# Episcopal Churches Turn to U2 to Pack Pews



## VirginiaHuguenot (Apr 14, 2006)

Episcopal Churches Turn to U2 to Pack Pews

By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer 
Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:14 AM ET

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - As the electric guitar in the U2 anthem "Pride (In the Name of Love)" faded from four speakers, the Rev. Robert Brooks welcomed worshippers to Grace Episcopal Church with an unusual suggestion: He warned them to protect their hearing. 

"If the sound's an issue, we do have earplugs available," he said.

Ushers handed out earplugs and fluorescent glow sticks for the "U2 Eucharist," a communion service punctuated by the Irish rock band's music. Episcopal parishes from California to Maine have hosted similar events, weaving U2's tunes "” laced with biblical references "” into the liturgy.

Streamers flew over worshippers' heads at the recent gathering in Providence. Children danced by the altar. Plasma-screen TVs illuminated the gothic sanctuary. Some people sang and clapped, while a few looked puzzled.

Brooks said the evening was designed to invigorate his once-aging congregation "” attracting young people and those interested in social activism. "We absolutely need to grow in order to survive," he said.

Weeks before the service, church members conducted what Brooks called "guerrilla marketing," posting fliers at coffee and sandwich shops, bars and colleges. About 130 people showed up for the Friday night service, roughly the same turnout as a Sunday morning. The event included an offering for local charities and enlisted volunteers for the One Campaign, an effort to alleviate global poverty backed by U2's lead singer, Bono.

A similar U2 Eucharist in November proved popular at All Saints' Church in Atlanta. Organizer Laurie Haynes Burlington said she and her husband planned on 300 worshippers. About 500 showed up.

No one tracks how many parishes have hosted similar events, but the service in Providence was based on a playlist created by the Rev. Paige Blair, a parish priest in York Harbor, Maine.

Her format has spread by word-of-mouth and on clergy e-mail lists. She's received calls from more than a dozen interested churches and helped put on the service in Providence. (Episcopal parishes seem to be the only ones that have latched on to U2 in such an organized way).

Christian Scharen, 39, a Lutheran pastor and professor at Yale Divinity School, said he's often argued to older colleagues that U2 is heavily influenced by Christianity. He wrote a book on the subject, "One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God," and says it doesn't surprise him that some congregations have caught on.

"People who have these liturgical resonances in their bones, they go to a U2 concert and they just get it," Scharen said.

Bono, meanwhile, has told interviewers that he worships God through music. He once belonged to an ascetic Christian community, and in February, he spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. The band's early tapes were sold in religious bookstores.

Still, the band members are traditional rock 'n' rollers "” they swear, drink and sing about sex. It's also not known whether U2 endorses the services using their songs: Blair said she received permission from U2's publishing company to use the group's music, but never talked to the band. Representatives for U2 did not return phone calls seeking comment.

In Providence, Blair delivered a homily to pitch the One Campaign, which the Episcopal Church supports. She ticked off statistics about poverty and infant mortality in Africa, underscoring her points with equal parts Bono and Bible.

"If you're a Bono fan, you know the next line: Where you live should not determine whether you live or die," she said, then reminding worshippers of a Gospel passage warning that taking care of the needy is what will separate the good from the bad at the final judgment.

The opening hymn was "Pride (In the Name of Love)," an early hit. As the music played, pictures of famous believers including Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. flashed on a 10-by-14 foot screen set up behind the church's altar.

Several songs included in the service sound more like angry lamentations than hymns of praise. "Peace on Earth," inspired by a deadly bombing in Northern Ireland, questions why God won't halt human suffering.

"Jesus can you take the time to throw a drowning man a line," Bono sings. 

Some Christians might not be able to relate to the shades of doubt and anger, but Blair said that struggle is evident in the Bible. 

For example, Bono echoes the 40th Psalm in the opening lines of the band's song "40," belting out, "I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined and heard my cry."


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## MeanieCalvinist (Apr 14, 2006)

Whats next *KISS*? 

How about a candle light service 


[Edited on 4-14-2006 by MeanieCalvinist]

[Edited on 4-14-2006 by MeanieCalvinist]


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## VictorBravo (Apr 14, 2006)

Don't you mean a Bic lighter service?


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## MeanieCalvinist (Apr 14, 2006)

> _Originally posted by victorbravo_
> Don't you mean a Bic lighter service?



Yes that is what I meant, Just another way to entertain "the bones".


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## Scott (Apr 17, 2006)




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## WrittenFromUtopia (Apr 17, 2006)

The (rotten) fruits of the Normative Principle of Worship.


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## yeutter (Apr 17, 2006)

> _Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia_
> The (rotten) fruits of the Normative Principle of Worship.



Not really. Instead this perversion of worship reflects the apostacy that has beset the Episcopal Church since the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer departed from the normative principle of worship.

[Edited on 4-19-2006 by yeutter]


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## Pilgrim (Apr 17, 2006)

Is this packin em in? Or have they still not found what they're looking for?


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## Pilgrim (Apr 17, 2006)

At the UMC church I was raised in they had a "worship" service for a short time about 10 years ago where a band would play tunes like Stairway to Heaven, House of the Rising Sun, etc. (instrumentally) and then a woman would get up to preach. It went over like a lead balloon. 

They have some kind of contemporary service now but I don't know whether it has that kind of music or the more typical CCM, 7-11 songs


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## Joseph Ringling (Apr 18, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Pilgrim_
> Is this packin em in? Or have they still not found what they're looking for?



I hope they don't get stuck in a moment with a bad case of vertigo and lose their desire in the name of love.:bigsmile:

[Edited on 4-18-2006 by Joseph Ringling]


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## Tirian (Apr 19, 2006)

Just think of the "good" that could be generated by selling U2 indulgences (er, um I mean CD's and merchandise) at the door..... 

Matt


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 29, 2007)

Anglican Church banks on Bono to give Churchgoers a boost!


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## LadyCalvinist (Jan 29, 2007)

Oh vey! And I thought only evangelicals did things that silly!


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## Gryphonette (Jan 29, 2007)

Heavens to Betsy, no.

Remember the "clown mass" at the ECUSA's Trinity Church in NYC a couple of years ago?


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## ReformedWretch (Jan 29, 2007)

Gryphonette said:


> Heavens to Betsy, no.
> 
> Remember the "clown mass" at the ECUSA's Trinity Church in NYC a couple of years ago?



 

NO! I don't remember that! What in the world!!!!

How God didn't just strike someone down there is beyond me.


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## raekwon (Feb 23, 2007)

Pilgrim said:


> At the UMC church I was raised in they had a "worship" service for a short time about 10 years ago where a band would play tunes like Stairway to Heaven, *House of the Rising Sun*, etc. (instrumentally) and then a woman would get up to preach. It went over like a lead balloon.
> 
> They have some kind of contemporary service now but I don't know whether it has that kind of music or the more typical CCM, 7-11 songs



To be fair, "Amazing Grace" can be (and often is) sung to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun".


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## etexas (Feb 23, 2007)

VirginiaHuguenot said:


> Episcopal Churches Turn to U2 to Pack Pews
> 
> By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
> Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:14 AM ET
> ...


SAD! Now you good folk see why all us Bible believing Anglicans moved into traditional conservative "continuing bodies".............hrere is the best part my friends the gay Bishop, tough woman having ECUSA(now TEC) calls people like myself apostate. OK...........let them gnash their teeth......we had no clowns in our Churches Sunday! Oh well! Pax, ya'll.


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## bowhunter1961 (Feb 23, 2007)

.....its just worship at full volume


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## kvanlaan (Feb 23, 2007)

See this thread for clown Eucharist and other blasphemous practises:

http://www.puritanboard.com/showthread.php?t=16938&highlight=clown+eucharist


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## lv1nothr (Feb 23, 2007)

Gryphonette said:


> Heavens to Betsy, no.
> 
> Remember the "clown mass" at the ECUSA's Trinity Church in NYC a couple of years ago?



NO, they didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh my...I watched a few seconds of that thing, they can't be serious!!! Wow...though I must admit, much of what they did reminded me of my days (35yrs. to be exact) in the R.C. church. SCARY!


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## lv1nothr (Feb 23, 2007)

houseparent said:


> How God didn't just strike someone down there is beyond me.



Where is that verse that speaks of the wicked going on in their sins and thinking all is well because God didn't just destroy them right then and there....somebody help...I can't remember the verse.


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## Bandguy (Feb 23, 2007)

MeanieCalvinist said:


> Whats next *KISS*?
> 
> [Edited on 4-14-2006 by MeanieCalvinist]
> 
> [Edited on 4-14-2006 by MeanieCalvinist]




As a matter of fact...yes.


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## kvanlaan (Feb 23, 2007)

This may be straining at gnats, but didn't it say in the article in the OP that they were inviting people from coffee houses, etc. to the "U2-charist"? They're offering the Lord's Supper to non-believers?


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## lv1nothr (Feb 24, 2007)

Bandguy said:


> As a matter of fact...yes.



Is that for real?


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## Bandguy (Feb 24, 2007)

No. Just a satire.


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