the Bono Bandwagon

Alot of Christians blog about Bono.  It is almost cliche.  Nevertheless, I want you to read an exerpt of an interview with him (here). Bono is such a delightful figure.  He defies categorization.  His words are so refreshing that I’m taking a break from my current series on "incarnational" ministry to comment upon what Bono has to say. Here’s a snippet:

Bono: My understanding of the Scriptures
has been made simple by the person of Christ. Christ teaches that God
is love. What does that mean? What it means for me: a study of the life
of Christ. Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty,
the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor. I don’t let my
religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I
know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond [sighs]
in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that
love, that’s my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when
I try to live this love. Now that’s not so easy…

Bono: You see, at the
center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put
out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in
physics-in physical laws-every action is met by an equal or an opposite
one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe.
I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace
to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies
reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of
your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve
done a lot of stupid stuff.

Assayas: I’d be interested to hear that.

Bono: That’s between
me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be
my judge. I’d be in deep s—. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m
holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the
Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my
own religiosity.

Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look,
you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to
selfishness, and there’s a mortality as part of your very sinful
nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are
you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of
Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we
put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not
reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled… .
It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

Bono later says it all comes down to how we regard Jesus:

Bono: … [I]f only we
could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. …When I
look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s— and
everybody else’s. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have
asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a
religious nut? And there it is, and that’s the question. And no one can
talk you into it or out of it.

If only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed.  I think all Christians would agree with that.  Why, then, is it so dang difficult?  We need the Spirit so badly.  We need to start doing it.  The church needs to stop being an edifice that sends, but a gathering of the sent.  We need to re-approach discipleship.  Instead of approaching discipleship as something we add to our lives, we need to center our lives around a gracious relationship with Christ.  He must be our center.  He seems too much like our figurehead than he seems like our Lord.  Somedays, I get depressed about how little we resemble Christ–how little I resemble Christ.  I want so badly to drop the distractions and yield to him.

for further reading . . .

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