Where the Streets Have No Name (part 3)

Have you read part 1 and part 2 already?

From the song by U2:

I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.

We have a longing for a place, a way of life, for a reality that exhibits a different kind of justice…a different integrity that the world we observe around us when good so often looses to evil and our lives are broken even though we long for wholeness.  This can be an individual desire and it can be a corporate or national one.

In the last entry I left showing the repetition within the early Jewish narrative of exile and return, slavery and  freedom, running away and coming back home.  All of this lead toward an expectation for justice: for a putting of the world to rights.  The hope for this change was nationalistic, and was centered in the prophetic figure of the Messiah.

Jump to the public ministry of Jesus, and the whisperings and murmurings: could this be the one?  The eye-witness reports of the miracles he was working were quickly spreading many wondered whether this could be Israel’s King.  Maybe God would once again make Israel great, and defeat it’s new Babylon (Rome).  Oddly, especially to his disciples, Jesus seemed more interested in a mysterious death, and while he talked about a Kingdom of God, he seemed disinterested in any political or military power.  Then, more sudden than his rise to regional fame, he was killed.  Crucified.  The immediate effect on his disciples defeat: they had backed the wrong horse.  Jesus was not the Messiah, because he was just executed by the power that (they thought) the Messiah would over turn.

Then it happened.  An event that is Christianity.  Without it the word, the people, the religion don’t exist.  Resurrection.  The dead teacher, and possible Messiah was dead no more, but walking around in his old skin again.  His body was different somehow– better somehow.  Let me be clear: Jesus’ resurrection is the event that defines Christianity.  Before it the movement of Jesus’ followers was dead before it had hardly begun.  After it, a powerful force was launched upon the world.   Suddenly Jesus was back alive again, his old body having been transformed, and this reality was the catalyst, the truth that shaped the thinking of his followers.

So with Christmas here, I want to remind us to remember Easter.  The fact of Jesus resurrection lead to the biblical hope that became Christianity: God is the one God who made the world, and Jesus is that world’s Lord.  Having died for forgiveness of fallen men, he was resurrected– defeating the powers of evil and even death itself.  Further more, the future promise in the New Testament is that like Jesus, all of creation will be renewed someday, including all who are children of God.

So while Israel was waiting for God’s Messiah who would save them, God was working out his plan to save the world through Israel’s Messiah.  And like the history of his people, the theme of exile and return recurs in Jesus.  For though he accomplished his task, and the power of sin has been defeated, he left with the job incomplete.  For our world is still broken and our lives like it are too.  Yet the promise, given supreme confidence by his resurrection, is that Jesus will return again, the second time with power and as King.  The Savior of the world who is also it’s Lord, will return to claim all that is His.

Now, in parting I want to point out a part of this truth that is ignored by many Christians.  The hope of the resurrection which is the hope of the New Testament is not the escapist hope that many of us Christians in the US hope for.  Perhaps your future hope is that someday you will die and go to heaven?  Sounds good, right?  The only problem is that it ignores the overwhelming weight of the New Testament that points not to our escaping this evil world, but rather to Jesus’ return to this world at a time when God will renew it.  And instead of our hope being to go home into some spiritual rest in heaven, Jesus will be coming home to us where he will reign over his new creation.

There is so much to be said here, but I will leave you with a clip from 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul lays out his (and mine and our) hope.

1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance [fn1] : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, [fn2] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Merry Christmas, and remember that Jesus wasn’t a baby for long.  Remember too that he will come back again.

Where the Streets Have No Name (part 2)

Have you read part 1 already?

We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust. -Bono, U2, Where the Streets Have No Name

Jesus.  He was much more than a guy who showed up and lived a life that elicited adoration and moral followers.  He wasn’t a philosopher, a religious leader, a writer, a political leader, a political revolutionary, or a prophet.  The account of the New Testament writers, Jesus early followers, and my own personal faith is that Jesus was uniquely God, a part of a mind-boggling triune (3 parts making one)  God who is the sole creator, sustainer and ruler of the whole world.

Christmas is (at least for many Christians) the celebration of the entry of God in our world in a distinct, unique, and amazing way.  And while it feels like a beginning of a story, it is more accurately the simultaneous culmination of a centuries old story, and the extension of that story into a new and unanticipated direction.

So, to appreciate the significance of baby Jesus in a manger, I want to look at a sweeping theme within the centuries old story (more appropriately prophecy) that had been unfolding over the course of Israel’s history.  I hope in this post to appreciate Jesus as the fulfillment of this long-awaited hope of a people who God had uniquely sought out to reveal himself to and through.

Thinking back over the history of Israel we begin with a man, Abram, who God invites into a relationship.  God tells Abram, (later he names him Abraham = “father of a multitude”):

Genesis 12: 1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him..

Abraham becomes the father of a nation of people (Israel).  He was called to leave a land, and given a grand, albeit distant promise of greatness and blessing.  From this point on God’s interaction with this chosen man and chosen nation becomes a story of going away and coming back; of exile and slavery, and eventual return.  Let me give you a few examples:

• Right after this great promise from God, Abram flees to Egypt to escape a famine, and gets stuck there for a while.
• Later Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) flees to the east to escape his angry brother, whose inheritance he swindled. He eventually returns home to deal with his brother and wrestles with God on the Journey.
• Joseph, the son of Jacob, is hated by his brothers who cause him to be sold into slavery in Egypt.  Stuck there, God blesses Joseph and through many trials he eventually becomes great within Egypt.  Joseph’s brothers and their families eventually meet up with their long-lost brother in Egypt as they flee a famine in their homeland.  Eventually this family and blossoming nation of people lose their favored status and become enslaved by the grater Egyptian nation.  But what of God’s promise?
• Enter Moses, through whom God renews his promise and uses leads Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt (again).
• After a generation of nomadic travels through the desert they make it to their promised home (sortof).  Generations of struggle for their promised homeland continue and eventually through the chaos of this time the people form a stronger government through kings.
• Which brings us to the celebrated King David, and a hopeful turning point for the fledgling nation. David’s kingdom is united, strong, and seemingly secure.  Even this “man after God’s own heart” ends his reign in moral failure and exile.  He flees a usurper son, Absalom, eventually returning after regaining control.
• A couple of generations later his nation is divided and a couple hundred years later their stronger neighbor (Assyria) devastates one part of the divided country (Israel) and forcibly evicts the populace.
• Not long afterward the remaining part of the nation (Judah) is conquered by the mighty Babylon.  It is surrounding this hopeless setting that many of the Old Testament prophets speak to the people God’s purposes and plans.  There’s hopelessness but yet a light, for their God has shown himself capable of getting them out of situations like this before.  The prohecies seem to point to a future hope, a new king, like David, who can right things for them again.
• Then after 70 years Babylon falls to Persia, and the Jews are sent home again.

Exile and return, slavery and  freedom, running away and coming back home…the early Jewish narrative is one of constant uprooting and return, and of promised prosperity and inheritance which are invariably postponed.  Over the centuries following the Jewish people’s return again from Babylonian captivity the word from the Lord spoken through the prophets confirmed God’s promise of blessing and future glory.  These promises more and more seemed to be wrapped up in a future figure: a King similar to David but greater than any before.  Some how God would usher in a radically new era of peace and prosperity under the reign of this King.  The change would be so dramatic that even the natural order would experience a new harmony as lion would lay down with lamb.

Into this culture– fully anticipating a king who would right all that was so wrong– a heavenly messenger appears to a young virgin named Mary.  He tells her:

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

What Mary must have wondered about her son’s future I can only imagine.  But I can infer that the incarnation of God…the decicive, implausible, and awe-inspireing fact that God had entered his creation like a painter inhabiting his own canvass…that this–inspite of all the expectations of his time– was unexpected.  And how beautifully so.

Where the Streets Have No Name (part 1)

We’re doing a teaching series at LifePoint Church When Love Comes to Town which, while inspired by something done by another big and hip church, I am very excited about.  It uses U2 songs and themes as a launch pad for an advent-like series.  I’ll be teaching on the 28th, and am using Where The Streets Have No Name as inspiration.  So I thought I’d lay out some concepts that are bouncing around in my head right now, and invite you to share in the “aha!” moments of discovery between now and then.  My hope is that you would share this journey over the course of a few posts and join (for those of you LifePoint people at least) us for the final experience together on the 28th (which I expect to be a super high turnout since it’s a few days after Christmas Eve, and a few days before New Years!).

First, if you want to see the song live in concert you can watch this great clip:

Also here are the complete lyrics for the song:

I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.

I wanna feel sunlight on my face.
I see the dust-cloud
Disappear without a trace.
I wanna take shelter
From the poison rain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.

We’re still building and burning down love
Burning down love.
And when I go there
I go there with you
(It’s all I can do).

The city’s a flood, and our love turns to rust.
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust.
I’ll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.

We’re still building and burning down love
Burning down love.
And when I go there
I go there with you
(It’s all I can do).

And wrapping up the background, a quote from lead singer Bono on the song, from U2.com:

‘Where the Streets Have No Name is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it’s a sketch – I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don’t hold you down.
‘An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making – literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become. You can almost tell what the people are earning by the name of the street they live on and what side of that street they live on. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name….’

“Coincidentally” (I think it’s no coincidence) I have been reading in the New Testament book of 1 Peter, and the song and this reading have totally clicked for me and so I will using 1 Peter (I think) for the 28th.  I also have connected a unifying theme (which I’ll share in the next post) within the song, 1 Peter, and Jesus as the long-awaited Jewish and global Messiah.  This sounds really broad, but if you stick with me, I’ll show you how it ties together, and how fitting a Christmas message it is too.  To do this I’ll need to paint a picture of a theme that shows up again and again through the Old Testament Scriptures and is repeated again through Jesus.  Second I want to show how Peter (one of Jesus’ closest followers) writes to early believers urging them to lifestyles which embraces this theme. And lastly I’ll ask some questions about how we as Jesus followers apply Peter’s instructions to our livesn today.

So, enjoy the great clip above (if you haven’t already), and if you want to take a wild ride join me for the next few posts. I expect to take 3 more posts, one on each of the 3 parts I mentioned above, but might take a little longer if necessary to at least scratch the surface on part one.

If I can help even one of you to pause and think big and grateful thoughts about Jesus during this Christmas season, I will be truly happy.