Monday, February 28, 2011

Music Monday- U2

I came across this cool book/interview with Bono and Michka Assayas. Some people may not enjoy Bono, or the way that people use his name for everything. I have enjoyed U2 for a long time, and I really think the things that Bono is bringing to light and using his fame to bring awareness to are amazing. How many celebrities use their fame for really pointless things, too many to count. The work that Bono has done to bring awareness to AIDS in Africa is amazing!

I loved this article, so check it out and when your done enjoy a sweet video!

Bono Interview: Grace Over Karma
(Excerpt from the book Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas)
from The Poached Egg blog.

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.

Assayas: What about the God of the Old Testament? He wasn't so "peace and love"?

Bono: There's nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you're a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.

Assayas: Speaking of bloody action movies, we were talking about South and Central America last time. The Jesuit priests arrived there with the gospel in one hand and a rifle in the other.

Bono: I know, I know. Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. [laughs] A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship. Why are you chuckling?

Assayas: I was wondering if you said all of that to the Pope the day you met him.

Bono: Let's not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows

Assayas: So you won't be critical.

Bono: No, I can be critical, especially on the topic of contraception. But when I meet someone like Sister Benedicta and see her work with AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, or Sister Ann doing the same in Malawi, or Father Jack Fenukan and his group Concern all over Africa, when I meet priests and nuns tending to the sick and the poor and giving up much easier lives to do so, I surrender a little easier.

Assayas: But you met the man himself. Was it a great experience?

Bono: [W]e all knew why we were there. The Pontiff was about to make an important statement about the inhumanity and injustice of poor countries spending so much of their national income paying back old loans to rich countries. Serious business. He was fighting hard against his Parkinson's. It was clearly an act of will for him to be there. I was oddly moved by his humility, and then by the incredible speech he made, even if it was in whispers. During the preamble, he seemed to be staring at me. I wondered. Was it the fact that I was wearing my blue fly-shades? So I took them off in case I was causing some offense. When I was introduced to him, he was still staring at them. He kept looking at them in my hand, so I offered them to him as a gift in return for the rosary he had just given me.

Assayas: Didn't he put them on?

Bono: Not only did he put them on, he smiled the wickedest grin you could ever imagine. He was a comedian. His sense of humor was completely intact. Flashbulbs popped, and I thought: "Wow! The Drop the Debt campaign will have the Pope in my glasses on the front page of every newspaper."

Assayas: I don't remember seeing that photograph anywhere, though.

Bono: Nor did we. It seems his courtiers did not have the same sense of humor. Fair enough. I guess they could see the T-shirts.

Later in the conversation:
Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?

Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.

Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.

Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.

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.

Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?

Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched

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

Bono: If 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.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Music Monday - OK Go

Music Monday this week features OK Go with their song "This Too Shall Pass." OK Go is originally from Chicago, Illinois but now, like almost every band/star, they reside in Los Angeles. When you think about it though, who wouldn't want to live in California? Besides all the debt in California, it really is a beautiful place to live!

I first heard about OK Go a year or two ago with their song "Here It Goes Again." These guys are super creative when it comes to their music videos. The music video for "Here It Goes Again" is the band doing a crazy dance to the song on treadmills.

Then last year sometime I saw their video for this weeks song "This Too Shall Pass." After I decided to feature OK Go on Music Monday this week, I thought I would really check out the lyrics for this song. Some of the lyrics from the song say;

You know you can't keep letting it get you down
And you can't keep dragging that dead weight around
Is it really all that much to lug around

Sadly, a lot of us do this. We keep all this dead weight on us, and things keep piling up on us until we feel like we can't take it anymore. There have been some times where this has been so true for me. What has helped me in these times, is I give these things to Jesus. I lay them down, and try to keep moving forward. I don't want to pick up the things that have held me down. Psalm 55:22 says;
Pile your troubles on God's shoulders—
He'll carry your load, he'll help you out.
He'll never let good people
topple into ruin. (the message)

I'm not sure if this is there were going for when they wrote the song, but it's what I'm getting out of it. So in the words of OK Go;
Oh, you can't keep letting it get you down,
No, You can't keep letting it get you down!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Music Monday - Mumford & Sons, Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan

Maybe you've been living in a cave or under a rock some where, but you really need to check out these two bands.

Mumford and Sons are an amazing folk rock band out of England. They have been my most favorite Pandora station as of late. They formed in 2007, and released their album Sigh No More in 2009.

The other is The Avett Brothers who I just recently found out about, and they are equally as good! I recently heard that one of my friends saw them live and said it was the most amazing night of his life! So take the next eight minutes and treat your ears to some amazing music.

Here is Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan performing at the 2011 Grammy's.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Music Monday - Eisley

So this week's musical selection is in honor of my coming daughter. Lori and I have been trying to decide on a girl's name for a while. We went back and forth on names, well it was mostly Lori suggesting names and me saying no. Lori was looking through a baby book and saw the name Eisley (Apparently it wasn't in the book, Lori had heard the name from our good friend and author Mary, check out here blog at http://mchristineweber.com). We both really like it. It didn't have anything to do with the band, they do have some really great music though. So check out one of their songs below and if you like it check out their website at http://www.eisley.com/;