Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 November, Telstra Dome, Melbourne.

The wrong date

Peter and I just got back from the Make Poverty History gig at the Meyer music bowl.

The 23 year old organiser of the concert finished his speech with a clear message: "We have the plan. We have the resources. But do we have the will?" On the way home we read a neon news sign that says, "Peter Costello defends Australia's level of aid". This is going to be a fight.

It's now 1:30am and we're getting organised to queue up early for Saturday's U2 gig. Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, Bible, tickets. I flick the tickets onto my bed. First ticket reads, Friday 24th March " check. Second ticket reads, Saturday 25th March. My eyes do a double take. We have a problem. With the March Tour dates postponed until November it is really easy for buyers and sellers to get the right day (Saturday) but the wrong date. Pete has bought a ticket for the right day but wrong date!

We pray. He sleeps poorly and queues up with me the next day at 6:30am without a ticket. For the next 5 hours it looks like I'll be going in by myself. We keep praying and asking around. It's unbearably hot again. We make a tarp with some gaffer tape and a tent fly that some fans have from their tent they slept out in. We cower in the shade and make our own U2 T-shirts with what's left of the tape. 

Melbourne fans are particularly "testy', constantly worrying about their position in the queue. Peter and I are veterans now, so we try and make the best we can out of the situation. Finally, we find someone with a ticket who sells it to us at face value. Ten minutes later we sell Pete's Sunday night ticket and it's all sorted. God is kind.

The greatest show on earth

After 11 hours in the hot queue we wind up at the very front of the show, in the pit and one person behind the rail. There is a bonus for tonight's show " they're filming for IMAX. 

U2 play a seamless performance that is truly sensational to watch. They rise to the presence of the cameras. We see all their ideas from previous shows coagulating and firing on all cylinders.

Every show opens with the cranking anthem, City of Blinding Lights. The song's lyrics finish with Bono chiding western Christians for not doing enough for the world's poor:

"Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel" luckily."

God causes the rain to fall on both the righteous and the unrighteous. And that is a good thing according to Bono. For if it depended on the rich Christians the poor would get nothing. It's not a denial of the importance of prayer, but what he says implies that we should get up off our knees and do something for the poor.

His criticism of western nations and our "brand' of Christianity gets more fully developed in another song from the same album called Crumbs. This song speaks of how difficult at first Bono found getting churches in America on board with fighting extreme poverty issues:

"From the brightest star
Comes the blackest hole
You had so much to offer
Why did you offer your soul?
I was there for you baby
When you needed my help
Would you deny for others
What you demand for yourself?

You speak of signs and wonders
I need something other
I would believe if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table'

Every Sunday in our churches we speak of "signs and wonders'. The cross and resurrection of Jesus are perhaps the fullest expression of these. Do we have any obligation to help those suffering in extreme poverty? Africa and Asia are a long way from us. These human brothers do not cross our path like the guy beaten up on the road did to the Good Samaritan. Biblically speaking, it's difficult to recognise these folk as our neighbours. But by bearing the image of God they are at the very least, our brothers.

We are commanded to do good especially to our Christian brothers, but let's not forget to "do good to all' (Gal 6:10). We have so much to offer but would we deny for others what we demand for ourselves? We ought to respond compassionately and act in ways that show love for them. Make Poverty History (MPH) is not a difficult campaign to grasp. If we are to love our brothers we ought to speak up in their interests.

It bothers me that many Christians are so slow to lead in these matters. Instead of speaking we bury our voice and let the secular world fill the void. Of course, there are things that we can criticise about MPH. But that does not stop us from speaking up or showing compassion and attempting to eradicate extreme poverty.

Every night U2 finish their first set with One. It may have originally been a song about fractured relationships, but the theme of the song is so great it easily rises to the call of other occasions. At each Australian concert One has been about Australia and Africa. 

Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You asked me to enter
And then you made me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got
When all you've got is hurt

Where is our love for our African brothers? 

What is it that we offer them?

Love is the higher law we are called to obey.

It is evident to me that primary school age children are the most aware regarding third world poverty issues. Generally speaking the older you get, the more ignorant and apathetic. The media are equally ignorant. They're criticising Bono for his glassy-eyed rock star idealism. One journalist wrote: "Rockeconomics is no path to development. Compassionate Australians must take the trouble to understand why aid is no panacea and often not even a help. We know trade is more effective than aid and must avoid harming people in developing countries through aid" (Helen Hughes, The Australian, Nov 20, 2006, p8 Opinion). 

What it's all about

Is MPH only about increasing Aid? Such unsympathetic journalism fails to appreciate the breadth of what the campaign is actually about. It fails to recognise that Bono co-founded DATA (which stands for Debt, Aid, Trade and Africa) and that MPH (one of DATA's campaigns) is a broad campaign that calls on our governments to fulfil the good intentions they made in 2000 pertaining to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG's). MPH (also known as the One campaign in the US) has concluded in the UK and will shortly conclude in Australia, but the need to maintain pressure on governments to fulfil the MDG's will need to continue.

Government is there to serve our good, to maintain justice until Jesus returns. God's Spirit in us enables us to see what is good and to remind our government how to act justly. We need to help our government see what is just and right in our world (Prov. 31:8,9).

Instead of ignoring the UN when it calls for 0.7 per cent GDP by 2015 to eradicate extreme poverty, we need to implore our government to act. The UN may be a less than perfect organisation. It may have presided over some of the worst genocides in history. But it is only as good as the countries that make it up. The MDG's are not about empire building or the tower of Babel. 

They do however provide a reference point of order outside our country's introspective interests. They call on us to recognise the value of people's lives outside our own backyards. They challenge us to be generous to people who cannot repay us.  Christians should lead the way. If we don't speak up, don't be surprised when our voice is replaced with a secular one. 

The Finale

It's Sunday night, U2's final Australian show and there's a problem with Edge's guitar. It sounds so "furry' and weak on Angel of Harlem that the band give up on their planned set list until it's fixed. So we get a surprise, impromptu rendition from the Zooropa album, The First Time. This is way cool, I've never heard this live before.

Tonight, Bono's making all kinds of tributes and embellishments to songs, including their version of Unchained Melody at the end of One. It's a delight to watch. You feel like anything could happen. In the final encore, Party Girl is performed perfectly (Sydney's version was pretty shabby) and to everyone's surprise, including Bono's, U2 finish the concert with Bad. This is my all time favourite song, providing a fitting end to what has been a sensational trip. It's a full version with all the trimmings including Ruby Tuesday and the chorus from 40. It's a great song about addiction. Anyone can be addicted to something.

Edge: "Good night Sydney! (long pause) Good night Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and most of all Melbourne!" (they must be tired)

Bono: "We won't make it so long next time. Go home to bed, Melbourne."

Yeah, its time to crash. Our faces are so tired they could slide right off our heads. Good night Bono.

Editorial footnote

Stephen Shearsby may appear in a short grab for an ABC TV production called My Favourite Album to be screened on the December 3. The ABC noticed our website’s blog on the U2 tour and asked Stephen to be interviewed on his return to Sydney airport last Monday. He was asked a broad range of questions including ones about Bono being a modern day Psalmist and the motivation for Bono's social activism. 

Stephen Shearsby, children's minister at St Paul's, Menai, attended each of the seven U2 concerts that the band performed in Australia. He has been sharing his experiences of the concerts and reflecting on their Christian signifcance in a series of blogs.

Read the news story and Stephen's previous blog.