In describing U2's current tour to Rolling Stone, Bono said that fans sense "good vibrations" at the concerts. "God is in the room," he reported, paused, and added, "more than Elvis. It feels like there's a blessing on the band right now. People are saying they're feeling shivers-well, the band is as well. And I don't know what that is, but it feels like God walking through the room, and it feels like a blessing, and in the end, music is a kind of sacrament; it's not just about airplay or chart positions."

U2

Bono has the reputation as rock 'n' roll's most effective and enigmatic spiritual provocateur-rattling the souls of fans all over the globe.

 "I sometimes think I have a kind of Tourette's syndrome where if you're not supposed to say something, it becomes very attractive to do so," he once confessed. "You're in a rock band-what can't you talk about? God? Ok, here we go. You're supposed to write songs about sex and drugs. Well, no I won't."

Of course, U2 was deservedly chosen last December as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "People of the Year," an elite cadre of 48 glamorous movie stars and rock groups. The magazine's website invited its readers to vote for their favorite. Surprisingly enough, the top honors were overwhelmingly (it was not even close) garnered by P.O.D. (Payable on Death), a San Diego-based hard-driving metal-and-rap group of outspoken Christians.

When asked by the magazine about their proudest accomplishment of the year, they stated: "We just stuck to our guns and our faith, and didn't let the world corrupt us. We're a rock band, but we have something to say. And not everyone wants to hear it." As street-wise believers and accomplished musicians, P.O.D. has been on tour with notoriously nasty bands such as Korn, Primus, and Kid Rock. They were a main stage band at last summer's heavy metal tour called Ozzfest. P.O.D. rocks where angels fear to tread. Their style of rock-and-rap is not the usual Christian fare. Spin magazine described their album, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, as "...a Molotov cocktail of molten metal and spiritual uplift that couches the band's holy-rolling anthems in ear-ringing guitars and neck-snapping beats."

Lead singer Sonny Sandoval describes P.O.D.'s mission to observers by holding his hand to his chest and says, "This is the kingdom of God." Then he extends his arm far away and says, "This is the world." Then his hand lands between the two counterpoints that he describes as "the fence." "P.O.D. has always been on that fence, bent over at the waist, trying to reach people," he told Campus Life magazine. "We've got people holding our feet on one side, chaining us down in the kingdom. That way, we can reach over the fence and grab these people-by their hair, by their fingers, by their bootstraps, whatever-and bring them into the kingdom of heaven."

Sandoval confidently confides, "That's what God has called us to do." P.O.D. is best seen as a rock 'n' roll version of the Salvation Army's gutsy and misunderstood founder, William Booth, or the famous missionary C.T. Studd who poignantly remarked: "Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell. I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell."

In case you were wondering, U2 took third place among the bands in the Rolling Stone poll, while second place was nabbed by the spiritually-geared band Creed. Lead singer Scott Stapp and the band have won virtually every popular music award that can be stacked on a mantle. They sold millions of albums and were named rock artist of the year (2000) by Billboard magazine.

Because their lyrics drip with biblical imagery, they have been hounded by reporters and fans about whether or not the band is Christian. They make it very clear that they are not a "Christian band," but artists who want to write songs for everyone who can relate to their piercing testimonials and spiritual longings.

Stapp confesses that he is uncertain where he stands as a believer and admits to a sincere distrust of organized religion. Nevertheless, he does believe in God. "I speak with Him every day and I have a relationship with Him and I feel like He speaks with me and I feel like He's very instrumental in everything I do," he told the Leadership Network.

Stapp's story of being reared in a very conservative religious home and being kicked out of a Christian college for smoking pot has been regaled in all of the profiles written about the band. It seems that Stapp is not only haunted by his relationship with God, but also by some nightmarish memories of legalism. Rock historians will testify to this being a common experience for many of rock's legends.

Interestingly enough, none of the top three vote gathering bands among Rolling Stone's readership adhere to the caricature of rock 'n' roll's trinity of sex, drugs, and hedonism. In their own ways, these exceedingly popular groups are doing their part to puncture the power of nihilism and hopelessness by pointing listeners to a transcendent reality of heaven, hell, angels, demons, deliverance, redemption, grace, and peace. Their lyrics unfold a world beyond the things that can be merely seen and rationally grasped. The music is not a simplistic mish-mash of yummy lyrics about skipping with Jesus through fields of daisies. Instead, their songs wrestle with issues of pain, frustration, and abandonment without catering to hopelessness.

For those willing to take the time to look, popular music is brimming with songs of spiritually energized quests; some worth avoiding but many worth engaging. Artists and fans alike have seen what is on the world's buffet table and are still growling with hunger pangs.

Moby's new techno-driven album, Play, is loaded with an unmistakable reliance on gospel messages. Critically-acclaimed roots rocker Lucinda Williams confesses her desire to get right with God on her lush new CD, Essence. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is a full length hip-hop testimony to the redemption of God. Over the Rhine's new CD, Films for Radio is brimming with beauty, poetry, and a wrestling with the soul.

The current music scene has a very interesting vibe. MxPx, a punk rock band with unabashedly Christian members and lyrics, has spent the last few years as a main stage act on the Vans Warped Tour, a traveling concert for the skateboard and BMX crowd. The fabulously popular Destiny's Child often flies home on Saturday night in order to be at St. John's United Methodist Church

in Houston on Sunday morning. Dave Mustaine, frontman for the heavy metal group Megadeath, has recently testified to the power of Jesus Christ over drugs and alcohol. Alice Cooper is now playing golf with theologian R.C. Sproul and recently told a reporter, "it might sound absolutely insane coming from me, but what the world needs is a good shot of morality."

Radio stations can't seem to get enough of the song, "Hanging by a Moment," by Lifehouse.
	They got their start as the praise and worship band for a youth service at the Malibu Vineyard Christian Fellowship in California. Newsweek recently ran a cover story proclaiming "Jesus Rocks," finally exploring the phenomenon of contemporary Christian rock music. Perhaps more interestingly, the wildly progressive Village Voice ran a lengthy and fascinating story entitled, "God save the teens: Local kids seek a new kind of church through hardcore and hip-hop."
Lifehouse

There are many things happening within the popular culture that deserve our attention and our prayers. One need not proclaim a revival nor feel the need to defend the actions or theology of every spiritually-sensitive artist on the market. Nevertheless, we should celebrate the splashes of spiritual creativity, cravings, and boldness that have emerged within the rock 'n' roll culture.

When I saw U2 earlier this summer, I was amazed at how often I felt the presence of God in the arena. Granted, I am a U2 fan and not a terribly objective rock critic. Nevertheless, God used the opportunity to speak to me throughout the night. Not being a well-attuned mystic, I was rather surprised. The culmination of the evening was the final encore. Bono began singing the word hallelujah over and over and over again. This rather contagious melody and message rang throughout the audience's soul. Soon, it seemed as though all 16,000 fans in the arena were singing the song with Bono. This one word, hallelujah-Praise ye the Lord.

I recently read about a letter that Bono is said to have written to his father before U2 had recorded their first album. "[God] gives us our strength and a joy that does not depend on drink or drugs. This strength will, I believe, be the quality that will take us to the top of the music business," he prophesied. "I hope our lives will be a testament to the people who follow us, and to the music business where never before have so many lost and sorrowful people gathered in one place pretending they're having a good time. It is our ambition to make more than good music."

It seems as though that ambition has been fulfilled.