Let there be light! That’s what God said when he first created the world. But did you know, he also said it about us in Ephesians 5:8?
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
So what does this mean? Does it mean live as if you’re a famous rock star and all the world’s a stage with the spot light on you? Of course not; you already know this.
If you’re Christian, you already know just how dark, how shameful, how sinfulyou perhaps once were, or currently struggle with, or have the capacity to be. That’s because our flesh wants what it wants. We want control. We want things, people, power or influence. It’s the underlying motive beneath all our wants that determines whether we are walking as children of the light or darkness.
I snapped this pic of Bono at the 2nd of only three concerts I’ve ever seen him. He was so close and yet….so far away. It was taken with an ordinary point and shoot camera at just the right moment, a split second of perfect timing. It almost seems like heaven’s light is shining down.
But I know the truth. Bono is only a man. Nothing more; nothing less. He has made references before that he doesn’t feel comfortable if fans (strangers to him!) see him as a Messiah. He’s clearly not. Yet, he does carry a certain light, or at least seems to be perceived that way by tens (hundreds?) of thousands of U2 fans, and maybe even some people that aren’t even big fans of U2’s music.
That’s because of his heart. If you follow news about him then you know what he’s done to shine a light on Africa, and how he’s been instrumental in trying to reduce and eliminate hunger, poverty, political corruption, and the hopelessness these things cause. You know he’s worked with world leaders in the political arena to bring attention and change to a silent suffering. He’s used his rock star status to influence and to be a beacon of light—to bring attention to, hope, help, cure, and above all love at a time that clearly God has appointed for him.
He’s not Jesus. But he gets it when it comes to carrying His light. Yet it’s not Bono’s responsibility to carry it alone. He’s a torch bearer. He once sang, that “I’d join the movement, if I found one I could believe in.” We live in a dark world in uncertain times. But in a world of self-indulgent twerkers, endless me-centered and copy-cat celebrities publicly showcasing their life of flashy material excess and simultaneous emptiness, Bono has been singing for quite some time to the beat of a different tune:
A higher frequency. This unmistakable calling of light. The example of a love in action, not merely words spoken or sung. He doesn’t just sing to us. U2’s lyrics challenge us. (“Am I buggin you? I don’t mean to bug ya!”) Kind of like Jesus. How are you going to step out today knowing what you know of the world’s pockets of suffering? Will you turn away in apathy? Or will you reach out in faith willing to risk your reputation or security? Are you brave enough to show goodness, kindness, compassion, or mercy today to someone you don’t know or is hard to love?
Truth has a way of showing us which direction we’re going to walk in life. The incredible light that is ours simply by receiving. This incredible gift of love that is ours to multiply simply by giving it all away.
Love has a hem to her garment that reaches the very dust.
It sweeps the streets and lanes, and because it can, it must. – Mother Teresa
Have you ever noticed when you are totally overwhelmed with a set of challenges (one for each finger I say), life has an uncanny way of dealing just a few more major blows– all at once? Here you are standing tall as trees, trying to be strong, and be responsible and systematically solve the issues? This feels like a theme for me these days in life.
I recently bought a post card from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum that sits in front of my kitchen window. It has NO PICURES, just five simple words to remind me of today’s modus operandi:
Failure is not an option.
It’s the famous line uttered in the Apollo 13 mission and subsequent movie. It’s a verbal and visionary reminder to keep trying, to keep going…at all costs, beyond energy, beyond strength, above all: beyond no, and I can’t and I don’t know and I’m tired.
You must, must, must find a way, in order to complete the mission and come home safely.
The catch is this; life does not always play out like a great movie or space mission. In fact, as clever as those amazing astronauts were, was there something more than mere intelligence at work? After all, who gives us our amazing minds?
Perhaps there is a force at work bigger than the size of the circumstance. Smarter than the smartest mind in the room. Stronger than the strongest person or fire or storm that threatens.
Yes, we stand tall as trees, but God fells us to our rightful position sometimes: our knees.
We’re not as big, or smart, or as important as we think we are. We are not responsible for the resolution of everything!That’s such a hard, hard lesson for me. I just naturally associate doing nothing with being lazy. I keep forgetting that letting go, actuallydoes mean let God. Nothing in the world feels harder than surrender. After all, in battle, isn’t surrender essentially the same as defeat?
In battle, yes. In matters of faith, surrender is true freedom. Why? Because that’s when the soft winds of grace can blow in. What is this grace exactly?
It’s unmerited favor. It’s granted when you don’t deserve it, perhaps because you don’t deserve it. Or perhaps because you do. It’s because despite your failure of choices or abilities, you deserve it, simply because you are loved. It’s because despite all this which is not of your own making is not happening unnoticed by God. You are loved. And the solution will arrive right on time. But not on your time, on God’s.
I think of grace as perseverance strapped safely in by faith. It’s the ability to step out and endure before the answers arrive.
What is “that thing” you so desperately need right now to solve your most pressing problems? More money? More time? More wisdom (something you hadn’t considered before)? More energy? More love?
Probably “that thing” is the ONE THING you just can’t do by yourself, no matter how hard you try.
Solution? Stop trying already.Hear me right. You still have to get out of bed each day, get up and do the best that you can. Work as hard as you can, but work at it as if you are confidently expecting God to pull through for you.
Maybe muster up a tiny bit of joy as you are working. Prayers of gratitude for what God has blessed you with will strengthen you further. What do you already have working for you? A family who loves you? (Think how many people in the world don’t have this!) A body still capable of working, even though it tires? A mind which, though sometimes filled with doubt, can still decide, change, adapt to, and embrace new situations and challenges? Basic needs such as a food, shelter, clothing? I hope you see the gift of grace you have already obtained here.
If you have time, I hope you’ll watch the video. Mother Teresa had it right all along. God designed us in this simple yet unique way.
To love, and to be loved.
That’s it. To love. You struggle, yes. But look beyond you, clearly there are harder struggles that you have not been called to endure. That’s not good luck; that’s grace. And yet there is a lesson here:
Amidst the chaos, the unknown outcomes of pressing problems, and being pressed for time all around, is there a way to extend grace to someone else? Who nearest to your center of gravity simply needs to be loved?
Failure may feel as if it’s not an option for the challenges we face. But grace is. And grace is the one that will help us complete our mission and carry us safely home.
More Wisdom from Mother Teresa:
We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in – that we do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.
The following exchange between Bono and Assayas took place just days after the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, an act of terrorism that left 191 dead and more than 1,800 wounded. The two men were discussing how terrorism is often carried out in the name of religion when Bono turned the conversation to Christianity, expressing his preference for God’s grace over “karma,” offering an articulate apologetic for the deity of Christ, and giving a clear presentation of the gospel message.
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 … We 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.
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.
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.
(Note: While the book includes numerous passages of Bono discussing his Christian faith, it also includes occasional salty language from both parties.)
Liz’s Note: 11/19/12 — Hoping to post an original writing soon, but with so much unrest in the world these days, it’s inspiring to know we have an alternative to chaos in our life: Grace. May you find yours today!
u2areloved 