U2 on Tour

Last Thursday night I went to the U2 360 degree tour gig in Sheffield. It was an absolutely awesome experience, because that is what U2 provide live - it is not a gig, it is not just listening to a band it is an extravaganza. And it was fantastic.

It was also uniquely U2, which other band would pause in a two hour set for a message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu about Africa and the work being done there to alleviate the suffering caused by Aids and Malaria.

But as I stood with 50,000 people singing along to songs from the new album as well as lots of old favourites I was very aware of the experience seeking element of the gig. So many there seek those kinds of experiences because they have nothing else - they need to know God rather than go to a U2 gig!

Grace

What is it? What does the word grace mean? Is it just a description of the way someone moves, or just a prayer giving thanks for a meal? Or is it something bigger than that? Is it just forgiveness? Is it a human action or is there some other meaning?

On their album all that you can't leave behind U2 have a track that asks just those sort of questions. Is grace just the name of a girl or is it an idea that could change the world? It is a brooding song that poses lots of questions but is it a song about a girl or about a bigger reality.

When they sing of how grace makes beauty out of ugly things, or finds goodness in everything is it just an individual or grace personified that they are singing about.

And what difference would grace at work make to the world in which we live?