Love Song To The Church

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you
Now you got someone to blame

You say
One love, One life
When it's one need in the night

It's one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well it's too late
Tonight
To drag the past out
Into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other

One

One.

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Bono's love song to the Church is a message that I should consider. A message from a man who refuses to call himself a "Christian" because he doesn't feel he deserves that title, yet is an avid follower of Christ with a demonstrated life that many times surpasses my own.

I don't perceive Bono to be ashamed of the Cross. Far from it. And I don't believe that he is so unaware of the cleansing blood of Christ that he would elevate his own sinfulness. Far from that, too, I believe. In fact, I believe that he is so vividly aware of both our own humanity and the overwhelming magnitude of God's grace and the blood of Christ that covers that humanity in us all.

I'm not saying that I have disavowed calling myself "Christian" as they were at Antioch. But I am moved by the example of someone who realizes just how big God is all on His own, and just how small we are without Him.

And I think that his humility and the example of his life give him the right to pen such a Truthful, loving song to the Church as the words above. I know it talks about tough stuff, but it's shared with such love, and.......

Hey, we're all trying to find our way, we really are. We have the best intentions. But sometimes things get messed up in the process. And sometimes, we experience God revealing to us that there's still some baggage and preconceived notions that we're carrying that aren't actually born of Him. That's why a love song from God every now and then is a good thing.

Jesus knows exactly what is right and wrong, what's righteous and unholy, what is a blessing and an abomination unto God. And yet He has this unfathomable quality to look beyond all that and completely love those who fall into either category (and don't we all fall into both categories in some way or another?) and love them with Pure Love.

I am finding as I walk with Him and I am allowing His Light to shine into the corners of my heart that my mind is way too small to comprehend all of Who He is or what He means. I am finding God leading me to do things that "do not seem to exactly match up with my past interpretation of Scripture" but match up perfectly with how Jesus is.

Sometimes I wrestle for an answer, becoming able to only seek to receive a confirmed "Yes" or "No" from Him because I realize that there's not enough time for Him to explain it all to me right now. Perhaps later. That happens sometimes. Or perhaps when we know as we are known.

When I read the lyrics of this song as the recipient, as a member of the Church to whom Bono is singing, it strikes a chord with me. Listen, if you would.......




Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you
Now you got someone to blame

Has becoming a disciple of Christ actually changed me? Have I converted spiritually or have I simply transmuted into a person who perceives that "I" have now "made it" and need to point out others sin to them so that they'll realize their own need for Christ?

You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
It's one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you don't care for it

I keep talking about oneness. I keep talking about Jesus. But if I neglect to acknowledge that I still have mountains that need to be cast into the sea, and that in this need I am exactly the same as those who are still without Christ, I will "lose" the sense of His great love for me. I will lose that sense of the spiritual oneness that He so desires to birth within me toward the Body. I will lose the love for those who are sheep without a Shepherd. I will become hard and cold and hurtful.

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Have you found that God is leading you into direct and extended contact with people that "rub you the wrong way?" Is He making sure that you are being pressed by people who you know need Jesus just like you do, but secretly in your heart wish that He'd send someone else other than you to reach out to them? Are you realizing that God is bringing people into your life that you'd rather not be around, but absolutely must be around if you are to be a sincere, genuine disciple of Christ?

Well it's too late
Tonight
To drag the past out
Into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

The night is far spent. The day is at hand. I don't have time to harp or criticize. We are one, but we're not the same. God may be giving us different parts of His Big Picture, but I'm not realizing that. I need to seek His wisdom for my soul so that I may understand, or have His confirming peace and direction to obey in spite of not understanding. We get to carry each other. It's a gift from God, if I'll see it that way.

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
We hurt each other
Then we do it again

Why have I come to Christ? Have I come because I was first and am now aware of my profound need for forgiveness? Have I come to Christ to "get power" like Simon in Acts and become a noted "minister?" Have I come to Him only to depart on a self-styled mission to those toward whom I secretly harbor bitterness and resentment and critical judgment? Have the lost, just as imperfect and annoying at times as I, so imposed upon the Camelot which I perceive Christianity to be that I cannot even toss them crumbs from the Master's table, much less invite them to take my own seat as I ought? In the loneliness and selfishness that sometimes creep into my Christian existence, have I repeatedly chosen the easy way out and hurt others, or have I sacrificed with helpless tears to share my life and sustenance with them?

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

I do. I say that Love is a Temple, and Love is the Higher Law. But have I created a religion, a form, a structure not born of Christ, a place institutional or house or on the street that is wood, hay and stubble? Have I established as that which I declare to be His own will that which shuts out by its very nature those to whom His very heart is drawn when His eyes search the world? Am I still so wounded, and discouraged, and baggage-laden that - in spite of the fact that I earnestly desire that it be different - all I have to offer to the lost is yet-damaged goods?

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other

Ah, the Truth. The precious Truth. The Truth that I have known since my spiritual birth. There is only One Love - the love of Christ. There is only one blood - the blood of Christ. There is only one life - the one Christ gave for me and that I must give back to Him. I know what I need to do, and I must ask for God's help to do it.

There is one life that He has given to us all and is to be shared among us all. I cannot take my part and go live it by myself. If I have, I must arise from the mud of the pig pen, and go to my Father who is even now waiting for me to return to Him and my brethren. To Him. To my Sisters. To my Brothers.

One life so large that it must live in so many little ones in order to manifest its countless facets. One life that can only be genuinely shared in myriad ways. One life characterized and given witness to when I carry my Brother and Sister without inward judgment for them or hidden shame for being their companion. One life characterized and given witness to when I humbly allow my Brother and my Sister to carry me when I am broken or hurting.

One.

One.