Friday, March 6, 2009

Lenten Thoughts


It's been awhile since posting. I read this in David Chappell's A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow, and I thought I would share.

It comes from an Easter greeting written by Bayard Rustin in 1952:

"Everyone saw Jesus as a lot of trouble, but even crucifixion could not get rid of Him. 'Easter in every age . . . recalls the imminence of the impossible victory, the power of the impotent weak.' Rustin took the opportunity to note that Jesus' followers 'need to be reminded that Easter is the reality, and that the awesome structures of pomp and power are in the process of disintegration at the moment of their greatest strength.' He was surely aware that he was echoing the Prophets' scorn for human institutions. But he could not have known that he was prophetically anticipating a key phrase in a new prophet's greatest speech: 'Easter is the symbol of hope resurrected out of a tomb of hopelessness.'"

2 comments:

Joyce Cheng said...

Gale - I am a repentant Lenter as I did nothing that I promised to do. And yet, God didn't punish me (maybe the Virgin put in a good word) - in fact, he gave me a job. Or, the point being, that's not how Christianity works. So I am listening to lots of U2 as my preparation for Palm Sunday. In fact, I discovered this book: One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God, by Sharen Christian.

I'd really like to figure out why U2 isn't (considered) a Christian rock band. I think it'd be very illuminating as to what "Christian" or "rock means.

Gale Kenny said...

Isn't that always the question about U2? I think it's because Bono and the others have a rock-and-roll lifestyle - sex, drugs, and all of that. Most acts that are labeled Christian Rock don't do that sort of thing, but they instead sign abstinence pledges.

In a way, all rock and roll, all R&B, is Christian -right? Sin and redemption?