The unfortunate thing about the U2 line—”one life, with each other, sisters, brothers”—is that it was taken quite out of context. But then, I guess that that was the purpose of the survey—to find just one line which people remembered. With that in mind, I will deal with just that one line, ignoring the rest of the lyrics. That seems to be what happens with many memorable lyrics in any case—people hear what they want to hear and ignore the rest, ignore the hidden message, ignore what else may be taken from the lyrics. If people listened to all of the lyrics of popular songs, I think that some of them may not be quite as popular.
But back to U2's catchy line. As far as Christians are concerned, this sounds totally appropriate, whether it is set in the 21st century or during the church beginnings after that first Pentecost. In fact, in many ways, it would be more accepted by early Christians than by Christians of today. Think about it. In the early church, Christians had to support each other, for no one else did. The Jewish hierarchy thought that they were blasphemers; secular rulers thought that they were rebels. Neither felt any great love for the Christians, so if they didn't love each other, the movement would have disappeared before it got a real foothold.
Today, and for a long time, the church has been split by schisms. It is time that these schisms were resolved. This is not to say that we need to return to the idea of one Christian church. There will always be different groups, with our differing creeds. That does not mean that we cannot respect other creeds, that we cannot share our life with others.
As Christians, we are meant to follow the two great commandments. Loving God is not really difficult. After all, we do not have to live with God in a physical way on a daily basis. But loving our neighbours as ourselves—well, that is a bit more demanding. And as for the sisters and brothers referenced in U2's song—weren't Cain and Abel brothers? We all know what happened between them. That cannot be what the lyricist meant with his reference to living one life with our sisters and brothers.
But surely we are not like Cain and Abel. Surely we are able to support our sisters and brothers and to live one life with them. Maybe. But how far are we willing to go? In today's church we must be willing to go the distance. We must be willing to make the first move, and the second, and the third, and so on, for as many times as necessary. With this attitude, community will be built and self-righteousness will become as extinct as the dodo bird. The church will become what Jesus meant it to be, what it has the potential to be. It will be a community of brothers and sisters, living together as God's children, praising God together, and fulfilling God's plan for us.
