"Stranded in Skin and Bones"

I spent 6 hours on Saturday listening to U2 songs, reading their lyrics, and watching their videos as a part of a class called "Stranded in Skin and Bones." This was allegedly a theology class at my church. It was somewhat enlightening on the topic of U2, the band and the phenomenon (rather than on God or any religious doctrine). I'm not sure that the members of U2 are exemplars of pure Christian living in all respects, though they seem to have the social justice thing down pat.

The thing that was most interesting to me in studying their lyrics was not so much any insights into Christianity or God etc., but how often they draw on phrases or images from the Psalms, Revelations, and (to a lesser extent) the Gospels. It's easy to miss, and of course most of their songs can be enjoyed (or endured, if you don't like them) without knowledge of this. I was surprised to learn that "When Love Comes to Town" was not by Huey Lewis and the News, and that "Mysterious Ways" was not by Tears for Fears. And also that "Gloria" was not necessarily about a woman named Gloria (the line I'd always heard as "Gloria / In the darkness" is actually "Gloria / In te domine"). Oh well.

And U2 is quite a powerful force in some Christian subcultures, apparently - there are "U2charists" (celebrations of the Eucharist in a worship service structured with U2 songs), and collections of U2-based sermons, and a number of theologians have taken U2 seriously enough to spend gobs of time and money studying them and publishing books about them.

The U2 sermon book pushed by the Episcopal priest who led our class was apparently published by a bunch of monks. She really had to talk them into it because they were sure no one would buy it (after all, theyhad never heard of U2). Apparently it is now the best-selling work ever issued by the monks' publishing house! The next time she visited them for a spiritual retreat, they assigned her to a 92-year-old monk. Her disappointment at being stuck with an old fogey was alleviated when he told her he insisted that he be her mentor because of that book - he has apparently become quite the U2 fan.

So of course I went on a music store binge Sunday and bought 18 songs from the likes of U2, Sting, Neville Brothers, The Church, They Might be Giants, and Talking Heads - basically replacing songs I've not listened to in years because I have them only on cassette tape. Without a car to drive, I don't end up listening to cassettes very often. Especially since my stereo system - which dates back to the late 1980's - is in my guest room, where I don't really hang out.