HANDCUFFS, FIRE BRIGADE OR MAUSOLEUM?

'Whitewashed tombs, look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are

full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.'

Don't write Bono off just because he's a mega star, the man has substance. I'd love to say I know him, but I don't, although I have had some indirect contact with him over the years. I first bumped into him in Dublin in the late 1970's a couple of times when his name was Paul Hewson, he was part of a small charismatic fellowship I had some contact with then.

That little church did damage to a lot of good people, as did a number of related groups in the Shepherding Movement all across the world, and the sad fact is that some of them may never recover from the abuse doled out to them - those who did recover still carry the scars. And to his credit, Paul Hewson recovered and emerged as Bono.

I remember catching my first glimpse of his pain in one of his songs, 'My Father is a rich man, he wears a rich man's coat. He gave me the key to his kingdom . but I left by the back door and threw away the key' - when religious people kicked him in the face, he thought God had rejected him too.

There's a number of pointers to the man's qualities and the state of his heart that aren't too hard to find - unless you don't want to. Sure, Jesus' name isn't in every line of his songs, not even every song, but look closely at the lyrics, and Jesus is there OK.

'O Bono can't be a Christian, sure he smokes and it's not unusual for an expletive or two to escape his lips.' Well, give me a man with a passion for the principles of God's kingdom any day rather than some squeaky-clean merchant who's so heavenly minded that he's of no earthly use. Someone about whom Jesus might say, ' You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.' (Matthew 23:27).

Reminds me of the Philippian jailer, 'What must I do to be saved?' he cried out, and if some of those who question Bono's salvation on the basis of behaviour, there would have been a long list of do's and don't's instead of the almost monosyllabic answer; 'Believe.'

For me, one of the most significant things Bono has ever said was his description of the church as; 'Handcuffs and fire brigade for the living Christ and mausoleum for the dead Christ.' He accurately describes the state of many churches in the West, but they also tell something about the man's perception, and why you won't often see him in church these days.

Sad commentary on the contemporary church when you can be so busy going to church that you've no time to be a Christian! How many hospital patients never get a visit, how many of our old folk languish alone in the nursing home as we drive past them on a Sunday morning in our mad rush to 'get to church'? And it's all because our tight religious background has brainwashed us into believing, 'you have to go to your church.'

Now, I'm not saying don't go to church, that's your choice, and neither am I suggesting a bout of religious musical chairs where we all move around in a frantic and vain search for the perfect church, ending up in much the same place again.

No, what I'm saying is this. If the place you frequent on a Sunday morning, and don't call it church, for the true church is a 'temple not made with hands' - you and me, if it's 'handcuffs and fire brigade' for an unruly Christ who won't be controlled, a Jesus who's a nightmare for 'the office manager' who likes things tidy, predictable and efficient - then it's your responsibility to change things. If the place is like a morgue, a mausoleum for a Christ who was once alive but now buried under a pile of musty man-made rules and stiff codes of conduct, you have access to the Holy Spirit who can breathe life into the place and blow the cobwebs away.

Confront the powers that be, and if you find yourself shot down in flames again and again, well . join the club. It's at that point you've a decision to make; how long do I stay here and wrestle this Dinosaur? At what point do I do what Jesus recommended, shake the dust off your feet and move on, but remember, you're moving on.