A while ago (Jan. ’07) I created a Top 25 Most Played playlist in iTunes with the intent of posting it at year end. Unfortunately, Christmas ruined it. Out of the 3,442 songs on my iPod there were only two (2) non-holiday tracks that cracked the top twenty-five: Saul Williams’/Trent Reznor’s excellent cover of U2′s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and Interpol’s ‘Rest My Chemistry’ from their latest album, Our Love to Admire. (more…)
What is going on with this song?
“40″
I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clayI will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new songHow long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this songHe set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and hearI will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new songHow long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song
Of course, the first four lines come almost verbatim from Psalm 40. But the lion’s share of the emphasis turns on the repeated cry of longing, “How long to sing this song” (presumably the ‘new’ song). It is a longing that is reminiscent of Psalm 4, Psalm 6 and, perhaps more to the point, Isaiah 6 (and by extension, Isaiah 40, Isaiah’s second calling; though the expression does not appear there).
So I wonder is it:
An astute U2 scholar would tell you that “40″ is the closing song from the War album and is a direct tie to the powerful anti-war opening track “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” the chorus of which echoes the same question: “How long, how long must we sing this song, how long, how long…” How much longer will we sing of civil war and “bodies strewn across the dead end streets?” Based on this fact alone, explanation number three seems to be the most appropriate in terms of Bono’s original intent.
However, as I mediate on the lyrics I find myself truthing about myself and asking a more poignant question: “How long will you, O Lord, put up with me? How long will I keep committing the same sins before your patience runs out? How long will I sing this new song before I get my just desserts?” While they are not necessarily the words on my lips, is this not the true expression of my heart? Do I not continually fall into a performance mentality when it comes to relating to God?
The truth is that I continually stumble and fall face first into the mud, but God picks me up, cleans me off and sets my feet upon firm ground. In microcosm my daily walk is reminiscent of the Israelites and their continual disobedience, but in spite of this the Lord fulfilled his promise to them (and to the nations) to provide true cleansing and restoration in Jesus Christ. “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them” (Neh 9:17). “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? [...] but I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13). How long? How long before I truly understand what it means to live by grace? As I discover daily the depths of my own depravity, I am slowly recognizing that God’s grace in Jesus Christ and Him crucified is far, far greater than I could ever imagine.
During the time of confession in yesterday’s service, in which God tunes the heart of his people through confession of their sin and unworthiness, our worship leader (who also happens to be my brother-in-law) quoted one of my favorite “spooky” Christmas songs. This makes it the second time Sufjan Stevens has been read from our church’s pulpit (the first being here).
Sing a carol to your mom
‘Cause she knows what’s goin’ on
And she knows if you’ve been bad or good
If you get what you deserve
To be graded on a curve
Oh you’ve got a lot of nervela la la la la la la la etc.
Sufjan’s It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad! will not win any awards for poetic beauty, but what you cannot see by reading the lyrics is the way in which the words are sung. While we sinners willingly admit that we deserve death, we often take God’s grace for granted and expect “to be graded on a curve.” Then we plug our ears and sing the chorus as if to say, “I can’t hear you! La la la la la …!”
And so as we prayed I was reminded of the following scripture …
If we way we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
– 1 John 1:8-10
… which in turn revealed how utterly addicted I am to my own glory, my own righteousness and my own special rules and regulations (that are, of course, looser than everyone else’s). Praise be to the God whose tuning fork shows things as they exist, silencing the “La la la’s” of my hardened heart and replacing my fiction with the fact that he will never turn away a sinner who comes to him in truth (cf Spurgeon).
The Church of U2: No, this is not about butchering communion. J.R. simply speculates that many emergent leaders grew up listening to U2.
How to Dismantle the Lord’s Supper: A friend and former ‘Noogan shares his observations and thoughts on the U2charist phenomena in Seattle.