Make Art Where It Matters

U2 has long been one of my favorite bands.  I appreciate their art and I like what they stand for.  One of my favorite music videos is "Where the Streets Have No Name", from back in the 80's.  They performed this hit song live on top of the Republic Liquor Store in Los Angeles, CA, and made a video of the performance.

Performing Live From a Rooftop in LA

The video captures the scandal this caused with local traffic police, as literally thousands and thousands of people en massed on the corner of 7th and Main Street in LA during rush hour traffic to see the band perform from the rooftop.  The radio talk show hosts, who are narrating the event, refer to the fact that this neighborhood is rough, and note that the location is an unlikely choice for a video shoot.  Be careful, they warn the crowd who might be coming down to the neighborhood.


One of the things that I love about U2 is that I find their art to be a prophetic voice.  "Where the Streets Have No Name" speaks to the many places around the world that are overlooked simply because of poverty, crime and/or ethnicity. Places with no name, no voice. Yet, U2 plants their art squarely in the middle of such a  neighborhood and sings of building up love and tearing down walls, bringing the desires and hope of Heaven to Earth.  This is what great art does, I believe.  It brings Heaven to Earth in the most unlikely places.

Seth Godin defines art like this:  "Most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we're doing when we do our best work."


How about you?  What does it look like for you to do your best work?  And  beyond that, how can your art become a prophetic voice by helping to bring the desires and hopes of Heaven to Earth in some of the most overlooked places?  The world needs you, and me, to bring our art where the streets have no name.