the suppliants

U2 - The Catharsis in the Cathedral

U2's new album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, will be released on November 23.  I'm very excited to listen to it and am trying to wait patiently.  In the meantime I have to remain content with watching that iPod commercial with the song "Vertigo" and reading articles like this one in the New York Times:

U2:  The Catharsis in the Cathedral

Here's an excerpt:

Many of the songs ponder faith. The album's finale, "Yahweh," is nothing less than a prayer. When Bono was singing nonsense words to come up with a melody for the song, he found himself singing "Yahweh," a Hebrew name of God.

"There's cathedrals and the alleyway in our music," Bono said. "I think the alleyway is usually on the way to the cathedral, where you can hear your own footsteps and you're slightly nervous and looking over your shoulder and wondering if there's somebody following you. And then you get there and you realize there was somebody following you: It's God."

Pray for the peace of Fallujah

A massive ground assault is being prepared by the U.S. Marines against the city of Fallujah in Iraq.  My intentions here aren't to opine about the evils of war or the rightness or wrongness of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.  My intentions are that Christians everywhere pray for the peace of Fallujah. 

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God."  Matthew 5:9

"Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."  James 3:18

Rise, O Morning-star!  Rise in Fallujah. 
Rise in the hearts of the battered,
Rise in the hearts of the militants,
Rise in the hearts of the Marines.
Bring in the Day, O Morning-bringer!
For Your Kingdom may the world see.
Toward Your Kingdom, O Lord, draw
these that will kill
these that will bleed
these whose hearts will be torn in two.
Bring in the Day, O Lord.

I also blogged on the Pura Vida site about Fallujah.

Ok, so how is blogging affecting Americans' spirituality?

Here's an interesting article on the Christianity Today website by my friend Tim Bednar of e-church.com:  Blogger Predicts Revival via Web

A quote from the article:

Two-thirds of American Internet users surf the web for spiritual purposes.

(CT:)  How do you see this affecting our church experience?

(Tim:)  A recent study discovered that Internet seekers remain connected to their local church, but they pursue their own spiritual interests online. Blogging is an attractive spiritual discipline precisely because it is unmediated by our church or pastor.

In the blogosphere, there are no gatekeepers. We explore ideas without being pre-judged.

Many Christian bloggers are tired of prepackaged sermon series and discussing best-selling books in our small groups. We blog because we can create spiritual information as well or better than our pastors—especially when we blog as part of a network.

One could view this as rebellion. We are taking control of our spiritual formation and creating networks outside traditional structures. That's why this revival remains largely unnoticed by pastors.