I’ll See U2 in Church

 

 

A screen shows footage from a U2 concert

Jeff Babson of Holy Trinity, Manhattan drums along to U2 music

A screen shows U2 lyrics

By Michael Griffin

One day last fall at 7pm, the Rev. Timothy Schenck stood in the middle of the aisle as the urgent strains of the U2 guitarist Edge’s guitar filled the air. People swayed in their seats to the music. Was Schenck at a sold-out Madison Square Garden? No. He was just about to launch another U2charist at All Saints’, Briarcliff Manor, where he is the rector. As the music’s volume ratcheted to another level, the lyrics began flashing onto a screen, interspersed with images that were appropriate to the songs. The attendees, all 110 of them ranging in ages from teenagers to people old enough to be grandparents, were encouraged to sing along, and they did, hesitantly at first, but by the end of the service they were singing with all the panache and gusto of Bono, U2’s lead singer.

Schenck’s U2charist service, a Eucharist that had U2 music replacing the traditional hymns, is one of many new unusual services that are attracting people who might not otherwise attend church.
U2 was a perfect choice for this service, for it is a band that uniquely straddles both the glitz and glamour of rock and roll (witness Bono’s ever-present wraparound shades and U2’s bombastic, anthemic songs like “Bullet The Blue Sky”) and the humility of Christianity, with songs like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “40.”

Schenck had a song list that spanned U2’s entire discography from early songs like “Gloria” and “I Will Follow” to songs from U2’s most famous album “The Joshua Tree.”
In his sermon, Schenck wryly commented that Bono, in his call for people to live their faith, did it by example “better than many ‘professional’ Christians.”

After the services, the attendees could not say enough good things about it. John Loughlin, a parishioner at All Saints for 6 years said that he “found real meaning in the vocals.” He also said that services like this would be a “welcome break.”

Schenck’s service was so popular that he had another one on November 14 and there was ample media coverage, including an article in USA Today and an appearance by Schenck on Nightline.
The U2charist, which was featured at General Convention, has really taken off all over the entire globe, with services being held in the United States in states like Maine, Ohio, California, Massachusetts and in such far-flung locations like Hong Kong.

The main purpose of the U2charist is to raise attention towards the Millennium Development Goals, which according to the U2charist web site, are to make people think about “global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed and the importance of caring for your neighbors.”

Besides Schenck’s service, Holy Trinity, Manhattan had a U2charist, spearheaded by the Rev. Jeanne Person. A live band played alongside recorded U2 music. and U2 concert footage was shown on a movie screen. Hellen Wangusa, Anglican Observer to the United Nations gave the sermon and the offertory was donated to Carpenter’s Kids, a program that helps AIDS orphans in Tanzania receive food, clothes and school supplies, with $1,500 being raised that night.

At All Saints, The U2charist had an unexpected outcome: multitudes of newcomers. As Schenck had watched the waves of people come in to All Saints for the first service, he had remarked, “I don’t know three-fourths of these people!”

As Schenck also said in his sermon, “And in the context of our faith in Jesus Christ, we must say with all sincerity, ‘Thanks be to Bono.’”

 

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