Party Girl, Shake! Shake!

You asked for it Stephy, here it is! Bono forgets half the words! He starts taking his cue from the audience, who obviously remember the song better than he does. Funny stuff!


Here's another one you can dance to. I don't think I ever heard it before yesterday, and I have no idea why. Malachy and I have been going "Shake! Shake!" ever since we heard it!

U2 Gems from YouTube

Found a u2 video from the year I was born! Bono's schtick is way over the top, even for him, and those pants would be illegal in most states, but this video is worth watching for The Edge alone. FYI, he's just 16 or 17 in this video!

Street Mission, 1978

If that last video explains what endeared them so quickly to the gay club scene than this one explains what endeared them to the rest of the world.

Electric Co., 1981

Blogging the Bible

Over at Slate, David Plotz (a "proud" but not "terribly observant" Jew) has committed to reading the Bible, cover to cover, and blogging about it. Check it out here.

Here's a taste for you:

God tells His newly minted man and woman that they rule over world and its creatures, including, as the King James puts it—"every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." What a superb phrase! It's perfect for insects, terrorists, and children.

Bono and Africa

NBC Nightly News has a couple of new videos worth checking out. One is Bono's "video blog" and the other one is a preview of tonight's story featuring Rick Warren's thoughts on Bono.

"He's the real deal," Warren says. "He knows what he's talking about. Bono understands what I call 'the stewardship of affluence and influence,' in that God does not give us either money or fame for our own ego. But we're to use it. It's a stewardship. And I love the way that he's leveraging the fame that he has — for good."

Happy Birthday

By the way everybody, my blog is a year old! (A year and two days, actually.) It's been a dull year, but blogging about it has been kind of diverting. Big shout out to everyone who's been around since the beginning (especially the Friar, who was the first stranger to make me feel welcome in the world of blogging.) Thanks guys!

'Debunking the Debunkers"

What would C.S. Lewis have to say about this Da Vinci business? That's the subject of Joseph Loconte's editorial in the Wall Street Journal today.

All you John Rueben fans out there...

John Rueben is having a great day over at YouTube. Click on the image to watch his tongue-in-cheek "TV Pilot."

More Buechner

Frederick Buechner has a great little book called Peculiar Treausres: A Biblical Who's Who. Imagine a dark twist on a Sunday School primer. That's Peculiar Treasures. It goes through the characters of the Bible in alphabetical order. Here are a couple for you:

Adam:
He let the Times fall to the carpet beside him. It was the usual recital - a new tax plan, the danger of oral contraceptives to women over forty, the mayor's special committee on child abuse. He pushed his glasses back on his forehead and with his thumb and forefinger massaged the loose flesh under his eyes. Through the club window he could see a woman in slacks waiting for a bus, a boy with a pony tail walking a dog. Sombody had the TV on in another room, and he could hear the rise and fall of canned laughter. He lit a cigarette and let the smoke drift out of his mouth without exhaling it. The city sky was turning brown with the approach of dusk. Then suddenly, as if it has been only yesterday, he remembered Eden.

The leopard...the starling...the rose - he rememberd giving each its name, remembered the green river, the shy, green girl. He could no longer remember why it was he had felt compelled to leave it except that it had something to do with asserting his independence. Beyond that, he had only the dim sense that somehow a terrible injustice had been done, or possibly a terrible justice.

He saw the flame of what must have been the sunset flash like a sword in the upper story windows across the street. When the old steward brought him his third martini, he called him Pete. Actually, his name was Angelo.

(Genesis 2-3)

Agrippa:
There's something a little sad about seeing anybody for the last time, even somebody you were never particularly crazy about to begin with. Agrippa, for instance. He was the last of the Herods and after him that rather unsavory dynasty came to an end.

When Saint Paul was on his way to Rome to stand trial, King Agrippa granted him a preliminary hearing, and Paul, who was seldom at a loss for words, put up a strong defense. He described how on the road to Damascus he had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah and how all he had been doing since was trying to persuade other people to believe he was right. He said the fact the Jews were out to get him showed only that they didn't understand their own scriptures because the whole thing was right there including the prediction that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead just the way Jesus had.

After he finished, Agrippa came out with the only remark he ever made that has gone down in history. "Almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian," he said (Acts 26:28).

Almost is apt to be a sad word under the best of circumstances, and here, on the lips of the last of his line the last time you see him it has a special poignance. If only Paul had been a little more eloquent. If only Agrippa had been a little more receptive, a little braver, a little crazier. If only God weren't such a stickler for letting people make up their own minds without coercing them. But things are what they are, and almost is the closest Agrippa ever got to what might have changed his life. It's sad enough to miss the boat at all, but to miss it by inces, with a sainnt right there to hand you aboard, is sadder still.

(Acts 26:1-28 KJV)

Your dose of 'cute' for the day

Mem-Ories, Like the Corners of My Mind ~sniffle, sniffle~

Found this video at Google video. Looks like it's from the recording of Student Impact's CD, Alive. That was so much fun. We did a two night concert and brought in Richie Biggs (Newsboys, Switchfoot) and it was mixed down in the tunnel under the stage...and didn't Mitch throw up? Or was that another night? Anyway, it was awesome, and the CD was named one of the ten best worship albums by CT magazine, so I think some of the awesome-ness came through. This is My Glorious by delirious, and at the tail end you can hear the band go into Revelation 19. Hopefully whoever is posting this stuff will put that one up next!

Willow Creek Community Church in the News

• Willow Creek and Gene Appel are featured briefly in the Today Show story called 'DaVinci Code' Critics See Bright Side. I couldn't figure out how to link directly to it so if you want to watch you have to scroll down and look for the video bearing that title. There is also a video called Church Split over the 'Da Vinci Code.' No Willow Creek, but I guess it's alright. ;)

• Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun Times has written a piece called Evangelical Passion for Da Vinci Code.
  
  

Willow Creek, like many evangelical churches around the country, is in the midst of running a multiweek series of Bible studies based on "Da Vinci." The first two Sunday services in the series drew more than 44,000 people [combined attendance], church spokeswoman Cally Parkinson said.

"There's a huge response to this thing, and churches are really seeing this as an opportunity to turn what has wrought so much ill, for good," Strobel said. "There is a segment that wants to boycott, picket and protest. But I turn to Paul in Acts 17, who comes to Athens where [the people] are idol worshipping, and he's pissed off and wants to smash the idols. But instead, he engages them.

"[St. Paul] quotes their books to them! He's read their books! He'd seen their movies, so to speak, and he's speaking their language. So he reasoned with them and used it as a bridge to bring them the gospel. So that's what I'm hoping people do."

The evangelical Christian community's passion for movies is of a recent vintage, said Mark Noll, co-founder of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, who is widely considered the leading historian of American evangelicals.

Since the massive success of "The Passion of the Christ" -- based in no small part on the support it received from evangelical Christians -- evangelical Christian billionaire Philip Anschutz's "family-oriented" film company, Walden Media, had a smashing success with "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," which it co-produced with Disney.

"The Polar Express," "Gods and Generals" and, most recently, "Flight 93," all have been marketed toward an evangelical audience.

"By way of a long historical comparison, there certainly is just an assumption that it's appropriate to be active in this medium, or about this medium, and that certainly wasn't there before," Noll said.

As recently as the 1950s, most evangelical Christians were decidedly anti-movies, he said. Wheaton College, an evangelical institution, only has allowed its students to watch movies since the late 1960s.

Read the rest of the article here.

Are Women the Enemy of the Church?

That was the topic of discussion at church this week, three weeks into our four week series discussing the themes of The Da Vinci Code. Gene Appel did an amazing job. When it comes to discussing gender issues - whether it be in marriage or in ministry - nobody beats Gene Appel.

To read Willow Creek's statement on Women and Men in Ministry click here.

One of the highlights of the service was when all the women prayed together:

May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God.

May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.

May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.

May we be strong and gentle leaders.

May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.

May we never hestiate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.

May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.

May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.

May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.

May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus. And in that name, and by that power, may we change the world.

Dear God, please make us dangerous women, Amen.

(From Nice Girls Don't Change the World by Lynne Hybels.)