Bono & Eugene Peterson | THE PSALMS
1,780,121
Published 2016-04-26
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Bono:
[Video message, 2002] Mr. Peterson, Eugene, my name is Bono. I'm the singer with the group U2 and wanted to video message you my thanks and our thanks from the band for this remarkable work you've done. There's been some great translations, very literary translations, but no translation that I've read that speaks to me in my own language, so I want to thank you for that. Take a rest now, won't you? Bye.
Eugene Peterson:
I’d never heard of Bono before. Then one of my students showed up in class with a copy of the Rolling Stones—Rolling Stones?—and in it there was an interview with Bono in which he talked about me and The Message. He used some slangy language about who I was, and I said, "Who's Bono?" They were dumbfounded I'd never heard of Bono, but that's not the circle I really travel in very much. That's how I first heard about him.
Then people started bringing me his music, and I listened to his music, and I thought, "I like this guy." After a while I started feeling quite pleased that he knew me.
[Interview at Point Loma Nazarene University, 2007:]
Dean Nelson:
Yes, but the rest of the story is that he invited you to come and hang with them for a while. You turned him down.
Eugene Peterson:
I was pushing a deadline on The Message. I was finishing up the Old Testament at the time, and I really couldn't do it.
Dean Nelson:
You may be the only person alive who would turn down the opportunity just to make a deadline. I mean, come on. It's Bono, for crying out loud!
Eugene Peterson:
Dean, he was Isaiah.
Dean Nelson:
Yeah.
Jan Peterson:
The Old Testament is a long, long book, much longer than the New Testament, and it did take a long time and a lot of devotion on both of our parts to have that happen.
Bono:
I have to say, in the last years, Eugene's writing has kept me as sane as this is, if you call it sane, which you probably won't. Run With the Horses, that's a powerful manual for me, and it includes a lot of incendiary ideas. I hadn't really thought of Jeremiah as a performance artist. Why do we need art? Why do we need the lyric poetry of the Psalms? Why do we need them? Because the only way we can approach God is if we're honest through metaphor, through symbol. Art becomes essential, not decorative. I learned about art, I learned about the Prophets, I learned about Jeremiah with that book, and that really changed me.
Eugene Peterson:
Then several years later...This was about 4 years ago, 4 or 5 years ago...Bono would like Jan and me to come to Dallas for a concert. We went to the concert. He was very sensitive to us. We were really well cared for, had really good seats. I'd never seen a mash pit before. That was my introduction to the mash pit. Is it a pit?
(Voice off camera):
It's a mosh pit.
Eugene Peterson:
Mosh pit. Okay. You can see how uneducated I am in this world.
We had a 3-hour lunch. We just had a lovely conversation. It was very personal, relational. He didn't put me on any kind of a pedestal, and I didn't him, so we were very natural with each other. Through that 3-hour conversation, I was just really taken by the simplicity of his life, of who he was, who he is. There was no pretension to him. At that point I just felt like he was a companion in the faith.
[About U2’s song “40,” based on Psalm 40:]
I think it's one of his best ones. He sings it a lot. I mean, he does this a lot. It's one of the songs that reaches into the hurt and disappointment and difficulty of being a human being. It acknowledges that in language that is immediately recognizable. There's something that reaches into the heart of a person and the stuff we all feel but many of us don't talk about.
Bono:
[Quoting from The Message’s translation of Psalm 40:]
I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked. Finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch. He pulled me from deep mud, stood me up on a solid rock to make sure that I wouldn't slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song...
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All Comments (21)
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I had the great privilege of being Eugene’s student at Regent College 1996-98. His class, Biblical Spirituality, transformed my life and ministry in radical ways. My book, God Things, is based largely on his teachings.
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Only just saw this discussion. I clearly stumbled upon it by Grace. I have loved U2 since I was 15 years old. I am now 53. I am heavily involved in my church community but I sometimes feel frustrated and isolated by the lack of honesty, and I was brought to tears hearing Bono talking about this. What I mean is, I have experienced severe mental illness in my immediate family, a marriage almost broken through alcoholism and a lack of honesty. Yet for many of my Christian friends, they do not want to talk about this stuff. They seem to want to keep things on a 'feel good' level. But I know that God can be found in the mess and the chaos. This is the reason that U2's music has always spoken deeply to me, and continues to. It takes faith, and then looks deeply into the eyes of real life with all of its struggles and contradictions and sufferings. It is honest. Thank you Bono and Eugene Peterson for this inspiring conversation. It has helped me greatly.
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Beautiful. I have been sober for over a year and in AA. I took my wife to see our favorite band U2 at Sphere in Las Vegas in OCT 23 to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. As my faith grows stronger and as I question and quest it has led me to this video. Not that I idolize Bono, but I enjoy his lyrical poetry and was wanting to hear his take as I come to my own conclusions. I rather enjoyed Mr Peterson's energy and the tone and timber of the film you all produced. Thank you from the depths of my soul. Great work.
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Help me to be as humble as these men who are looking for the truth of what life is.
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"You must be the only one to turn down Bono." "Dean, it was Isaiah. " Haha
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I have sung that song for years. The Lord is my shepherd. And the Lords Prayer. The nuns version. I need to pick up my Bible and read it more than I do. I find myself looking things up. Then I’ll keep going cuz it’s so incredible. Then months will go by. I’m ashamed of myself . I pray constantly. Not like “Oh help me” but I’m constantly talking to God. Especially now. Crazy times.
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It blows my mind how Holy Spirit takes what you do and use it for His Glory 👍❗ I love it - be honest with God and each other.
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A three hour lunch is the best. Deep, productive, nurturing when you're with the right people. Informative.
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This is a real treat for me. I read Eugene Peterson's The Message in 2009 while I was in drug rehab. I couldn't put the book down. I thought of the book, and still do, as a gift. And what I learned while watching this video - The Peterson's were at the U2 concert in Arlington, TX during my stay in rehab. I live in Arlington, TX! I want to read more of this man's books, and I've always been a U2 fan, I love Bono, and thank you Eugene Peterson for helping me get a better understanding of the Bible, it has helped me tremendously!
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I have always known you (Bono & band) had good ❤ and this just proved it! God bless you onwards in your journey with Christ! With love, your sister in Christ.
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RIP Eugene and thank you Bono for so many years of good music and for being a believer in Christ. May you continue to follow him all the days of your life. God bless
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Bono, thanks for taking the time to do this. I miss my almost every 3 or four year trips out to drop my bag of coffee beans off with Jan and Eugene. My last time out while they were both still alive (2018), he was not well enough to be seen, so Jan and I spoke briefly on phone, and I left the beans with her friend at the post office (personal delivery, no postage :). Again your interview captured perfectly the peace of this life and the rich beauty of the place. I still remember him paddling to meet our group of preachers in 2007 to the Presbyterian Camp there to visit with us for a week. I miss him terribly, but now that I am retired, I'm readig some of the other books. I miss the correspondence though... The sharing of ideas. He was so generous with his time. (please pass on to Bono if possible)
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I’m so pleased that Bono will be singing in the Kingdom one day.
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Beautiful... so much wisdom and love in this film... I love what Eugene Peterson said, "Praying is not being nice before God but being open before God."
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Watched this again for the, probably, 25th time. Like an exhale. Grateful for both of them; both have been mentors for the journey. I miss Eugene's presence on the planet.
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I sing "40" to my kids every night since they were born. My 5 year old and 3 year old now try and sing along with me. I love this song..
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How classy is Bono? He never ceases to amaze me. Such a beautiful soul.
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Very sweet interview. I first learned that Psalms was Hebrew poetry in a high school class called The Bible as Poetry. (1974). My eyes were opened! I would also sit with my guitar & Bible opened to Psalms and make up songs. It was my first in-depth experience of worship just between me and God. And it is a great foundation I often return to when I’m down or in doubt. “Why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Ps 42:11
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What a wonderful and unexpected surprise to find this video. Thank you!
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Psalms was read at my brothers funeral mass. He lived nearly his whole life with mental illness. My priest helped me chose something especially for him. If anyone gets a pass in the next life it’s those who never had a life here. ❤️
