Magnificent

I am standing with 74,000 fans in Seattle listening to the Irish rock group U2 sing a hymn. I am not sure how many realize what is going on at that moment, except I wonder if they feel it. My wife once talked to one U2 fan who said that she came out of a concert experience in tears and didn’t know why. Maybe its because of how surprisingly, in the music, in the veneer of a rock concert, the focus gets subtly shifted somehow: to find yourself, you will need to look away from yourself.

You hear this theme in U2’s song Magnificent:
I was born, I was born to sing for you
I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice from the womb
My first cry, it was a joyful noise
Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar
Justified, till we die you and I will magnify,
The Magnificent, magnificent

I am not completely sure what the definition of a hymn is, but I think that might be an undercover candidate.

I have a copy of my father’s favourite book, The Magnificence of Jesus, by Harry Rimmer. It's an old book, and not necessarily a great book, but I think my dad loved Rimmer’s way of describing who Jesus was to him: magnificent. Putting the song and the book together (a rather unlikely pairing to be honest), I can’t help but think that what we all need is an enlarging of spirit, the ability to recognize that our greatest joy, and truest task, is to hunger for the magnificent.