This reflection on Christmas occurred after Bono had just returned home, to Dublin, from a long tour with U2. On Christmas Eve Bono went to the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Jonathan Swift was dean. Apparently he was given a really poor seat, one obstructed by a pillar, making it even more difficult for him to keep his eyes open…but it was there that Christmas story struck him like never before. He writes:

“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw a child I just thought: Wow! Just the poetry Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.

Isn’t it compelling? The logic and love of a personal God revealing himself, accounting for our personal-ity, our propencity to love. And oh, the mercy of God, born in shit and straw, to rescue us from ourselves, our godless gift-giving, and our arrogant disregard for God and for others so that we might know and enjoy him and his new creation forever. And that he, the infinite God, would do it in Christ, in time, in space, in confounding condescension to pivot the course of the entire creation project from despair, destruction, and dereliction to a hopeful, whole, and holy future.

Will you ponder the poetry of Christmas this year, the genius of the incarnation? What obstructions are in your path to dwelling on the vulnerable, inexhaustible power and love of God in Christ? Renounce them and rivet your attention on the Christ.

Excerpt taken from Bono: in conversation (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005), 124-5.

Earlier this Fall I spoke at BUILD MEN, a gospel-centered mens conference. As I prayed and wrestled through this talk, I was led to speak on applying the gospel to our vocation. This topic is relevant to both men and women who work. However, application is made explicitly to men, especially those who are out of work or who overwork. I took a unique approach to this issue by applying the Gospel Story to the issues of our Vocational Stories (whether we are employed or unemployed, fulfilled or unfulfilled). This message is less about “men’s issues” and more about the how to live inside the Gospel Story as a man. I’d love for those who are struggling with work in our church to listen to this message and discuss it with a friend. An excerpt to draw you in:

The Humbling Power of the Gospel Story

The idea that we are so bad, broken, so bent that someone else has to suffer for us (whipped and beaten), has to die for us (serve our death sentence) should be incredibly humbling. But its not. Why? Because we refuse to relive the gospel story every day, to remind ourselves that Jesus is the center not us. Why would we refuse to relive such a remarkable story? We refuse because the Gospel doesn’t make us the center of the story (it humbles us and continually draws attention away from us). We refuse the gospel story, because we prefer other stories. We prefer to ground our identity in alternate, competing stories that tell us we are the main character, that we take center stage. See, the Gospel isn’t man-centered, a place to discover your manliness; it is Christ-centered a place to discover Christ. If the first way we can recover our identity is to relearn the Gospel story, as a personal, Jesus-centered Story, then the second way is Repent from belief in competing stories, false gospel stories that provide us with surrogate identities, that make us central.

Don’t Build Your Worth by Work

Building your worth on your work or lack of work is spiritual suicide. If you measure your worth by your work, it will be the end of you. The Vocational story tells us the lie that we must for our significance but the Gospel tells us that we work from our significance, from our acceptance, worth, and value in Christ. When we lose work, we lose confidence. Gaining a job, we regain confidence? The real reason we lack confidence as men is because we lack confidence in the gospel. We are fully prepared to immerse ourselves in work but not into the Gospel story, in Jesus, who gives us worth.

Listen To: Finding Your Identity in the Gospel Story

Check out the Other messages from the Conference by Bob Smart & Joe Thorn