***Who is My Neighbor?
What Is Jesus Doing?
It’s not just the music. Bono is getting a lot of press these days. The Irish leader of U2, one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history was recently named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) and was invited to address those gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2, 2006.
Back in July he made a splash at the G-8 Summit, where the most powerful leaders in the world meet every year to discuss economics and world affairs. Not bad for a short little guy from Ireland.
But what strange images come to mind. Black leather clad rock star shaking hands with prim, proper and pressed Tony Blair. Screeching guitars and ear drum stretching decibels with bowed heads and folded hands. Rock stars on Capital Hill. Bono himself said, “There is something unseemly, unnatural about rock stars preaching to presidents and heads of state.”
These aren’t photo ops; it’s not a ploy to sell more records or concert tickets. There is no catch. Josh Tyrangiel writes in Time that while many in the world wrestle with the best way to deal with poverty, “Bono’s contribution has been to forge … a surprisingly durable consensus on the need to do something.”
And although he looks out at the world through rose-colored glasses (literally) no one could confuse him with being a Pollyanna. Bono is not talking pie-in-the sky, “world peace,” or “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” President Bush said Bono “gets things done.”
When I read Time’s issue on the Persons of the Year, I was struck by the mark that both Bono and the Gateses are making and will, no doubt, leave behind them. They are tops in their field, and some would argue they are the best in the world at what they do. And yet, they have turned toward, sometimes, faceless and nameless brothers and sisters and stretched out their hands. They are not just digging into their pockets, but are inspiring many people to join them. Time named them The Good Samaritans. And I bet all three blushed a bit.
But Bono in his recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast spoke words that may have ruffled some feathers. Imagine that? He spoke not about charity, but about justice. He said, (and I believe, he was loosely referring to the American people, but perhaps not exclusively) “We’re good at charity. But there is a higher standard.” It is the standard of justice. In other words, it’s not just about taking care of the guy who’s been beat up and left for dead, but it’s about changing the system so that folks don’t get beat up and those who beat up won’t feel so desperate and so, choose to beat up on others.
He affirmed President Bush’s leading America to increased giving by doubling aid to Africa and tripling aid for global health. But he refused to let charity be the only satisfying end. Bono said, “Preventing the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of a free market—is not about charity. It’s about justice. Holding children to ransom for the debt of their grandparents is not about charity—it’s a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the office of patents—is a justice issue.”
He declared, “Where you live should no longer determine whether you live.” And in the end he challenged President Bush and Congress to increase giving to the poor by 1% of the federal budget. That would amount to $26 billion. President Bush did not comment on Bono’s proposal but certainly made a statement when later in the day the White House asked Congress to approve $70 billion in increased spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And on the same day the Senate approved $70 billion in tax cuts.
Twice Bono quoted from Isaiah 58. “And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” He spoke of the year of Jubilee from Leviticus 25. I dare say it was one of the most riveting sermons I have ever heard. He painted word pictures: “God is with the vulnerable and poor, in the cardboard boxes, in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with the deadly virus that will kill both of them. God is in the cries heard underneath the rubble of war, in the debris of wasted opportunity and lies. And God is with us if we are with them.”
It is a call to be a neighbor, to take responsibility, to do something on behalf of the poor. Bono is using his powerful voice to access and address world leaders to change the way the world works. In essence, what Bono is saying is, “it doesn’t have to work this way. It could be different.”
At the Prayer Breakfast, Bono told a story about his encounter with a man that has changed his life. He said that he used to go to this person and ask that whatever he was about to do, or the song he was writing, would be blessed. Until one day when this man told him, “Stop asking God to bless what you are doing. Get involved with what God is doing because it’s already blessed.”
What is God doing on your campus? As my friend Brian says, it’s not WWJD—what would Jesus do? It should be “What is Jesus Doing?” How do you see God at work in your community? As you read the paper or see the news on the internet or Google justice sites, how do you see the hand of God moving, bringing things together? Where is truth being spoken? Love forged?
Bono has honed his gift and is striving for excellence in his work as a musician. But he has not stopped there. C-Span listed him as “Musician & Activist.” He is using his renown and success to benefit others whom he will never meet. He is a neighbor to the world’s poor, especially in Africa. We may never come near to that place on the world stage, but we almost always have some circle of influence. How will you use your circle of influence to shape God’s kingdom?
It’s not just the music. Bono is getting a lot of press these days. The Irish leader of U2, one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history was recently named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) and was invited to address those gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2, 2006.
Back in July he made a splash at the G-8 Summit, where the most powerful leaders in the world meet every year to discuss economics and world affairs. Not bad for a short little guy from Ireland.
But what strange images come to mind. Black leather clad rock star shaking hands with prim, proper and pressed Tony Blair. Screeching guitars and ear drum stretching decibels with bowed heads and folded hands. Rock stars on Capital Hill. Bono himself said, “There is something unseemly, unnatural about rock stars preaching to presidents and heads of state.”
These aren’t photo ops; it’s not a ploy to sell more records or concert tickets. There is no catch. Josh Tyrangiel writes in Time that while many in the world wrestle with the best way to deal with poverty, “Bono’s contribution has been to forge … a surprisingly durable consensus on the need to do something.”
And although he looks out at the world through rose-colored glasses (literally) no one could confuse him with being a Pollyanna. Bono is not talking pie-in-the sky, “world peace,” or “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” President Bush said Bono “gets things done.”
When I read Time’s issue on the Persons of the Year, I was struck by the mark that both Bono and the Gateses are making and will, no doubt, leave behind them. They are tops in their field, and some would argue they are the best in the world at what they do. And yet, they have turned toward, sometimes, faceless and nameless brothers and sisters and stretched out their hands. They are not just digging into their pockets, but are inspiring many people to join them. Time named them The Good Samaritans. And I bet all three blushed a bit.
But Bono in his recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast spoke words that may have ruffled some feathers. Imagine that? He spoke not about charity, but about justice. He said, (and I believe, he was loosely referring to the American people, but perhaps not exclusively) “We’re good at charity. But there is a higher standard.” It is the standard of justice. In other words, it’s not just about taking care of the guy who’s been beat up and left for dead, but it’s about changing the system so that folks don’t get beat up and those who beat up won’t feel so desperate and so, choose to beat up on others.
He affirmed President Bush’s leading America to increased giving by doubling aid to Africa and tripling aid for global health. But he refused to let charity be the only satisfying end. Bono said, “Preventing the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of a free market—is not about charity. It’s about justice. Holding children to ransom for the debt of their grandparents is not about charity—it’s a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the office of patents—is a justice issue.”
He declared, “Where you live should no longer determine whether you live.” And in the end he challenged President Bush and Congress to increase giving to the poor by 1% of the federal budget. That would amount to $26 billion. President Bush did not comment on Bono’s proposal but certainly made a statement when later in the day the White House asked Congress to approve $70 billion in increased spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And on the same day the Senate approved $70 billion in tax cuts.
Twice Bono quoted from Isaiah 58. “And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” He spoke of the year of Jubilee from Leviticus 25. I dare say it was one of the most riveting sermons I have ever heard. He painted word pictures: “God is with the vulnerable and poor, in the cardboard boxes, in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with the deadly virus that will kill both of them. God is in the cries heard underneath the rubble of war, in the debris of wasted opportunity and lies. And God is with us if we are with them.”
It is a call to be a neighbor, to take responsibility, to do something on behalf of the poor. Bono is using his powerful voice to access and address world leaders to change the way the world works. In essence, what Bono is saying is, “it doesn’t have to work this way. It could be different.”
At the Prayer Breakfast, Bono told a story about his encounter with a man that has changed his life. He said that he used to go to this person and ask that whatever he was about to do, or the song he was writing, would be blessed. Until one day when this man told him, “Stop asking God to bless what you are doing. Get involved with what God is doing because it’s already blessed.”
What is God doing on your campus? As my friend Brian says, it’s not WWJD—what would Jesus do? It should be “What is Jesus Doing?” How do you see God at work in your community? As you read the paper or see the news on the internet or Google justice sites, how do you see the hand of God moving, bringing things together? Where is truth being spoken? Love forged?
Bono has honed his gift and is striving for excellence in his work as a musician. But he has not stopped there. C-Span listed him as “Musician & Activist.” He is using his renown and success to benefit others whom he will never meet. He is a neighbor to the world’s poor, especially in Africa. We may never come near to that place on the world stage, but we almost always have some circle of influence. How will you use your circle of influence to shape God’s kingdom?
posted by Evergreen @ 5:34 PM
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