Finding the Blessed
I attended the leadership concept from Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago this last week as our church hosted a satellite conference. One of the sessions was an interview with Bono from U2 and his thoughts on Aids and Africa. He said something that I thought was very insightful.
“Stop asking for God to bless what you are doing. Be a part of what He is doing because it is already blessed.”
This got me thinking about how many things we get caught up with doing, even if it is in the name of God, and we wonder why we sometimes don’t feel His Presence in what we’re doing. I’ll be honest, part of me is tempted to not get involved with the Aids epidemic in Africa just because Bono was the one who challenged me and it now feels like the popular thing to do. But this quote has been ringing in my ears since I heard it. Our prayers should change from: “God bless what I’m doing” to “God, what are You doing and how should I get involved?” I’m not even a fan of U2′s music but I give Bono props for seeing what most of us have missed. Check out his website to see how you can get involved with how he is leading the charge to save Africa.
This is the personal blog of Jeremy Jernigan. Husband, father, teaching pastor, and student of truth.
that’s a great quote. thanks for sharing jeremy. hopefully this will lead churches in the area to actually particpate in this effort.
Yes I am FINALLY commenting. I have to agree, thinking about Bono teaching me something about spirituality was a bit unnerving. He does make a rather good point, though. It reminds me of Christian history when people did a lot of crazy crap in the name of God thinking that they were doing something He wanted. We tend to focus SO much on what we want to accomplish with God’s help that we are blind to what He actually wants to do. The Christian journey is all about learning to live for and serve something outside of ourselves. This is just another big arrow pointing to that fact.
I love the fact that Bono is taking a stance on Africa and AIDS. I think it is great when people of influence use their popularity to garner attention for stuff that is actually important. However, I think Bono will join the long list of people and projects that though they had good intentions were doomed from the beginning. Over the past 5 decades there has been some 2.5 trillon dollars dumped into “foreign aid”. Yet despite that money little progress has been made. When Truman was President he stated that we had finally reached a point in humany history where we could eradicate suffering. Yet here we are still suffering. I applaud the heart and courage to stand for something important. However, if Bono and the rest of the world want to make a real difference we have to start from the inside. Dumping money on people doesn’t work. The only way to change the world is through Christ and going straight to the people. The Conservative Right with their ridiculous military intervention and the Liberal Left with their ridiculous “foreign aid strategies” aren’t working. We actually need to go to the people; help the people themselves set up a system and trust the people from within to make a lasting impact. Otherwise all we are doing is pouring money down a drain.
Why all the hesitancy to learn something about christian spirituality from Bono? If you take the time to become familiar with what Bono has to offer in the way of following Jesus, I think those who turn their nose up on learning from him will change their minds very quickly.
Regardless if you like or dislike the music of U2, they provide some of the most powerful lyrics rooted in the gospel that you will find in any music over the last 30 years. In addition to his lyrical contribution, the vast amount of books and interviews that cover Bono’s faith are very insightful as well. My life has been impacted far more by the spiritual offerings of Bono than in any church i’ve stepped foot in.
Langdon, I think the way aid is handled and distributed is becoming much more effective these days than it has in the past. It very disturbing and sad to think of how much aid has gone to waste, but I don’t think that, in and of itself, should deter us from offering up financial aid in the present time. What it should do is force the Western countries to sharpen the way they distribute the aid and raise the level of accountability for nations recieving the aid. I think this has already started to happen and hopefully it will continue to improve.
I like U2 as well Zach – no problems with learning from them. I agree that there is a lot to learn about God outside of the church. I also am not against giving financial aid. I just think it is ironic that the same stuff that was said 50 years ago is being said now and we still haven’t figured out a concrete way to actually help the countries and people that need it (we being the western world). Truman’s exact words in 1949 – “We must embark on a bold new program for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people.” I desire more financial aid to be given – I just want to make sure that it is going towards actually making a difference before I just hand it over. The loss of trillions of dollars is something we need to be really careful of.
I forget this – “My life has been impacted far more by the spiritual offerings of Bono than in any church i’ve stepped foot in.” This is a sad statement. I don’t look down upon you Zach for saying it, but it makes me sad. I very much believe in Bill Hybels statement that the church is the “hope of the world”. I just hope you are still trying to help the church get to the place Christ wants it to be – instead of just giving up on it.
Zach, I don’t think that any of us have a problem learning from Bono–it is just a change from what we are used to. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum, my life has been impacted far more by the spiritual offerings of the church than anything else so when I see something that good (as Bono’s example) outside of the church it impresses me and surprises me a little.
I agree with Landon and feel sad for the reality that the church isn’t on the forefront of things like this and that caring people like yourself feel let down by the church. We need to figure out how to improve the world but also improve the church simultaneously. Thanks for your thoughts.
I don’t want to frame my comment in a way that I think the church has “let me down”. I don’t think it has anything to do with me. If Bill Hybels is right, then the Church, including me, better get crackin’. I see my self as part of the Church (big C) and I must hold myself to the same standard as others. I haven’t given up on the Church, but have rarely been a part of one that has taken seriously the plight of the “least of these” in our world today. I come from an evangelical/baptist background where the emphasis was/is on propagating the transactional gospel rather than serving the poor and the marginalized. Social justice was/is considered an obstruction to “preaching the word”. “Why give them clean drinking water when all they need is Jesus?”
I agree that it is also my responsiblity to help the church (small c) in any way I can in this regard, but I feel that much of the problem is institutional. I’d much rather enter a community that has the institutianal vision for social justice than hang back in order to foster change where the church institutions are apathetic and failing to embrace the Sermon on the Mount as central.