integrated Gospel Snowmen/Snow-women. Only Christ can make His Church into pefectly proportioned, perfectly shaped gospel creations. We need the power of the Spirit to enable us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul and all our strength. We need sharp minds that know the Scriptures and can apply them wisely. We need hearts deeply in love with Christ and moved with compassion toward the world. We need arms and legs that move us to engage the world with our faith in practical ways, bringing mercy and justice to a broken and hurting world as well as bringing the saving message of the Gospel to the lost. So, the next time your reading Scripture or listening to a sermon or attending a Bible study...listen as a snowman! How is the Father calling you to develop a truly Christian mind? How do you need to challenge your thinking with the truth? Or, what is being revealed about the Gospel that you need to believe with all your heart? How are you supposed to feel about the Lord or about sin or righteousness or the needs of the world? Or, as you read and listen, what do you need to go out and DO in the Name of Love? The perfect snowman, whether in the snow or in the church, is still relatively illusive. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a personal awareness of where we are are misshapened and disproportional...and look to the Savior to continually remake our lives by His grace.