2009 March 09 « Missional Canadian

Surprised By Hope in U2′s “No Line On The Horizon”

NT Wright Surprised By Hope

U2 No Line On The Horizon

I’ve been listening to the new U2 Album (they still call it an album on iTunes!), “No Line on the Horizon,” and I found myself linking some of the introspective lyrics with NT Wright’s “Surprised By Hope.”

Those of us raised with well honed theological formulations will tend to struggle trying to figure out exactly where Bono and U2 are trying to go. The words are not neat. They don’t fit comfortably with how we’ve been trained to think. They are the words of an artist and poet more than those of a theologian. Hence before we dismiss them too quickly, maybe we should wrestle with the underlying message that touches the heart of seekers, committed Christ followers and even unbelievers.

“No Line On the Horizon,” tends to reflect the dissonance most people feel about the state of our current world and what we deeply know should be. As I listened, I got the sense that U2 would remind us, as NT Wright does in “Surprised By Hope,” that while this is earth and not yet heaven, there is hope – hope, that we can bring a bit more of heaven to earth, hope that starts with the here and now but goes beyond.

I couldn’t help but think that there just might be some good eschatology, even missiology in this album, such as in ‘Get On Your Boots’: The future needs a big kiss / Winds blows with a twist / Never seen a moon like this / Can you see it too? / Night is falling everywhere / Rockets at the fun fair / Satan loves a bomb scare / But he won’t scare you.

Mess and hope all mingled together. Reminding us of the promise found in the book of Revelation of a yet future recreated new earth and heaven together, where our God “will wipe every tear from our eyes. Where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” Reminding us as well that until then we’ve been given a mission to pray for and accomplish, where we will “see God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done in increasing measure on earth as it is in heaven,” a mission that impacts lives individually and impacts the city and world we live in. So yeah, maybe it’s time to “get on your boots.”

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcDNilZbZg8

March 9, 2009 Posted by Doug Doyle | Reflecting Theologically, The Canadian Scene | 3 Comments

About

Doug has just recently accepted the position of Lead Pastor of the Fort McMurray Alliance Church in the bustling Oil Sands region of Wood Buffalo in northern Alberta. Fort Mac Alliance is a church with a passion to tangibly make Jesus visible to our municipality and world, serving as a grace filled community that is welcoming and sensitive to people whatever their faith background and wherever they may or may not be at in their faith journey. It’s an adventurous community that is willing to think outside the norm while prayerfully wrestling with what it means to be involved in ministry both within and beyond the walls of the church facility. This results in a passion to see individual lives and the city as a whole touched and transformed by the love of Christ. Being in a city with global influence, Fort McMurray Alliance is seeking to be a unique global influence for Christ in partnership with it’s denominational family, the Christian & Missionary Alliance.

Doug is also involved with Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan, where he teaches two courses a year as an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology. From his home base in Fort McMurray, Doug serves as the Program Coordinator for Briercrest’s MDiv (Master of Divinity) program, with an urgency to see the next generation of ministry leaders raised up up to serve effectively within our ever evolving Canadian culture, as well as our vastly changing world.

Previously Doug served for 20 years as the Lead Pastor of Redwood Park Church, a multi-site missional community that is committed to seeing the message and life of Jesus impact Thunder Bay, Barrie and beyond. LIFE, PASSION and ADVENTURE are three words that both Doug and Redwood uses to describe the nature of Christian spirituality.

Doug is married to Jane, who possesses an amazing gift of hospitality and the ability to cook for hundreds! They have three young-adult children. Meagan is a pediatric resident at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. Susan who is married to Chris Groenheide, among other things supply teaches at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School and promotes “eating local” through a variety of greens and specialty vegetables from her market garden. Graeme who has been involved in an eclectic mix of insurance and financial planning, working for a highway line painting company, and ushering at Thunder Bay’s Community Auditorium is heading off with a generous scholarship to the Vancouver Film School. Each of them in their distinct way has a yearning to be difference makers in this world.

Meal times at the Doyle household tend to be a bit of a party, but you might want to ask what it is you’re eating – as sometimes Doug enjoys a hike with a good friend and a gun in the beauty of our rugged Canadian outdoors, or maybe a paddle on a remote lake with rod in hand. He’s thinking that with the move for Fort McMurray, he might have to break down and add an ATV to his toys.