Greensy Grumblings

"I saw Bono on the news on Friday night. He is really a great prophet isn't he?" This comment was made to me by a lady at church when I mentioned that I was heading to the U2 concert on Sunday night.
"He sure is" was my reply.

The concert was great, the only blemish was that everyone had told me everything that was going to happen so I knew what to expect.

A couple of things that Bono said:

1) "Lets pray for the places in the world that are troubled by war and terrorism. Let our prayer be this, that we do not become a monster to defeat a monster"

Powerful stuff. I have just started reading a book called "The war on terrorism and the Terror of God" It was written before the attacks of Sept. 11 2001.

The prologue and first chapter are very powerful. If we define terrorism as an action intended to instil fear and achieve a political aim, then what does it say about the 'Shock and Awe' tactics of the 'coalition of the willing'?

2) Bono at one stage wore a Bandana that said "Coexist" The C was formed from the Islamic crescent, the X was formed from the star of David and the T was formed from the Cross. He asked 'why can't the children of Abraham stop fighting and get along?'

Apart from the fact that I thought he was going to launch into 'Father Abraham had many sons', I thought it was a powerful question that should resonate with us. The three Abrahamic religions all believe to their corps in the values of respect, love, understanding and grace. Yet some of the greatest conflicts of today come between proponents of these three religions. A large part of the conflict comes from ignorance of 'the other' and the other part comes from the fact that the proponents of these religions eschew the religion for their own, non-religious, ends.

I heard someone ask yesterday, "why did Bono get to chat to Peter Costello? I can't just ring up and get an hour with him. He's only a rock star."
It is a good point, why can't we all access our 'democratic' leaders? But rather than being a negative that Bono met with Costello, I think to myself here is a Christian who is using his position in society (rock star) to influence society. Rather than being an arrogant rock star who thinks he can change the world, Bono is a humble activist.

He was approached to be the face of the 'drop the debt' Jubilee campaign. Rather than just using his celebrity to front the campaign he actually went away and researched the causes of global poverty. He asked questions of those who understood the problem and in turn asked the hard questions of those who should have understood the problem. He asked the tough questions of the politicians he met. Politicians who were expecting an easy meeting with a rock star instead got tough questions from a campaigner for a more just world.

As an old youth leader of mine used to say,
"I think there's something in there for all of us"

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