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"Grace" has three expositions in this book, and they're all on different. Two of them are on Romans 5 and the other one is John 14 and wedding sermon. Talk about "Grace," and the different ways that the authors picked up on the importance of these lyrics.

In this book, we tried to bring together preachers who were very diverse theologically, very diverse denominationally, to sort of bear witness to the broadness of U2's appeal. And the sermons on "Grace" are a great way to illustrate that. We have Clint McCann, who talks about social justice. We have Wade Hodges, who preaches a very classic Romans 5 sermon about how "Grace removes the stain of sin." And then another one from Steve Garber, which addresses a very particular situation of a couple who are stepping into a risk of trusting each other and opening themselves to each other's love in a wedding.

It couldn't be more different, all of them are great readings of Scripture, all of them great readings of the song, but very diverse. The song itself, "Grace," is one of those U2 songs that's a natural to preach on. Sometimes you have to work harder at making a bridge from a song to scripture than other times. This is one which you could practically open up your Bible—I think probably particularly if you were reading The Message—and get a text very similar to this. It's just a straight-ahead exposition of amazing grace, of grace making beauty out of ugly things.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," ended up as an exposition of Philippians 3, Luke 15, Mark 14. Talk about how those lyrics were engaged in very different ways.

I think a great example there particularly is Steve and Darleen. Darleen is a professor at a Roman Catholic seminary. And Steve is the author of Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of "U2," from Relevant Books. And he looks at "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," in the context of Philippians 3 and the vow to keep pressing forward, to go on for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. Darleen has a very charming, down-to-earth image of wandering sheep. She talks about the spiritual nature of Generation X and the constant questioning of life and how that song is used at X-er weddings and X-er funerals.

Anna Carter Florence, who is a professor of preaching, has a sermon, "The Voice You Find May Be Your Own." She talks about how the song enabled her to connect with some people who were outside of her experience and she was able to connect with them because they both loved the song. And her piece talks about the importance of having people find their own voice and their own experience.

Talk about your own treatment of "Tomorrow" in using John 20 and .

I have always thought "Tomorrow" reads very interestingly together with the story of doubting Thomas. That's a scripture that comes up in the lectionary, which my particular denomination happens to use Sunday after Easter every year. One has to think about this story every single year. "Tomorrow" is one of U2's earliest songs from their second album, "October." It puts us in a very similar situation to where Thomas is in a room after a death, waiting to see what's going to happen and afraid that nothing will ever be the same again.

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April (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48