Since U2 seems to be the topic of choice...

I'm providing the lyrics to four of U2's most explicitly religious songs, in the order they were written (courtesy of U2.com). Please take the time to absorb the words and meanings behind these songs.

---

I Still Haven\'t Found What I\'m Looking For

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you.

I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you.

But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.
But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her finger tips
It burned like fire
(I was) burning inside her.

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone.

But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.
But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colours will bleed into one
Bleed into one.
But yes, I\'m still running.

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, you know I believe it.

But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.
But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.

But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.
But I still haven\'t found
What I\'m looking for.

---

The First Time

I have a lover, a lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing.

Shows me colours when there\'s none to see
Gives me hope when I can\'t believe
That for the first time I feel love.

I have a brother, when I\'m a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me.

I feel myself goin\' down
I just call and he comes around.
But for the first time I feel love.

My father is a rich man, he wears a rich man\'s cloak.
He gave me the keys to his kingdom (coming)
Gave me a cup of gold.

He said \"I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see.\"
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key.

For the first time, for the first time
For the first time, I feel love.

---

Grace

Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace, it\'s the name for a girl
It\'s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she\'s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She\'s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

---

Yahweh

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahewh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

---

To midnitcafe: I don't see "The First Time" necessarily as a rejection of faith but more as a rejection of the idea of God the Father as Santa Clause. A rejection of the idea that we come to God because of what we can get out of it (mansions, riches ect.), I think that Bono's looking for a relationship deeper than that. If viewed this way then this song would be an excellent companion to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", (another song that is, addmitedly, open to interpretation). I could be way off base with these thoughts, but thank you, once again anyway for forcing me think.

Tribute, out of the blue.

This is for my friend Joel, who doesn't get nearly enough recognition. In this world of ours there are two kinds of people: talkers and doers.

I'm a talker, Joel's a doer.

I talk about music, he's recording an album.

I talk about film, he directs a film*.

I talk about literature, he writes a short story.

Did I mention that he also does all these things well?

God bless you Joel! And keep up the good work. I'm proud to know you.

~~~

Joel is the vigilant keeper of three weblogs:

Eucharisto - the one all of you know about,

The Grace Of Saint John Of The Cross - a more liturgical blog with special emphasis on the contemplative life

and

Animadverto - his photo blog.

Enjoy! And encourage Joel as he strives to do that for which he was made.



~~~

*with Superman! I haven't forgotten you!

A Collage of Articles and Links (Amazon Link Fixed)

College, where are goodness, truth and beauty to be found? James Scott Bell has some opinions. Joel, I thought that you in particular might find that link interesting.

~~~



Narnia pictures! Click here!

~~~

Also, what do Rock 'n' Roll, John Calvin, U2, Plato, and lap dancing all have in common? Read on.

~~~

I'm on Amazon! Strange but true, I've submitted my review of Frederick Buechner's On The Road With The Archangel to the .com behemoth. If you'd like to read it, click here.

~~~

Does Crouching Tiger have a hidden meaning? Steven D. Greydanus, over at Decent Films, thinks so.

~~~

Jesus according to Hollywood: We're fast approaching the one-year anniversary of the release of The Passion of the Christ and Mike Hertenstein at Flickerings has a massive survey of Moviedom's many Jesus films from the silent era to Mel Gibson's controversial indie film. Here's the link.

~~~

And just in case you didn't catch these the first time around, two MUST READ articles for U2 fans interested in exploreing the spirituallty of the band:

"Bono's American Prayer"

and

the Godspy review of "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb".

Oscar Perdictions!- 2005

The 2005 academy Award Nominations are out.

And it seems that, yes this is the year of the bio-pic (My perdictions have a period just to the left of them):

BEST PICTURE
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
.Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
Taylor Hackford - Ray
Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
Alexander Payne - Sideways
.Martin Scorcese - The Aviator

BEST ACTOR
Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda
Johnny Depp - Finding Neverland
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator
Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
.Jamie Foxx - Ray


BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening - Being Julia
Catalina Sandeno Moreno - Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
.Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Alda - The Aviator
Thomas Haden Church - Sideways
Jamie Foxx - Collateral
.Morgan Freeman - Million Dollar Baby
Clive Owen - Closer


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
.Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
Laura Linney - Kinsey
Virginia Madsen - Sideways
Sophie Okonedo - Hotel Rwanda
Natalie Portman - Closer


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Aviator
.Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Vera Drake

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Before Sunset
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
The Motorcycle Diaries
.Sideways

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
As It Is
The Chorus
Downfall
.The Sea Inside
Yesterday

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
.Born Into Brothels
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Super Size Me
Tupac: Resurrection
Twist of Faith

ANIMATED FILM
.The Incredibles
Shark Tale
Shrek 2

ART DIRECTION
.The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Phantom of the Opera
A Very Long Engagement

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Aviator
.House of Flying Daggers
The Passion of the Christ
The Phantom of the Opera
A Very Long Engagement

COSTUME DESIGN
.The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Ray
Troy

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
.Autism is a World
The Children of Leningradsky
Hardwood
Mighty Times: The Children's March
Sister Rose's Passion

FILM EDITING
The Aviator
Collateral
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
.Ray

MAKEUP
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
.The Passion of the Christ
The Sea Inside

MUSIC (SCORE)
Finding Neverland
.Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Passion of the Christ
The Village


MUSIC (SONG)
."Accidentally In Love" - Shrek 2
"Al Otro Lado Del Río" - The Motorcycle Diaries
"Believe" - The Polar Express
"Learn To Be Lonely" - The Phantom of the Opera
"Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)" - The Chorus


SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Birthday Boy
.Gopher Broke
Guard Dog
Lorenzo
Ryan

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Everything in this Country Must
Little Terrorist
.7:35 in the Morning
Two Cars, One Night
Wasp

SOUND EDITING
.The Incredibles
The Polar Express
Spider-Man 2

SOUND MIXING
The Aviator
The Incredibles
The Polar Express
.Ray
Spider-Man 2

VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
I, Robot
.Spider-Man 2



Do you have any rants? I wish that The Passion of the Christ and The Incredibles had gotten a little more attention. But did anyone else notice the snubbing of Kensy and Fahrenheit 9/11? That's something to sing about anyway.

Darkest Day

The anniversary of what was possibly the darkest day in American history, Jan 22, flew under most people's radars, mine included.

Not Barbara Nicolosi's.

New faces, new places

Announcing the birth of two weblogs:

silent shrouds

and

Midsummer Dreams.

Blogs are a dime a dozen, so why do I note these two in particular?

Because shrouds' Eriol is my brother and Midsummer my sister. They are both very creative people and I look forward to seeing what will come of this new enterprise. I guess we'll see.

Quick, U2 fans!

Fellow blogger, midnitcafe needs our help!

"Speaking of U2 and MLK I'm working on a little essay and could use some help. Essentially the essay is on love and God in their lyrics. I'm looking specifically at the albums from Joshua Tree to Zooropa, but lyrics from other albums could be helpful. Basically I always found that there was a change in their lyrics concerning God between these albums similar to the change of musical styles that came in those albums. Any thoughts?"

Well, friends do you have any thoughts?

As for me, midnitcafe, anything I would say would just be stolen from this piece of musical exploration by Jeffrey Overstreet. Shocking, I know. Oh, and to get a sense of the context of each album, I find it's best to read the reviews from bottom to top. I hope it helps!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Coming to a Wal-Mart near you!

Safe and Sound

We're here in Portland, safe and sound (and a little bewildered). I'll try to give more information later but for now I'll just say to those in Tennessee that we miss you all (ya'll?) very much!

And we'll see you soon.

===

And if you're trying to get in touch with us you can do so at our "AT&T" account (for those who don't know what that is but know the address of our comcast account, just replace the word "comcast" in our other account with "att", that'll do the trick).

Oh and another thing, this has nothing to do with moving, but does anyone here know how to add permanent links on the sidebar? This is driving me crazy. Midnitecafe can you help?

In honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

From Bono...

Pride (In The Name Of Love)

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go.
One man come he to justify
One man to overthrow.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed up on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky.
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.

Me again!

KnightrockTwo
Originally uploaded by Foolishknight.

This time as a chess piece. Snazzy, huh?

More voting fun!

At Eucharisto, my friend Joel is asking for your input. The topic? The music of 2004! So don't be shy! I know you have opinions, share them!

OK, this time I MEAN it!

No more internet for our family till we get settled in our new house - starting midnight tonight. Unless, of course, some passing stranger happens to have pity on us and lets us use his laptop that just happens to have a wireless internet connection or something like that. Yeah.


Anyway feel very free to review the contents of my archives, the stuff I write is meant to be read over and over again - though I am the first to admit that it does not hold up well, please read anyway (and feel free to criticize anything you find that doesn't hold up well - you folks keep me accountable bloggerwise, thank you).

Well, see you later and good knight! (sorry, bad pun)

Well Worth Reading

Jeffery Overstreet has compiled his year end list of the best music of 2004, and has written a short, year end commentary to boot.

It's well worth reading (and discussing - if you'd like).

Here it is.

Skeleton of a Post

I plan on developing this post later but for now here's the framework of a series of thoughts on why I believe the standards for Film are absolute:

1. I believe that Film is an Art form.

2. I believe that the purpose of Art is to point toward Truth.

3. I believe that Truth is absolute (whether relatively or absolutely so).

Thus I believe that the standards for Film are absolute.

Yeah, I was wrong...

... again. Misinformed is a better word, though. We can still connect to the internet after all. I'll try to let you know when this changes.

In a day's work.

George
Originally uploaded by Foolishknight.

Yep, that's me. On the left. Does it say anything about me that I draw Dragons better than Knights? (I'm not saying that either is very good.)

Installment Sixteen...

"The Christian writer does not decide what would be good for the world and proceed to deliver it. Like a very doubtful Jacob, he confronts what stands in his path and wonders if he will come out of the struggle at all."

-Flannery O'Connor

Walker Percy

I haven't read so much as a page of Mr. Percy's work but this article by Gregory Wolfe has certainly wetted my appetite.

Have any of you read anything of Percy's? Do have any suggestions as to where I should start?

2004, the Year in Books

All in all I've finished twenty-seven books this year (if you count the books I read twice - which I do). Here they are in the (approximate) order in which I read them:

1. Waking the Dead, John Eldredge
2. Telling the Truth, the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale, Frederick Buechner
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee Harper
4. The Hawk and the Dove
5. Addicted to Mediocrity, Franky Schaeffer
6. The Storm, Frederick Buechner
7. The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O'Connor
8. The Ragamuffin Gospel
9. The Pilgrim's Regress, C. S. Lewis
10. Telling the Truth, the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale
11. Not a Tame Lion
12. The Rock Cries Out
13. The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis
14. Brendan
15. What’s So Amazing About Grace?
16. Peace Like A River
17. Wishful Thinking, A Theological ABC
18. Something Wicked This Way Comes
19. Perelandra
20. Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say)
21. On the Road with the Archangel
22. Godric
23. The Wizard’s Tide
24. The Storm
25. Peace Like A River
26. Soul Survivor
27. The Alphabet of Grace

Have you read any of these? Do you love or hate any books on this list? Do you see any here you'd like to discuss? If so, comment! I'll try to put more content on the post later so keep checking back.

The hour is getting late...

We've been busy turning our home into a house (i.e. packing) and it's a sad time. But (oddly enough) a time so permeated with radiant shots of Joy (from sledding with friends and receiving eucharist on Christmas Eve to finishing a wonderful book and movie last night) that I've found myself a bit stunned, I want to develop this thought and maybe I will later but for now I only bring you an important bit of information:

We will have no way to connect to the internet, starting Monday. So, for those who would do this sort of thing, DO NOT e-mail to our Comcast account after Sunday. Thank-you.

Quoth Ron Reed;

"People are not only willing to tolerate us, they want to hear what we have to say, find out our spiritual strategies. Modernism, and its mystery-denying faith in science and pure rationality, has all but expired. People -- some people, anyway -- want mystery and humanity."

in an article from the Vancouver Sun.

And, by popular demand, the list I submitted at my own poll:

With Or Without You, U2

Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan

Where The Streets Have No Name, U2

Wayfaring Stranger, Jack White

Anything, Sixpence None The Richer

Answers Don't Come Easy, Leslie Phillips

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2

daises&roses, Burlap To Cashmere

Help!, The Beatles

Honeysuckle Breeze, Lost Dogs

Idumea, Sacred Heart Singers At Liberty Church

Running To Stand Still, U2

It’s Not Your Fault, Ashley Cleveland

Jealous Kind, Jars Of Clay

Rock of Ages, Traditional

Small Great Things, Daniel Amos

The Author of the Story, Daniel Amos

Walk On, U2

Lines of My Earth, Sixpence None the Richer

Wondering Where the Lions Are, Vigilantes of Love