The U2charist
Looking for a way to engage your congregation in the MDG's and in new forms of worship? You've come to the right place. Perhaps you've heard about them on the news or by word of mouth. Perhaps, you are just now hearing about the U2charist. What is it?
A Since General Convention, it seems like everyone is wanting to hold a U2charist (a service of Holy Eucharist using the music of the Irish rock band U2) to raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals.
U2charist is an Episcopal Eucharist service that features the music of the rock band U2 and a message about God's call to rally around the Millennium Development Goals. The U2charist is a great opportunity to reach out to the people in your congregation and larger community, especially young people. This service the music and message of U2 about global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed, and the importance of caring for your neighbor. Led by the global MDG ambassador, Bono, U2 is calling people worldwide to a deeper faith and engagement with God's mission. The U2charist seeks to be an extension of this ministry.
The Rev. Paige Blair Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in York Harbor ME. has been a leading proponent of the U2charist Liturgy in the United States and around the world. Below in her own words on how she became involved in the U2charist Services and a link to her parish webpage which contains links to many U2charist Resources
"What is a U2 Eucharist (or U2charist), as celebrated by St. George's Episcopal Church? by the Rev. Paige Blair
The background in brief: my parishioners and I noticed that U2 was popping up in conversation at the church in many different settings -adult education classes, meetings, coffee hour-and we kept finding ourselves talking about how U2 had been important on our spiritual journeys. I had just read Get Up Off Your Knees, a collection of sermons based on U2 lyrics, and floated the idea of a service in which all the music, from hymns to "service music" (like the Gloria or Kyrie) would be by U2, and a number of parishioners in different generations were really excited. So we built a team to design the liturgy and choose the music, and to ask questions like, How do we get the sound loud enough? and How do we play the music? a DJ? A CD? Powerpoint? We chose powerpoint since we figured we'd want the lyrics visible and for people to be hands-free for dancing and clapping if possible. Powerpoint slides with the lyrics of the music and also the rest of the service on them, coordinated with the playing of the music, has been the best tool to allow full participation from the audience. We have also provided a paper bulletin with the same information as the powerpoint slides.
I also floated the idea among my clergy colleagues on line. They had great ideas about which songs would be most powerful, and one sent a liturgy that had been done a few years before at another church, around the time of Get Up Off Your Knees' publication.
The first U2charist service here at St. George's was July 31, 2005 , and it was a roaring success. Over 130 people came, many people from outside the church as well as regular members. Youth and young adults and even older adults singing and dancing in the aisles and praising God at the top of their voices to the song Yahweh, among others." ..(continue to the St. George website)
