“You need a measure of stupidity and ignorance to do that kind of thing…but I was blessed to have that at the time. I’m not sure many people were around who had the same fearless naivete’.”

Producer for U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

” I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I’m not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way. “

2 Corinthians 11:6

I couldn’t take my eyes off it, I just had to watch. The year was 1987 and my favorite band at the time was U2 and they were coming out with a new album The Joshua Tree. To promote this album they decided to do something crazy, they performed one of their new songs, Where the Streets Have No Name, on top of a liquor store in a poor and densely-populated area of L.A. Think flash mob and candid camera.  

No one at the time made videos like this. This was too raw, risky and unscripted. As the producer said, “We were stupid and ignorant.” When it came to music video etiquette they failed, on a massive scale. Eventually even getting shut down by the police. But it was a spectacular fail. After they performed the video went viral, people couldn’t stop talking about it. I couldn’t stop talking about it. Something about thier unscripted honesty shook me to the core.

It still does.

That is what I want in my preaching. I want to add a bit more stupid and ignorant to my messages. Not stupid in the sense of mindless drivel, but stupid in the sense of avoiding the cultural expectations and stepping on toes. Not ignorant in the sense of preaching heresy and fluff, but ignorant in the sense of not feeling bound to the constant drumbeat of “That is now how things should be done.” We are so afraid to offend and doing things wrong, when there really is not a rulebook on what is considered wrong in many of the things we do.

I want to be more honest. As one old preacher said, “I want to be lit on fire so people can watch me burn.” Well, maybe I don’t want to go that far.

All I am saying is that our world is so marketed, airbrushed, photoshopped, and cosmetically enhanced that the real seems lost under a mile of plastic. We are forever nice people, but nice is often a put on, a shallow show to keep people happy. 

When U2 shot the video on the roof the gatekeepers of society where miffed, “What are you doing?” Sure it caused some problems, but you should have seen the crowds. Many people who normally shuffled quietly to work with a blank stare on their face stopped to hear the music. Some put down a briefcase just to dance. A few regular working joes with yellow hard-hats climbed light poles to get closer. The stupidity and ignorace woke some of the normally dead people up.

Maybe that is the point. When things are polished and perfect people sleep soundly. We yawn through the niceness. I guess I am tired of being nice.

This could spell trouble.