U2>Miss Sarajevo

On the whole I've given U2 short thrift on this blog - I'm not really sure why because I've always been a big fan. I suspect it's because for the last couple of years I've found Bono's earnestness just a little too much. However, prompted today by my wife's departure for 8 days to Bosnia on an interfaith trip I checked out a song I've loved for a long time - Miss Sarajevo (The Passengers, 1995).

As I watched the video of the song - as below - it all came back to me. I remember being glued to the TV news during the war watching with grim fascination the pictures of the ordinary people of Sarajevo literally having to sprint for cover on the way to work to avoid the bullets around them. It was the weirdest of things seeing normality and war going on side by side. And U2 capture the sense of this paradox in the song magnificently (read about the song here). And as the beauty contestants hold up the sign saying 'don't let them kill us' the futility and pointlessness of it all becomes so stark.

I love the lyrics, too with their echo of Ecclesiastes. Until today I hadn't seen a translation of Pavarotti's part. Here it is:

You say that the river
finds the way to the sea
and like the river
you will come to me
beyond the borders
and the dry lands
You say that like a river
like a river...
the love will come
the love...
And i don't know how to pray anymore
and in love i don't know how to hope anymore
and for that love i don't know how to wait anymore

Powerful stuff, eh? And so, perhaps you'd like to spare a prayer for the people of Bosnia who have with such dignity begun to rebuild their country and my own 'Miss Sarajevo' who is there today.

The Sunday service: CAVEspers

Perhaps you've heard about 'U2charists'? In case not the 'U2charist' is a church service that uses church liturgy interspersed with U2 songs instead of traditional church music. Firstly, a quick word on this. I get the concept - somewhat in line with this blog - and I do like U2. However, in my mind it's cheating slightly! Using U2 is pretty much like using church music or at least Delirious? and the dozens of Christian bands that mimick the U2 sound. What I want is something a little bit more 'edgy'. So here's my first offering: CAVEspers...

Why CAVEspers? Well, there is definitely something of the night about Nick Cave, and it just seems appropriate that Vespers, the evening prayer service, belongs to him (although I'm very aware that the format below doesn't follow a Vespers format, necessarily). So here are some songs by Nick Cave that I would use in a CAVEspers service...

Opening hymn: Get Ready for love (Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus, 2004) Listen here...

Praise and Worship:
Hallelujah (No More Shall We Part, 2001) Listen here...
Carry Me (Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus, 2004)
I Let Love in (Let Love in, 1994) Listen here...

Confession:
Foi Na Cruz (The Good Son, 1990) Listen here... Translation here.
People Ain't No Good (The Boatman's Call, 1997) Listen here...

Bible Reading: There is a Kingdom (The Boatman's Call, 1997)

Intecessions:
We Call Upon the Author (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, 2008) Listen here...
God is in the House (No More Shall We Part, 2001) Listen here...

Sermon
Response: The Mercy Seat (Tender Prey, 1988) Listen here...

Recessional: Bring it On (Nocturama, 2003) Listen here...

And finally, here's a quote from the man himself about Sunday services: "When I go to church, I have to take so much of it as metaphor, and I find it very irritating. The sermons are often pathetic and untrue, based on terrible misinterpretations of the Bible. But I like the order and the ritual of a church service. It gives me an elevated feeling about the mundane. I’m more aware of things... I haven’t had any great epiphanies. I just feel it’s my duty to educate myself about the concept of God."

Leonard Cohen>If it be your will

Some songs for Holy week....

It's interesting how much attention Judas gets in songs. U2 have an interesting take on the last supper and Garden of Gethsemane in the song, 'Until the end of the World' (Achtung Baby, 1991) - well worth a listen. Bob Dylan also asks a good question about Judas and betrayal in 'With God on our side' (The Times they are A-changin', 1964) and explores the theme further in 'What was it you wanted?' (Oh Mercy, 1989).

However, my song for the coming couple of days is the brilliant 'If it be your will' (Various Positions, 1985) by Leonard Cohen. This really is a powerful song that somehow marries together Jesus' words in the garden and the events the following day:
'If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will'

Coldplay>Yellow

I've been avoiding Coldplay since this blog began. Like U2, I felt a bit snobbish towards them - it all seemed too obvious when it comes to songs with a spiritual edge. Still, I love both Coldplay and U2 and enjoy listening to pretty much everything they've written (although X&Y (2005) is ultimately very disappointing compared with the first two albums).

The first time I heard Coldplay was on Virgin Radio whilst driving around South Wales on work duty. As soon as 'Yellow' finished I couldn't wait to find out who wrote it. Within a day of hearing it I bought the album Parachutes (2000). The whole album is pretty good, but 'Yellow' is simply a masterly track. It just sounds like a worship song to me - in parts the lyrics work as song from God to Man, and conversely, it works the other way, too.

Not long after the song had become a hit, I travelled to Frankfurt to a huge gathering of Christians. A speaker there, who was talking about the song, suggested that the colour 'yellow' in the Old Testament represented 'faith'. I've never been able to find any scholarly support for this theory, but it sounds like a good effort. Either way, the song never fails to make me think of Jesus, his sacrifice and the loving Father who sent him.