The Rhythm

I picked up a new U2 dvd yesterday. “New” is somewhat relative, because to me it was new, but in reality it was a documentary that followed a tour of theirs some twenty years ago. Joshua Tree to be exact. And I know I talk a lot about U2, Paul Hewson, and Larry Mullen and how I wish we could be married, but I guess there’s a reason for that. It’s not empty words to show reverence for a well-known rock-n-roll band. I’m reminded of it everytime I hear the Edge’s guitar….

Somewhere between the boys trying on cowboy boots in Arizona and playing pool in a bar in Texas on the dvd, they play the “I Still Haven’t Found what I’m Looking For” video. And as I could feel the warmth of tears swell beneath my eyes, and as my stomach tightened, and my throat quivered, I was struck, as I am everytime, how much this band can pervade into some “other” part of my being. Whether it be Bono’s emotion drenched voice that sends a chill down your spine, or the Edge’s undeniable but subtle build up that seemingly works itself into your soul, they serve to show that music is an aspect of life all of its own. I am assured that music is not physical, it is not words put together, it is not a conglomeration of chords, but it is a spiritual entity all unto itself. I know I am not the first to say this, and I know I will not be the last, but I feel like it’s a present to me. Like everytime I forget that this world is bigger than what my feeble mind can comprehend, I can listen to Mr Hewson’s crooning voice reminding me that he will show me a place where “the streets have no name…” and I am immediately humbled into realizing there is a spiritual realm. There is more than the material. There is a Father who created this rhythm. This phenomenon of a rhythm.

Maybe I shouldn’t attempt to write this because this is not something words are supposed to express. If I could explain to everyone exactly what this band meant to me, or how the sound of a smooth harmonica can take me to places I’ve never known, or how when Ben Gibbard echoes “I need you so much closer” I shudder, if I could explain all that with correct vocabulary usage and proper syntax, it would all be just an oxymoron. It would defeat the purpose of my argument entirely.

But there’s more to U2. There is a struggle. I have discovered that true community is made up of individuals who share their brokenness together and meet each other in that place. If that is true, where is the union with artists who seem to have all their lives “together.” Or who are just singing shallowly about that hot girl or that sweet guy. You can feel the struggle in Bono’s voice over and over and over again down to the core of your being. They claim that “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” is a hymn for the broken, the hurt, the questioning. I feel that. I find myself in that song and it is my hymn. Combine the breathtaking words with the effect music in general has on my disposition, and the combination is hardly believable. It sweeps me away in a wave of what I feel to be my Father, rushing over me, reminding me I am not alone, reminding me of his artwork in the world today, reminding me of the wonder He can produce. The wave knocks me over and consumes my doubts and my hurt and binds me to those who suffer as I do, all the while bringing a tinge of hope through the simple combination of a voice, a guitar, a bass, and some drums.