Our Discussion for this Sunday is prompted by Bono (Lead Singer of U2, activist, etc.) who gave this sermon at the National Prayer Breakfast. The following link is to a transcript and CSPAN video of his message (click
here). Below are some discussion questions to provoke thoughts and comments, both for this Sunday and the week to come.
Last week to this week: As a class, we are building towards a discussion of what it is that we, as Christians, believe? Ours is a discussion of Theology (i.e., thoughts about God). (Later, we will be using the Apostles' Creed as a means to enter into this discussion.) Last week we spoke about the relationship between doubt and faith. We discussed that doubt and faith are connected. We went so far to say that the greater one's faith, the greater one's doubt. We also talked about sources of truth or how we knew something was true. This led into a discussion about how our ways of knowing about God are not unlike our ways of knowing anything else.
With that said, this week we need to talk about action! Theology or the thinking about God has to be more than a thing in our "head." Christianity (our believing in God) has to be more than in our heads and hearts, but must be in our actions. This brings me to why we're using Bono's message for our class this week. I want to discuss not only the points he brings up, but how a proper understanding of God (a proper theology) must be one in which a person's thoughts moves them to action.
Questions to Consider:
Bono: "Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural… something unseemly… about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the South of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert… but this is really weird, isn't it?"
Why is it that a Rock Star and not a Reverend is having to speak the truth about God? Why is the Church not challenging the nation with this message? How is this a reflection of a theology of the mind, but not one of action? How has the Church got itself into the situation where Rock Stars instead of Reverends are the ones preaching such messages? How do we get ourselves out of this situation? (HINT: Again, I want us to see that a proper theology is a mindset that moves us to action)
Bono: "Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here—but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was… well, a little blurry, and hard to see. I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays… and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God. For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land… and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash… in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment… I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV."
Is it true that more people would love Christ if it were not for the Christians? Share some examples of how this is true (Bono hints at some in these lines). Again, how is theology part of the problem (HINT: confessing one thing with our lips, and acting contrary to it)? What is gained when theology matches practice?
Extra credit: what line in the above is borrowing from Martin Luther King (another example of theology that matched action).
Bono: "Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick—my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the Millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call—and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty. 'Jubilee'—why 'Jubilee'? What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lords favor? I'd always read the Scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)… 'If your brother becomes poor,' the Scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself… you shall maintain him… You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.' It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much… yet. He hasn't spoken in public before… When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee. (Luke 4:18) What he was really talking about was an era of grace—and we're still in it. So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate—in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club… it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions… making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people. "
The Church originally was a group of people that acted on their beliefs drawing those beliefs from the example and guidance of Scripture. (Early on, theology was expressed in deeds and only later words.) So, if we are taking God seriously, and God's word seriously, how would life and the world be different? How would the church be different?
The idea of Jubilee, that Bono expands upon in this message, is just one example of the Church making a "difference" in the world, of the Church turning the world on its ear by taking theology seriously. What are some other instances of the Church, both locally and globally, taking theology seriously? (HINTS: Civil Rights Movement, Katrina Aid, etc. Of course, you can site the other examples Bono offers.)
Bono: "Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market… that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents… That's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents… that's a justice issue. And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject. That's why I say there's the law of the land… and then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living? As the laws of man are written, that's what they say. God will not accept that. Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market… that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents… That's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents… that's a justice issue. And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject. That's why I say there's the law of the land… and then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living? As the laws of man are written, that's what they say. God will not accept that. Mine won't, at least. Will yours?"
- Who is God? Seems like a simple question, but who you think God is may not be who you follow? Maybe the question should be posed, "who is God, or Lord, of you?"
- Do you ever think that some people (including us at times) make God sound a lot like their own biases, prejudices and ideas? God is no longer a voice speaking to and with us, but an echo of us. How has the Church, the government, institutions in general distorted God to fit their own agendas? How have we done the same? As an aside, notice how theology (what we believe) and ethics (how we apply those beliefs) are linked.
Bono: "Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again. That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now. A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it… I have a family, please look after them… I have this crazy idea… And this wise man said: stop. He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing—because it's already blessed. Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing. And that is what He's calling us to do.
- Christ said that the greatest commandment was to love God and to love others...theology in a nutshell! How are these two connected? Who are these others? How are our thoughts about God (our theology) also thoughts about others? Theology is not about us (in a self-centered sense), it is about us properly understanding how to be involved with others.
Bono: "History, like God, is watching what we do. "
Obviously, this passage raises other questions, thoughts, and comments. This is why this is a place to communicate. Please feel free to share your thoughts both before class (so we can discuss them Sunday, afterall this is a class by you all, not just me) and throughout the coming week. Remember, this is a site for Koinonia (pronounced: coin-no-knee-uh), a site for commuity and communication with each other and, ultimately, with God.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski... Yes, I realize that by opening with a reference to Coach K I just caused most of you to cruise to other blogs. Hear me out! Part of the Duke mentality that Coach K instills in his players is that they are part of something greater than themselves. I wonder if the same mentality rests in the heart of our faith. James Howell points out that in all the gospels' accounts of the resurrection it is never about us, but about something greater than us. In other words, the sentimental beliefs that the resurrection is just about you and I living forever or us being reunited with some lost loved ones both focuses too much on the self...it makes the resurrection about you and I...and not God. Howell asks us to consider what Coach K asks his players to consider, what if this thing, for our purposes the resurrection, is bigger than me? Seriously, what if the resurrection is God's way of saying, "I am God," "Jesus really is my son," or "in the end...I always win." This week, we'll talk begin to talk about the wonderful mystery that is the resurrection and what this event means.
