Almost happened to me today on Gmail.  It turns out I did NOT send what was supposed to be a private note to our leadership team as a 'reply all' to a  wider community.  But for ten minutes, I was away from my screen and convinced myself that I had hit the wrong button. 

All I could think about is "how would others read it"?  It wasn't a bad email at all (nothing off colour or inappropriate), but something that was a celebration for our little leadership team might not be heard that way by others who were not celebrating the same news we got.

In the end, it was all good.  But it made me think:  are my private conversations  always ready to go public? 

You know what I'm talking about...if the person you're talking about walked in the room, would you still say what you had been saying?  If someone else heard what you just said (or wrote), would it be all good?  If your private note became your face book status, how cool would that be? 

Jesus challenges me so deeply.  Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.  What you say in private will be shouted from the rooftops.

I'm working to get to a place where all my DMs could be headlines and it really woudn't make a difference.  Sometimes it might be a good thing to hit the wrong button just to test your character.  What do you think?

More than a few musicians stand for something, but is there anyone who has gotten the message out more widely and clearly than Bono? 

So why is Bono effective?  Three primary reasons catch me:

1. The themes he uses have universal appeal. There is a God-given core longing in each of us for love, unity, peace and an unselfish use of power.

2. He always communicates the same message.  Through his words and actions, Bono continues to leverage four themes:  love, unity, peace and using power to benefit those without power.

3. Bono uses many media to repeat the message.  Words, video clips, press conferences, talks and (of course) music combine to get the message home.

What's the lesson for preachers?  

1. Communicate what matters to everyone.  What scares me is that you could go to many churches for a month and not hear anyone talk about love, unity, peace or the selfless use of power.  Bono may have actually taken what continues to attract non-Christians to Jesus and made them his core message.  Lots of people who would never go to church are intrigued by Jesus.  They love who he was, what he stood for, and Jesus' message resonates with the image of God inside each of us. Why can't we cooperate with that and find some bridges in the story?  Not saying we can't touch hard subjects (I preached on demonization yesterday), but I am saying there is a core that resonates with everyone.  Find it.  Preach it.

2. Don't be afraid to repeat the same theme.  The temptation I feel is the temptation you feel: to be relevant we need to say something new.  Most people don't remember what we said last week.  Live out your core convictions (if you got 'em).

3. Remember that everything you do in a service communicates, not just the message.  At Connexus, we've learned to pick our music to reflect the message and structure the entire service to back up the bottom line.

 What have you learned from Bono or other effective communicators?  Why do you think his message is so sticky?  What can we learn as leaders from Bono?

It's also why people get hung up on God.  I have conversations every day with people who think of God as an idea - as a force - as something so large and impersonal that there's no immediate or direct connect.  Lots of us grew up in church with that concept of God.

But Bono also did something else.  He made this huge show personal.

He talked about being in Toronto a lot.  True, musicians do that in every city.  But he also told some personal stories.  He shouted out to the people in condos next to the Rogers Center and asked them to flick their lights off and on if they were listening.  They did. (That was sweet).

In one extraordinary moment, while the intro to City of Blinding Lights played, he hoisted a twelve year old boy on stage.  He ran around the perimeter of the stage with him holding the boy's hand.  During the first verse, Bono got down on his knee and sang the verse looking straight into his eyes.  Later in the song, Bono took off his glasses and put them on the boy's face.  When it was over, he handed the boy back to security and to his parents.  Extraordinary.  Check out the photo from that night.

The biggest show in the world got personal.  Very personal.  Theologians call that imminence.  God is both transcendent (large) and imminent (personal).

Is that a key to briding the gap between believers and non-believers in church?  Rather than debate worship v. performance music (we use both at Connexus), maybe a key learning is that our service 'style' ought to reflect both the transcendence of God (being part of something bigger than ourselves) and the personal side (God is so close, so personal, and so interested in each of us).

How can we do this? Do we do this?  What could we do to better reflect this?  What do you think?

Constructing what many believe to be the biggest stage set in concert history, their stage is gigantic.  Check out this video for a tour of the set.  I'm pretty sure that at the Rogers Center, they needed to open the roof because the set didn't fit in the stadium.

There's a theological word for something that big: transcendence - something that is magnificent, huge, incomparable. 

And that is in the nature of God.  God is transcendent.  He's bigger than we can comprehend. 

Most of us want to be part of something bigger than we are.  We want to worship.  If we don't worship God, we'll worship money, or work, or family, or a rock band.  We'll find something that is bigger than us to bow down to.

And while U2 isn't worthy of anyone's worship, their concert was transcendent.  You knew you were dealing with the biggest band in the world.

Now wait for the final post Monday...because the temptation would be to think that proving you're the biggest band in the world was their goal - it wasn't.

But it leads me to a question: in what ways are we doing church that points to a God who is transcendent? Sometimes church can be so banal, so mundane, that you would have a hard time believeing anything supernatural or bigger than us is involved.

In the music we use, the way the band plays, the way the preacher points to God, in the things that are happening in church, in what ways does that show the insider and the outsider that we are part of something far bigger than ourselves?

That's transcendence.  And people are drawn to transcendence.

Musically, it's tricky.  We have a fantastic music team.  Andy Walker, our director of music, has done an unbelievable job of crafting what I think is one of the best church music environments in Canada. (Yep, I'm biased, but you should hear our team.)

The tension is Christians always want to sing more music.  People who grew up out of the church generally want less. Where else in the culture, after all, do you sing out loud in public?  People with little church background generally love great music, they just don't want to be asked to stand for 30 minutes to participate in songs they don't know to sing lyrics they don't yet believe with their friends standing next to them.  That's why we rarely do more than 3 participatory songs in a service.

We ask: how do you bridge the gap? I had the chance to see U2 last month in Toronto and watched Bono do something powerful. It was a huge life-highlight for me.  Broke down and cried a few times, actually.

He blended transcendence, imminence and a universal message masterfully together in a way that drew 63,000 people at the Rogers Center in Toronto together. And he did it much better than I've seen in most churches.

I wonder if there's a blueprint in that for those of us who are committed to doing church in a way that constantly includes new friends.

That's what I'm blogging about this week. 

In the meantime, anyone else at the U2 concert?  What did you see or learn?

What about you?  Is your life FOR something, or has it become about being AGAINST something else?

• Do you love the church, or just criticize other churches and leaders? (Love Craig Groeschel on this)
• Do you love God, or just look down on others who don't (or who you think love him less than you do)?
• Do you love your personal style? Or are you just trying to dress or live in a way that's cooler than the guy down the street?
• Do you love it when new people come to faith, or resent that your story isn't more exciting?
• Do you love your job, or just find things about it you don't love?

Everybody's a critic, but critics end up with nothing at the end of their days but a series of things they were against.  Not much to admire, actually or pass on to your kids.

What keeps us from being FOR something?  Maybe a fear that others will criticize us.  Maybe having lived in negative head space for so long that we forgot that God called us to build and grow people and his Kingdom.  What do you think?

What are you FOR? How can that become a passion for you?  How can what you are FOR begin to define you?

I want my life to be about what I am for, not what I'm against.  What about you?

Question: what subject do you most want to hear us preach about in 2010 at Connexus?  What issue are you facing? What question never gets answered?  What's the area of greatest concern for your friends?

This is by far one of my favourite things to talk about. So - what would you like us to address?

I've missed our community...so if you're still around, thanks!  If you are new, welcome. We'll start in earnest tomorrow with the blog, but a few questions here on day one:

• What do you think of the design and navigation?  Easy to use?  How does it interface with your browser?
• What are you thinking about these days?  I have a bunch of things to post about, but I'd love to know what's on your mind.  What is the burning subject you need a forum to talk about?

Welcome back.  Tell some friends, and let's have some great conversation.

Thanks for your patience in checking back on the blog only to find...old posts.  There are a bunch of reasons, but none of them really matter.  The bottom line is, a new site is in the works.

In the next few weeks we'll be relaunching the blog with some new features, some new dialogue and a fresh look.

Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience.  It will be great to connect regularly again. Sorry it's taken so long!

PS.  Totally excited about the launch of a new ministry 'year' in a few weeks after Labour Day! 

Carey