The Edge is my real father

Saw U2 3D the other night down at Newport. Definitely a must see for anyone with any interest in U2. The 3D aspect was kinda cheesy at times but overall it added a pretty interesting dimension (no pun intended) to the experience. The movie follows the set list of a performance in Buenos Aires. There had to be tens of thousands of people at this concert. The 3D aspect of the movie did an excellent job of conveying the shear size and excitement of the crowd. The only thing I could have done without was the occasional text that rushed at you. At certain points, lyrics would appear in vibrant text and fly at you...coulda done without that. I can hear just fine, I don't need subtitles that I feel like I'm going to have to dodge at some point. However, this annoyance was more than offset by the music. The band was in rare form. There's no question why they picked this concert. The Edge is unbelievable. The stage for the event was absolutely ginormous and the dude never moves more than 30ft in either direction. He rarely looks up at the audience and never once attempts draw attention to himself. He kinda reminds me of Jimmy Paige in that respect. He lets his talent speak for itself. Of course, Bono was all over the place. Taking his jacket off, putting it back on, getting new sunglasses every five or ten seconds, changing outfits and lighting fires but what are you gonna do...it's Bono. The movie wasn't as glorifying of U2 as I thought it was going turn out though. There was a healthy focus on the band's message of peace and love and the general atmosphere of the venue. I didn't come away feeling like I had just been "re-educated" by Bono.

Gary Busse '08

Whoops. Dec. 5th= last post. It's alright though because 1/3 of the people that read this blog, live with me, and know what's going on in my life. I'm beginning to see the flaws, inherent in the whole church/parachurch organization. I've always been aware of the obvious discrepancies between church doctrine and the gospel but now I'm really getting a feel for why Christ was not going around planting megachurches. One thing God has revealed to me (through several important people in my life) is that a large community is a good place for unsaved people to go to feel like they're saved. We go to church, Navs...whatever to feel like we're doin' it right. We can sit down in a seat and blend into the crowd. No one will ask what we're doing to live out our faith or anything spiritual for that matter. At the center of our churches, we have some key people who run things (usually with the best of intentions). These individuals will often pull people into the group who are similar to themselves. I'm not assigning blame, I'm simply saying that it's a natural tendency to gravitate toward someone that has a similar personality. As a consequence, it becomes harder to break into this crowd and easier to become a spiritual spectator. In the end, the corporate church setting fosters the spiritual growth of a small group of individuals in a sea of struggling souls. In this way, we lost our ability to carry out some of Christ's most essential commands. We lose our concern for the least and lost. They don't fit into the crowd so they are continually pushed to the fringe until they fall off the map again.

I want to like churchs like crossroads, where I can tell that good and pure intentions are all around. However, I don't like walking into Crossroads only to find that the crowd consists of a very homogenous mixuture. If I didn't know that it was a church, I'd swear that I just stumbled into a Starbucks. How does this happen in a neighborhood like Norwood? We don't see the people who walk in once and instantly slip through the cracks because no one knew they were there in the first place. When are we gonna start reading the gospel? I certainly don't want anyone to think that I've got this all figured out. If anyone is too blame than I'm definetely among them....wow....now that's a rant.