Bread of Heaven and Bono

 

                                                                    U2 360 Tour, Zagreb, Croatia

1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,

pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but thou art mighty,

hold me with thy powerful hand.

Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,

feed me till I want no more,

feed me till I want no more.

Yesterday I wrote about reading Surrender: 40 Songs, one story, the autobiography of rock star Bono, the front man/lead singer for the band U2. U2 has sold 170 million records and they have also been a hugely popular stage band, worldwide. Their concerts are high energy events of inclusion with hits which are almost mesmerizing invitations to participation. 

I would describe some of these songs as anthemic but I was intrigued when Bono suggested that they were hymnodic, ecstatic church music. There is plenty of religious imagery in the lyrics of U2 songs but at one point he has a heading hymns and arias, followed by the first verse of the great hymn with a great tune, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah as an example of the stirring music of the Christian faith. 

U2 guitarist The Edge comes from a family of Welsh hymn singers and Bono grew up with hymns written by Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and John Newton. He observes 

When you hear these huge hymns you can survive any loss. You can take any amount of blows. You can make the most difficult decisions...when I was a young man they were exactly what I was looking for. My soul had a desperate need to be stirred.

How true! This is deep insight into the power of hymns of our tradition, although perhaps not to the same degree with current hymns and songs, even though many of them are excellent. Contemporary hymns are often meaningful communal ballads rather than the marching music of our faith. Some of the ones with the most energy are from other cultures. Today many congregations have diminished in numbers to the point that there is rarely a service with enough voices to do those old hymns, or the new ones, justice. 

As someone who has read several "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" bios and autobiographies of bands and their stars I definitely was not prepared for so much theology in Surrender, but I certainly enjoyed it. 

Bono cites the song New Year's Day in his reflection, so here is the rather lengthy link:

https://www.google.com/search?q=new+year%27s+day+u2+lyrics&rlz=1C1OKWM_enCA849CA849&sxsrf=AJOqlzVWDrXJ4nZGQF-iZgHq5NzfEYm72g%3A1674055163264&ei=-w3IY4zjD7K0qtsP0PqDqAU&oq=new+year%27s+day+u2+lyrics&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQARgAMgcIABCABBANMgcIABCABBANMgcIABCABBANMgcIABCABBANMgQIABAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgkIABAIEB4Q8QQyCQgAEAgQHhDxBDoKCAAQRxDWBBCwAzoICAAQCBAHEB46CAgAEAUQBxAeOgUIABCGAzoGCAAQBxAeOgQIABBDOgUIABCABDoLCAAQCBAHEB4Q8QQ6CAgAEAUQHhANOggIABAIEB4QDToLCAAQCBAeEPEEEA06BQgAEKIEOggIABAHEB4QCkoECEEYAEoECEYYAFDhBlj2V2CLc2gGcAF4AIABvwGIAdoVkgEEMTkuOZgBAKABAcgBCMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:742b3945,vid:SlDi4hpJsaY