U2-charist!

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"U2-charist": Bono moves in mysterious ways

For Anglicans who still haven't found what they're looking for, the Church of England is staging its first "U2-charist" communion service -- replacing hymns with hit songs by the Irish supergroup.

"Rock music can be a vehicle of immense spirituality," said Bishop of Grantham Timothy Ellis, announcing plans for the unique service in the central English town of Lincoln in May.

A live band is to play U2 classics like "Beautiful Day" and "Mysterious Ways" with special singalong lyrics displayed on a giant screen. Seating for the 500-strong congregation is to be re-arranged so everyone can dance and wave their hands.

The service is to focus on the Millennium development goals -- U2's lead singer Bono is a leading promoter of the targets to alleviate world poverty."

This may have been discussed, but...whoa!

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

lol anglicans

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

U2 songs have long been popular with the folk-mass set here in Ireland.

― The Real Dirty Vicar (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 16:19 (eighteen years ago)

Anglicans now have The Edge on other religions.

― StanM (StanM), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 16:21 (eighteen years ago)

I'm neither for or against it - whatever makes you dance and wave your hands in the air is fine by me!
I think what makes me lol is that: it's the Anglican church, which is in a huge debate about ordaining gay priests and sanctioning same sex marriage, but is also ready to modernize enough for U2 to be the provider of hymns!
I assume Bono is Catholic by upbringing. So it seems weird that the Anglicans are promoting a U2-charist while back-pedalling about social justice issues, while embracing a pop singer/rock star who has no relationship to the Anglican church!
And is a huge, international voice on social justice issues.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

i don't think any of U2 are catholic. i think they might even have been sort-of officially a 'christian rock' band at the outset? i read something somewhere that situated their origins in dublin's religious/class politics of the 70s & 80s, it would have been interesting if i liked the band more.

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

Daily Show's take:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jNqqmdNH6j8

― Koogy Bloogies (koogs), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

But do they believe in the miracle of trasubstEDGEstiation?

― Abbott (Abbott), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 21:07 (eighteen years ago)

Their bass player is called Adam. If that doesn't prove they believe in the creation story, what does?

― StanM (StanM), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

geoff: re: your question: here's a short bit from their wikip. page:

The band's second album, October, was released in 1981. The album contained spiritual lyrics; Bono, The Edge and Larry made little effort to hide their committed Christian outlooks. The three band members had joined a religious group in Dublin called "Shalom," which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle. Although the Bible has remained a major source of inspiration for Bono’s lyric writing, October is U2's only overtly religious album.

― StanM (StanM), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 21:14 (eighteen years ago)

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