U2: No Line and New Stuff

Posted on February 24, 2009

Get On Your Boots

The first release off of No Line On the Horizon was sort of disappointing. “Get on Your Boots” is super-pop not vintage U2, but this is something I have come to expect from their first radio releases (Discotheque/Pop, Vertigo/Atomic Bomb, etc). However, the reviews I keep reading hold out the promise of yet another U2 reinvention with Lanois tinkering with the sound quite a bit. It’s going to be a progressive album.

Levitate (Spirit Come on Down)

Austin 360’s review strikes a similar chord. In fact, Joe Gross gives us a track line-up from best to worst: 4-3-2-1-7-8-9-11. And as if the new album wasn’t enough, U2 has released ‘U2:Medium, Rare and Remastered‘ a limited edition double disk collection of rare tracks and lost early cuts spanning three decades in the studio with U2.The catch is a $50 members fee to U2.com, which came in handy for me during Atomic Bomb tour, affording me the opportunity to buy tickets ahead of the crowd. Plus, you do get access to some cool stuff. You can listen to “Levitate” a surging anthem that reverberates with spiritual power, a song I’ll be singing the rest of the day. The lyrics dip into that great b-side “Always” from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Enjoy!

The 50/50 American Gospel

Posted on February 24, 2009

The 50/50 gospel offers salvation via a blend of fifty percent grace and fifty percent good behavior. The cross is no longer expiation of sin but an example of how to live sacrificially. People are good enough to choose Christ but they simply need to be reminded of how good a choice he is. Broken marriages, patterns of sexual sin, deep-seated anger, and rampant debt are primarily the product of our failure to behave like Jesus.

Enter the church. The church can remind us, exhort us, even train us to be like Jesus, to make good moral decisions, not bad ones. According to the 50/50 gospel, we need the grace of God’s example and a faithful commitment to be on our best behavior. This is the 50/50 gospel, and it is anathema.

Read the rest here.

Equippers in your Church

Posted on February 24, 2009

JR Woodward uses some fresh language to get across the responsibilities of the equippers of the church here.