U2charist

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A U2Charist (also spelled eU2charist) is a communion service, or Eucharist, accompanied by U2 songs in lieu of traditional hymns and sometimes as part or all of the service music. The music can be played from a CD or, in less common cases, performed by a live band.

The U2charist was initially started in the U.S. Episcopal Church but has been adapted by several other denominations. It is typically a liturgical service (including communion) 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 held by supporters to be a great opportunity to reach out to people in their congregations and larger communities, especially young people, with U2's messages of global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed, and the importance of caring for your neighbor. Bono, U2's lead singer, has been a particularly vocal proponent of the Millennium Development Goals, and has been proclaimed as a global MDG ambassador. The U2charist seeks to raise awareness of the MDGs and call people worldwide to a deeper faith and engagement with God's mission.

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[edit] History

Although churches have used U2's music in liturgy for many years, the first U2charist was designed by Sarah Dylan Breuer in 2003, with the service held in Baltimore, Maryland, in April of 2004.[1] Breuer was a contributor to the book Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog (Cowley Publications, 2003), and was inspired to create the U2charist by her reflection on spiritual themes in U2's music as she wrote her contributions to the book.[2] The service spread quickly by word of mouth and over the Internet, particularly after the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland held a U2charist at their conference for all diocesan clergy in October of 2004, after which many clergy present held U2charists with the assistance of the "Without Walls" worship team throughout 2004 and 2005, [3] with the St. Mary's Outreach Center in Baltimore, Maryland, where the U2charist first took hold, as its base of operations.[4]

After consulting with Breuer, the Rev. Paige Blair, rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in York Harbor, Maine, along with several of her parishioners, held her first U2charist on July 1, 2005.[5] Since that time, Blair has worked with Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation to resource churches worldwide to hold similar such services to raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals and raise funds for global poverty aid, providing them with powerpoint presentations and sample sermons for use in U2charists.

The first U2charist in Queensland, Australia was held in Aspley - Albany Creek Anglican Church with a live tribute band called "ONE."

Since the U2charist began receiving media attention, even more services from around the world have started, including a “U2-dienst” (U2-service), started by the Rev. Jan Andries de Boer from Broek op Langedijk in the Netherlands in 2006.[6] De Boer, along with the U2 cover band U2NL, has recorded an arrangement of U2's "40" entitled "40 CoeXisT" that includes de Boer's sermon.

[edit] Use of Copyrighted Content

Universal Music Publishing Group and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) do not require a license for U2's music to be used during U2charist services provided that:[citation needed]

  • the context is a worship service and it is not called a concert
  • all of the money raised goes to a nonprofit or non-governmental organization supporting the Millennium Development Goals with none of the money going to the hosting church[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | U2 church service 'reaches out'
  2. ^ Episcopal Divinity School
  3. ^ Episcopal Divinity School
  4. ^ http://www.ang-md.org/convention_2005/2005-post-conv-journal.pdf
  5. ^ Rev. Paige Blair e-mail.
  6. ^ U2-dienst in Netherlands.
  7. ^ Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation | Recipe of U2charists

[edit] External links