I find it saddening but also quite fascinating that the Anglican communion appears to be on the brink of total division, despite the fact that the present Archbishop of Canterbury is probably one of the greatest Christian leaders that has ever lived. How do we read this theologically?
Oh, have mercy. Will it ever stop? I just found out about the U2charist.The U2charist is a very specific kind of Eucharist service started by the Episcopal church in which U2 songs are played during the celebration of the Eucharist. According to Wikipedia the U2charist “features the music of the rock band U2 and a message about God’s call to rally around the Millennium Development Goals.” Apparently the U2charist began a couple years ago to rally around Bono and his humanitarian efforts.Of course, I think that Christians should urge countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals, but does this mean holding a U2charist? I’m not a major “traditionalist” by any means, but everyone knows my disdain for Bono. If you haven’t heard read here and here. Okay three points: 1) A U2charist reflects how deep the wedge really is between our worship and our politics that we have to transform the Eucharist into a promotion for a social program. 2) The traditional Eucharist has been so privatized to the point where people don’t believe that it has any relevant social meaning. So, we need something like U2 to spruce it up and make it relevant to the world.3) The name U2charist just makes me sick. I don’t know. What do people think about this? Am I too cynical? Is this a helpful way to get people to connect worship with politics? Is the Eucharist as it is so socially irrelevant?
