From Boundless Webzine by Jonathan Dodson
For years I went to church. Religiously. I actually went to church for about 25 years. Then I stopped. I’m so glad I did. Instead of going to church, I started being the church. It’s radically changed me. They have changed me. My family has gotten bigger.
Bono’s Church
The church is supposed to be a family. But there’s a problem. The church in America is too often very un-church. As a result, a lot of people say that they like Jesus, but they just don’t like the church … and they’re in pretty good company … with Bono. In U2’s song “Acrobat”, from the album Achtung Baby, Bono articulates a fairly common perception of the church:
No, nothing makes sense, nothing seems to fit.
I know you’d hit out if you only knew who to hit.
And I’d join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah, I’d break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in.
This is a common view of the church. What’s the view? Conflicted: “And I’d join the movement If there was one I could believe in. Yeah, I’d break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in.”
Like many of us, Bono wants the church, but there are too many ifs. He wants to be part of the movement of the church. Unfortunately, many churches aren’t concerned with movement. Too many of them are inwardly focused, not outwardly focused. They aren’t the world-changing communities of the New Testament. They are static, inert and inward.
Bono wants the communion of church, but says there’s no church he can believe or receive in. I’m guessing that what Bono is referring to is not merely the eucharist, but the one-body community that is symbolized in the act of communion (1 Cor 10:16-17). Like Bono, many of us long for church as movement and communion, a church that is missional and communal.
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