Book Review: Preaching the U2 Catalog

In October, some friends of mine purchased a book for me that was released back in 2003. The title of it is Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog. It was edited by Raewynne Whiteley and Beth Maynard. The idea behind the book was to assemble as many sermons that used or were inspired by U2 lyrics as possible.

As with any compilation type book… the book can get a little hit and miss. I think the thing that struck me was how different I approach preaching than many of these authors. I could not, in good conscience, decide to write a sermon around one specific U2 song. However, I would say that about 65% of these sermons were written in that way. It seems like many of these presenters decided to take a song from U2 that they really liked… and write a sermon around it… and maybe throw some scriptures references around it.

I have always been taught to center the message around a biblical text… so it was kind of disturbing to see whole sermons crafted around the words of Bono… rather than the words of God. On top of that, there were about four or five readings that I finished and had to ask: What was that about anyway? Some were very, very bad.

Don’t get me wrong… I really enjoyed the book. But I say all of this so that people understand that it shouldn’t be a book you buy to read in order to get twenty new ready made sermons. (You probably shouldn’t do your sermon writing that way anyway… but I digress.) These sermons would not fly in most Wesleyan pulpits. (I’m fairly ‘liberal’ about the use of culture in sermons, but even I would be uncomfortable preaching or hearing these sermons in any church I was working/attending.) Once I got it in my head that I should not read this book trying to critique other people's sermons, it became much more enjoyable to me. I just started to read to see what other preachers took away from U2 songs. It become much more interesting.

Steve Stockman wrote a sermon called 'Pressing on with U2 and Paul' that was terrific. He took a closer look at the U2 song I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. He mentioned that U2 got criticized by the church for this song. ‘What do you mean? You still haven’t found what you are looking for? Once you’ve found Jesus, that’s all you need.’ Unfortunately, there are knee-jerk Christians out there that are just looking to blast away at pop culture… and so they jump on whatever they can without looking deeper into the song.

The song is referring to heaven… when we will finally be reconciled with Jesus and meet God face to face for the first time. When all the colors will bleed into one: the time when there will be no more sin, racism, and war. Stockman suggested that this song mirrors what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” It certainly doesn’t seem like Paul seems content to remain where he currently is. He knows that there is much more about his spiritual journey that he has yet to experience. Stockman suggests that the song is full of lyrics of yearning and hope… not dissatisfaction with what Christ has to offer.

Another great piece was written by Wade Hodges entitled Grace the Beauty Maker. He used the U2 song Grace to craft his piece, which was a riveting look at the role that grace plays in our relationship with God. He did a great job using references from various movies, interviews, and books to help further explain the beauty of grace. U2’s song is almost a modern day remake of the old hymn Amazing Grace. “Grace, she takes the blame / She covers the shame / removes the stain / it could be her name / grace makes beauty out of ugly things."

All in all… it was a great book that reminded me of why my heart resonated so strongly with U2's music in the first place: Their lyrics are meaningful and authentic. (Yes, even their 90’s stuff… you just have to know what to look for… but that is a blog post for a different day) Their lyrics address important issues about faith, suffering, peace, betrayal, and hope. Their lyrics don’t always give answers… and in fact, usually force the listener to ask even more questions. But there is one thing their lyrics always do: They always make you think.

Overall, I graded this book a seven out of ten… I would have rated it higher, but there were some truly terrible pieces included in the book. I’ll conclude by simply saying this: If you are a U2 fan, you’ll probably like this book. If you are a preacher, this book might be of minor interest to you. If you are a U2 fan AND a preacher… I think you’ll have a fantastic time reading through this book!

Favorite Christmas Traditions:

Here is a top ten list of my favorite Christmas traditions: (In no particular)

•PUTTING THE DECORATIONS UP: Every year, we put the decorations up sometime during Thanksgiving week. The exact date depends on whether we are going anywhere or hosting family. We drag up the tree. Melissa decorates the rest of the house. I am relegated to putting up our Christmas village, which has turned into Emily’s little play village. There is no sense in even trying to ‘hide’ the wires running from house to house with fake cotton snow. Emily turns a peaceful village scene into a full-blown blizzard / war zone. I say war zone because there has been multiple be-headings and dismemberments over this holiday season.
•EATING AT MAGGIANO’S WITH MELISSA’S FAMILY: For the past few years, usually the day after Christmas, Melissa’s parents take the whole family to an upscale family style Italian restaurant called Maggiano’s. We have a great time pigging out on delicious foods… spaghetti with humongous meatballs, Italian chicken entrées, appetizers, and desserts. We get done feeling very full. My brother in law, Kevin, and I would tell you that this place serves up “a spicy meatballe.” (done in our best Italian accent…)
•CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA & GRANDPA SANDS: I could talk about this one for a long time, but I’ll stick with the basics: Grandma makes the same types of foods every year: Cheesy Potato Soup and Oyster Stew. (Yes, I eat the Oyster stew… and don’t say anything until you’ve tried it… you don’t have to actually eat the Oysters if you don’t want to.) We always have stockings to open up. We always open presents one at a time starting from the youngest to the oldest. We used to meet every Christmas Eve… but this has started to float around to a date either a few days before or after Christmas.
•DRIVING TO CHICAGO ON CHRISTMAS DAY: Every year since we’ve been married, Melissa and I have spent Christmas Eve with my parents and then traveled three hours to Chicago to spend as much of Christmas Day as we can with her parents. I have actually come to really enjoy the drive. It’s not too long, the traffic is non-existent, and it's just a nice ride with the family. We put in Christmas tunes and there is usually a beautiful landscape covered with snow in Northern Illinois.
•CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA MILLER’S (HARKER): About two days before Christmas, all the relatives on my mom’s side of the family get together to celebrate Christmas. We order Slugger’s and Happy Joe’s pizza… I’m a big fan of both. The cousins play the old Super Nintendo… usually Mario Kart. We do a gift exchange. We take lots of pictures at the end. Some pictures probably don’t turn out exactly the way Grandma intended thanks to some practical jokers. (I won’t name names… but it’s NEVER me.)
•CHRISTMAS AT MELISSA’S PARENTS: We usually arrive a little before noon on Christmas day at Melissa’s parents and typically we start opening presents very soon after we get settled. One thing I have always appreciated is that my father-in-law, Jim, will always start by reading one of the advent passages and praying before the presents are opened. Our attention is always directed back towards Immanuel in the Wright household on Christmas morning.
•CHRISTMAS AT MY PARENT’S: Over the past few years, we have started celebrating Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. Usually, we’ll have just come home from Christmas Eve service at Heritage… and we’ll start opening presents with Mom, Dad, and Jeff. We always have a great time with each other… and it has gotten even more fun recently because Emily is so stinkin’ funny. Mom always has her house decorated so great during Christmas… and it’s always a joy to spend part of Christmas break there.
•CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE: For as long as I can remember, I have attended the Christmas Eve service at my home church, Heritage Wesleyan. I usually leave very moved because they do such a good job at bringing the mystery and majesty back into the incarnation. It is always a very beautiful service. It’s really the one time each year that I can reconnect with old friends from Heritage.
•A VISIT TO THE MOVIES: For the past four or five years, my brother-in-law, Kevin, and I will pick one movie that we both really want to see that is opening right around Christmas. We usually go see it a day or two after Christmas. Last year it was Ocean’s 12; The year before that: Return of the King; And the year before that: The Two Towers. This year it was going to be Narnia… but Kevin was forced into seeing it with some friends. So, we’ve changed plans: and we’re going to see another Peter Jackson movie: King Kong.
•NEW YEAR’S EVE AT MY PARENT’S: A tradition that I will not get to participate in this year due to how the holiday falls during the week. I will miss it. We usually get together with family and play cards, games, Nintendo… eat a lot of food… watch some football or basketball… and drink sparkling white grape juice at the crack of midnight to celebrate a new year. Very fun!

What are some of your favorite traditions?

Vertigo In St. Louis

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS LONGER THAN MY NORMAL POSTS: JUST SO YOU ARE AWARE OF THE LENGTH BEFORE YOU GET GOING.

I had such a fantastic time at the concert last night. I continue to be blown away by how good of a live band U2 is. They put out great studio songs, but there is something special about the way they come together as a band and perform live… it is hard to explain until you see them live. Their music transcends any genre… it soars through the whole building. Even people that aren’t die hard U2 fans usually walk away impressed after a show.

This was my first Vertigo tour show, but my second time to see them live. I was surprised by a number of things. When I walked in and saw their stage set up, I kind of wondered where all their lighting was going to come from. I was incredibly impressed with the light and video show that they put on. Most of the lights and screens are hidden from plain view. For instance, as you can see from my pictures below… they had lights along the floor of all the staging. During Vertigo, they had those lights moving all over the place… I guess they were trying to make those of us in the nose bleeds experience a bout of vertigo. It was neat.

They also had these big strands of light bulbs float down… and each bulb flashed a light and when you put all the bulbs together… the formed video pictures. Bono would even walk through these video bulbs like they were a bead-strand doorway. Very cool stuff.

Speaking of Bono, I do not think there is a better front man in the business. Bono’s voice was strong… even with them being pretty far into their tour. He was playful with the crowd at times… He was dramatic at times… He was passionate at times… He was an activist at times.

As far as his politics are concerned, I can agree with his ‘end’… but I don’t always agree with his ‘means to an end’. Maybe I’ll blog about that sometime. Even though he was very much against war… he was still respectful about American soldiers and even sang snippets of ‘Johnny Comes Marching Home Again’… and eventually sang something along the lines of ‘hope they come back safe…’ or something like that. He did it in a much more moving way than I’m explaining it.

He was very interactive with the crowd. He brought a little boy up during ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ to help him shout ‘No more’… he sat the kid down on one video prompter and Bono sat down on the other like they were just hanging out. The crowd got a kick out of it. Later, during Stuck In a Moment, a high school or college student was asked to come on stage and play piano with them. At one point, both Bono and The Edge were standing next to this kid while he played… how awesome would that be? Of course, towards the end, Bono brought up a young girl to dance with him during ‘With Or Without You.’

His passion just bleeds out of him. He had everyone in the stadium, even the ones way up in the nosebleed seats, eating out of the palm of his hand. He is so willing to invest bunches of energy in his performance and dramatics that even the people furthest away want to invest back into him. In fact, during the song Miss Sarajevo, there is a part on the song that is usually sung by one of the top opera singers… and I wondered if they would overdub the voice in… and when I realized that Bono was going to try and sing it… I was kind of worried that the crowd wouldn’t ‘buy it.’ As he powerfully hit the few final high notes… the whole crowd just roared with him as he sang. I really think the crowd bought into that moment because Bono had been investing in them all night long.

They played ‘Gloria’ last night, a song off of their second album, which came out in 1981. The guitar riff on that song sounds like it could have been written yesterday. I’ve always said that pretty much anything off of Joshua Tree could still be played today and it wouldn’t sound like most anything else that came out of the 80’s. Their musicianship last night was spot on. The Edge tried a few new leads on guitar… Larry and Adam aren’t flashy on their instruments… but they are rock solid and hold everything else together. Their music is timeless.

Here were my top three songs from last night: 1) Where the Streets Have No Name… amazing. No better concert moment anywhere, in my mind, than when the lights blaze across the whole stadium during one of the vocal bridges of that song.

2) Until the End of the World… a very close second. This is my favorite live U2 song as a whole. The lighting and musicianship are just outstanding. The Edge and Bono, who, during the last climatic moments of the song, started on opposite ends of the ellipse and eventually starting chasing each other around it… I think Bono got around that thing twice. It looked like a big game of Duck, Duck, Goose… but what was amazing is that the The Edge continued to play a complicated riff… all the while running as fast as he could away from Bono, who was obviously much faster without the guitar holding him back. Very cool.

3) Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own: Very moving song about Bono’s dad. Bono tells a story about his dad, takes off his sunglasses and invites the crowd in to be a part of this painful moment in his life. Bono ends the song by singing snippets of opera in honor of his dad… who loved opera. It was just a moving moment of the concert… not one that you would expect from one of the biggest bands in the world.

The guy who went with me (Melissa got sick at the last minute and couldn’t go, unfortunately) made a great observation: At most rock concerts, the attitude coming from the stage is: All of YOU are lucky to be here seeing US play. Over and over again last night, the attitude that poured off the stage: WE are so lucky to have all of YOU here to hear our music.

All of these guys are pushing fifty… but you wouldn’t know it seeing them in concert. They all still move around the stage like they are still in their twenties. They still seem so passionate about what they do. You could take away the lights and smoke, the amps and the staging... and it wouldn’t matter… because when everything was said and done… the concert boiled down to four guys who got together in a room because they just love creating and playing music together. There just happened to be about 20,000 people listening in. I’m really glad I was one of them…

Where the Streets Have No Name

Pictures from U2 Show

Hey everybody...

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the U2 show that I was able to see last night. I'll post a lengthier review later today and include my two best pictures from the show. (During 'Where the Streets Have No Name' when the whole place is light up) But for now... enjoy these pics. It was an amazing show!

New Busch Stadium Not Worth It?

At the risk of pushing the panic button too soon, I’d like to express my extreme disappointment with the St. Louis Cardinals ownership this winter. Knowing that General Manager Walt Jocketty is not done working and signing… I write this article tentatively, knowing that many, many things could still happen before the Redbirds report to Florida next February for Spring Training.

Those of us here in St. Louis, over the past month, have watched as the old Busch stadium has been torn down (arch by arch) in favor of a brand spankin’ new stadium right next door. This stadium looks like it will be beautiful… perfect view of the arch… even the nosebleed seats appear to be right over the field… state of the art everything… luxury boxes galore.

Speaking of luxury boxes… we’ve been told by ownership that these luxury boxes and other facets of the new stadium will bring in much more money than the old Busch ever could. They told us fans that a new ballpark was needed in order to bring in more revenue... in order to increase payroll... in order to put a better product on the field... in order to win championships. The average fan, including me, assumed that payroll would be significantly higher this year over last year. To the tune of eight to ten million dollars.

How wrong we were. Ownership announced its intention to keep payroll at the same level as last year: $92 Million. Now, that is the sixth highest payroll in the majors, so I shouldn’t be complaining too much… but when the ownership bulldozes a plan through to build a new stadium in order to significantly raise payroll… and then decides NOT to significantly raise payroll… it makes the average fan scratch their head. Because most people around here really liked old Busch stadium… and never really understood why it needed to be replaced… other than the ‘increased revenue’ story we continually got from the ownership.

So here’s the new story we are getting from ownership: “The city, county, and state didn’t help fund this stadium as much as we thought they would… so about 77% of the funding is coming straight from our pockets. We have to pay our players and employees… AND we have a mortgage payment now.”

Wouldn’t it be safe to say, then, that if the Cards had stayed in old Busch stadium, they would actually be able to increase payroll more this year then what it currently is? I mean, without a mortgage payment sucking millions from ownership… isn’t it feasible to assume that they could bump payroll up, even just a few million more, if they had stayed in old Busch Stadium? And you can’t tell me that they didn’t know this BEFORE they started construction on the new stadium. In my opinion, once they realized that they were going to be saddled with a bunch of debt… they should have held off on the new stadium until they got better funding or chucked the whole idea out the door.

So we are left with having ten of our players on last year's team becoming free agents this winter and not signing even one of them back. NOT EVEN ONE. That means TEN of our roster of TWENTY-FIVE players will be leaving. More than a third. I don’t think that’s great for chemistry. The Cards will miss two or three of these players… mostly because there are not any great free agents remaining that are considerably better. (Nor are there any that the organization is willing to pay anyway!) So, we are letting guys go in order to save money… but not replacing them with any legitimate major league level starting ballplayers.

Do I think the Cards can still win their division with the current team? Yes. The Cubs have gotten better, but they are only as good as the health of their pitching… and the Cubs pretty much can count on Prior and Wood going down for any length of time each year… Zambrano will soon join them because Baker runs him out for 130 to 140 pitches each game. Derrick Lee had his career year last year, Juan Pierre has speed and nothing else, Aramis is on the DL for at least a fourth of the year every year. They are still looking for outfielders. (I hear Sammy Sosa is available…) The Astros cut Roger Clemens loose. They still have a pretty good staff… but they will still have trouble scoring runs… I don’t think they are better than us over 162 games. The Brewers will be better than people think. Reds and Pirates are rebuilding… Reds have no pitching, Pirates have very little hitting. I think we still can win our division.

Do I think the Cards can win the World Series with the current team? Probably not. But I think if we had been willing to commit a couple million dollars more per year and made two or three significant signings… and a trade or two… we could be in a great position to win it all this year. Unfortunately… those couple of million dollars more per year are paying off the new stadium that was supposed to bring in a couple of million dollars more per year. Which leaves me, an average fan, scratching his head and trying not to panic…

P.S. Approximately 70 days till Spring Training starts…

God with Us

In my mind, one of the most amazing things about the incarnation is that God allowed Himself to be born into human flesh… and as an infant! (Not that there was any other way… but think about it… Almighty God as a baby?)

At my last church in Kalamazoo, every year in December they assembled a huge ‘living Christmas Tree’ and every year they would put on a big Christmas cantata. During my last year there, they tried re-creating the manger scene. They got a Mary, Joseph, and they got the youngest infant in the church to play the part of Jesus. I think this infant was about six weeks old at the time… and the danger you always run into when you use a live infant to play Jesus is that this young person could get hungry or have a wet diaper… or could just make a lot of noise in general.

And as luck would have it, this infant got hungry right in the middle of a very quiet and somber song. This particular baby didn’t hold back either. She wailed to the whole congregation that she was hungry! The choir director was visibly embarrassed… the choir looked at each other and just smiled in an embarrassed way… thinking ‘Uh, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.’

I remember very clearly this particular moment. It was one of those moments when God reaches down and opens your eyes to something about His character and it changes the way you identify with Him. I was sitting at the very back of the sanctuary watching the performance… and as this little one started to cry… I began to realize the extent of the sacrifice Jesus made in becoming a human. I don’t know too many infants who come out of the womb using nouns and verbs and putting together complete sentences. The only way a new-born knows how to communicate is by crying. They cry when they are hungry, they cry when they need to be changed, they cry if they are tired, they cry if they are hurt, they cry if they are scared, they cry for no apparent reason, newborns cry and sometimes they cry very loudly.

I think it is safe to assume that the only way Jesus could communicate to his parents during this particular season of his life was by crying… and it’s safe to assume that the only way he was going to get fed and get taken care of was by depending on a mommy and a daddy. Try and wrap your mind around this one: Almighty God, who created all the languages… who could’ve communicated in a thousand different ways (from audibly speaking to burning a bush without actually burning a bush)… Almighty God, as an infant… could only take a deep breath and wail at the top of his little lungs to get the attention of his parents. Almighty God… who never had a beginning, who is all powerful, all knowing, present everywhere at once… Almighty God, put himself in a position where he had to rely on an earthly mother and father for food and provision and protection.

As everybody looked around in embarrassment at the crying infant in the sanctuary that morning… I couldn’t help but sit there marvel at the sacrifice Jesus made to become one of us… and that was just the first night of his life.

Jesus came to the earth so that He could relate to our struggles… to our heartaches… to our joys… to our sorrows… to our victories… to our fears… and yes, even to our temptations.

I love what the author of Hebrews writes: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:14-15)

I don’t know who wrote the next passage but I love it because it perfectly explains how beautiful and mysterious it is that God became man:

“He was the God-man. Not God indwelling a man. Of such there have been many. Not a man deified. Of such there have been none save in the myths of pagan systems of thought; but God and man, combining in one personality the two natures, a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation.”

I’m not sure if any of you remember the 1996 pop song sung by Joan Osborne called “If God was one of us.” The lyrics asked ‘What if God was one of us… just a slob like one of us… just a stranger trying to make His way home.” Many people found the lyrics to be offensive… you can’t sing things like that about God. I found them to be sad, because I want to tell the writer of those lyrics that God already became one of us… and it’s through that man, it’s through Jesus that we can find hope and peace and freedom and salvation.

I am so thankful for the Christmas season, but I am most thankful for what it represents: The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. The coming of Immanuel… literally, God with us.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

And still more pictures...

Emily wearing Melissa's clothes again...



She's got spunk...



Me and my little girl...