Tim Keel's Blog

Your Love is Teaching Me How...

Sometimes I wonder if we ever really move beyond those things that capture our imaginations when we are in junior high, namely, U2 and The Lord of the Rings in my case.

There is a new plug-in that allows you to download to your hard-drive as a Quicktime movie any video that plays in the iTunes music store. U2 released their new single, Vertigo, exclusively through iTunes. Then they released a promotional video tied to the new iPod. There is even talk that there will be a limited edition, all black U2 iPod released with their new album pre-loaded on it.

Anyway, I was re-watching the video yesterday, grooving on the lyrics, "You're love is teaching me how...to kneel." What a great line. I was particularly in tune with these lyrics, I think, because of the passage from Mark's gospel on Sunday. On Sunday we interacted with the leper who comes to Jesus begging on his knees. We experimented with some kneeling on Sunday. I think Bono has it right. Desperation is not the only thing that brings us to our knees. Love teaches us to kneel as well.

So, given the fact that it is raining in Kansas City today, I 'll use the metaphor: in the world of U2, when it rains, it pours.

I received an e-mail today forwarded to me by my friend Don from our mutual friend, Chris Hauser. The subject line is "now THIS is a sort of homecoming!" He then links to this story on a U2 fan site about the legend of Bono's stolen briefcase that contained all the lyrics to the then in production record October and how this briefcase was recently discovered. I happen to agree with Chris that October is one of U2's greatest records, totally underrated. This totally spurs the imagination. It's a great read. Check it out here.

Finally, moving back into the political arena for a quick moment, my in-box contained the new issue of Books and Culture with guess who on the cover? That's right - Bono's big mug with the headline: Bono for President. You can read the article here, but what you can't read is a funny one page visual that proposes an alternate cabinet for a Bono-led administration titled "Alt. Country." I"ll try to scan later for your viewing pleasure.

Communities of Hope, part one

My previous post on Bush and Kerry elicited a number of interesting responses. Much of the discussion revolved the responsibility we have to vote. I'm not sure.

Check out this quote from Eberhard Arnold:

"To say something really bold: I believe God controls the hell of human society with an infernal machine, the state. Someone may say, 'I am going to operate this machine and make it less hellish; I will moderate the satanic properties of hell; I will serve the state.' Such a resolve commands respect.�But for myself, I refuse to mount the machines of hell. I will board the ship that shows all humankind the way to the other shore: to the kingdom of peace, justice, and perfect love. We need people who dare to set the course for this other shore, who dare to live in accordance with the ways of the land on the other side. It�is the way we can best serve the world in this terrifying moment of history."

I think that was what I was trying to get to. This election seems to ask me to compromise with things I don't want to have to compromise. That seemed to be the essence of what Noll was getting to. Somehow the "right" to vote has come to be the highest calling, as if my citizenship and the responsibility here exceeds my true citizenship and the requirements of the Kingdom of God; as if my "right" to vote has become more important than my conscience.

I believe in the church as an alternate reality, embodying another hope. In that sense, I find Lydia's response most "hopeful" when she says,

"OK, sad, but true, I care nothing about the political debates. I am writing on your blog to say that I really feel the Lord calling me to be more active at Jacob�s Well. I�m not sure where yet, but I know He�s calling me."

The reality is I will likely vote. At the same time, I am moving through the gospel of Mark every week and dealing with the reality that Jesus is constantly challenging the controlling narrative of the culture, the story of power, the story of empire, the story of who is in and who is out. Are we being challenged? Is our worldview being confronted? I'll close with this from N.T. Wright.

"Worldviews are like the foundation of a house: vital, but invisible. They are that through which, not at which, a society or an individual normally looks; they form the grid according to which humans organize reality, not bits of reality that offer themselves for organization. They are not usually called up to consciousness or discussion unless they are challenged or flouted fairly explicitly, and when this happens it is usually felt to be an event of worryingly large significance. They can, however, be challenged; they can, if necessary, be discussed, and their truth-value called into question. Conversion, in the sense of radical shift in worldview, can happen, whether in the case of a Saul on the road to Damascus or in the case of a member of a North American Indian who moves to the city and adopts the Western way of life. But worldviews normally come into sight, on a more day-to-day basis, in sets of beliefs and aims which emerge into the open, which are more regularly discussed, and which in principle could be revised without revising the worldview itself." - from The New Testament and the People of God

What would it look like for our worldview to experience a conversion, not just our beliefs and aims?

Simplicity and Complexity

I found this quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes in some reading today.

"I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."

Reminds me of a quote from T.S. Eliot, in a similar vein.

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."