Christmas according to Bono

There is on old abandoned store near our mall that has recently been turned into a giant book sale.  They have tons and tons of books that they apparently printed too many copies of so they are selling them really cheap.  Most of the books are between $2-$5.  Christie and I both like to read so we have to be careful not to get carried away and spent too much money.  We went in there one night this week and picked up four books for $16.  One of the books that I bought is a conversation style interview of Bono.  I have been tearing through it this week because it is very interesting.  This morning I was reading and the interviewer asked him why he was always quoting the Bible and talking about God no matter what the subject.  He asked for an example of a time that he read scripture and realized how it practically applied to something in life.  He gave a great answer and a great reminder of what Christmas is really all about.  Here it is:

He begins to tell a story about a time that we was attending a Christmas Eve service:

"...but I was falling asleep, being up for a few days, traveling, because it was a bit boring, the service, and I just started nodding off.  I couldn't see a thing.  Then I started to try to keep myself awake studying what was on the page.  It dawned on me for the first time, really.  It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story.  The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic 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 s**t 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 its not that it hadn't struck me before, but tears came 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.  Because that's exactly what we were talking about earlier: love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered.  To me, it makes sense.  It's actually logical.  It's pure logic.  Essence has to manifest itself.  It's inevitable.  Love has to become an action or something concrete.  It would have to happen.  There must be an incarnation.  Love must be made flesh."

I enjoyed that, so I thought I would share.  Merry Christmas!

compassion and integrity

So I'm working my way through a chronological Bible and I read the book of Ruth this morning.  I would guess that it was probably the fourth or fifth time that I have read it.  Its funny how when you read the Bible, different things stand out to you each time.  Here is what struck me this time through:

This story is filled with people who have both compassion and personal integrity.  I don't think that there are two more important qualities for a person to have.  Both require us to stop and think about life from the perspective of others in our decision making process.  First we find Naomi(who had recently lost her husband and sons) displaying incredible compassion and integrity by telling Ruth to stay in her homeland (where she could probably make a decent life for herself) when she plans to return to Israel.  Ruth responds with equal compassion and integrity by choosing to go with her mother-in-law and give up the little chance for life stability she had left.  Finally, we meet Boaz.  Not only does he display great compassion in allowing Ruth to gather food in his fields, the integrity in which he handles his relationship with her is pretty amazing.  Along with displays of compassion and integrity, we also see these people taking incredibly dangerous steps of faith in the name of these convictions.  Its a great little story and definitely worth the read every once in a while.

Of all the people that I have watched, learned from, and been affected by throughout my life, the ones who have effected my life and shaped my faith the most have had these traits in common.  Everything that they do and say is a result of strong convictions in personal integrity and compassion for those in need.  You really can't have one without the other.  Compassion without integrity won't last, and integrity without compassion is basically self-righteousness.  The one person that I have the most respect for on these two fronts is my father.

 I have watched him make many difficult decisions throughout his life and seen him place himself in very uncomfortable situations in the name of integrity and compassion.  I am very thankful for the example that he has set for me.  Compassion and integrity.... such a simple conception, but I don't think it gets any more important than that.