Ever Been to a U2charist?

The Ledger (Lakeland Florida)
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October 7, 2006

By Cary McMullen

Glancing around the sanctuary of Hyde Park United Methodist Church, it looks like just another contemporary worship service. There is a musical combo with drums, electric guitar and keyboard. The pews are full of teenagers wearing T-shirts and cutoffs, middle-aged guys with ponytails and goatees, fashionably dressed women with multiple piercings in their ears.

But there are lit candles and chalices on the communion table, which is covered with a white altar cloth. Suddenly there is a procession of several ministers wearing white robes in full vestments and one carries a large cross on a staff. They walk in as the band plays at full volume: "One man caught on a barbed wire fence /One man he resist /One man washed up on an empty beach /One man betrayed with a kiss."

The congregation screams out the next lines: "In the name of love /What more in the name of love?"

Welcome to the latest worship trend in mainline Protestant churches - the U2charist. The name suggests what it's all about - combining a traditional liturgy including the eucharist, or communion, with the music of the Irish rock group U2, known for its nontraditional Christianity. The services are also notable for their emphasis on the ONE campaign against global poverty and disease, causes in which U2 is heavily involved.

What started at an Episcopal church in Maine as an experiment has now gone global, with U2charists being held from San Francisco to New Zealand. Although Hyde Park United Methodist Church hosted the service on Sunday, it was planned jointly with St. John's Episcopal and Palma Ceia Presbyterian churches in Tampa. The youth group from North Lakeland Presbyterian Church also made the drive over. About 650 people filled the sanctuary.

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