Fifth Sunday of Lent ~ U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name

One of the themes for the fifth Sunday of Lent is "God does a new thing." In other words, God is making all things new and the old ways of doing things pass away. Our criteria for measuring success are no longer based on earthly models, but on God. As I thought about this theme, I was reminded of a retreat that I participated in once. The theme of the retreat was Spiritual Formation through the Arts. During the primary presentation, our speaker was using themes from music to point to spiritual realities. He talked about the eschatological theme behind this U2 song. In certain areas of Ireland, he said, what street one lived on could say a lot about what camp the person falls into. Protestants live on certain streets and Catholics on others. So a person would be judged based on what street they were from. Bono's wish is for a place where the streets have no names, a place where these petty distinctions will no longer be used as criteria to decide who is in and who is out. This is the promised land that God is ushering in through the Messiah - a place where our differences are included but not used to discriminate. What a wonderful place that will be! So let us work together to "tear down the walls" that we have put up to divide ourselves.