U2charist

What do you get when you combine ancient rituals and Irish rock music? A U2charist. Which is what we went to tonight at Trinity Episcopal Church. I have to admit we went with a certain amount of trepidation. Would the U2 music be a cover band? (ugh...I only know ONE band that can cover U2 music and they don't have a name, but they're amazing. Geoff Logan.) Or would it be a campy orchestra? A simple piano? One guitarist? The possibilities are endless. We took Colin and his friend Brendon. They slumped in the seat beside us, waiting for it to begin while we watched the people file in, bend on one knee, cross, enter the pew. The boys were looking skeptical. We're Methodists. The boys haven't been out in the world enough, no doubt about that.

Then the music started. It was U2. No cover bands. No orchestra. No piano. It was really U2. Okay, they weren't there, but the music was piped in, and I was relieved because I think if you're going to have a U2charist, it should be U2 doing the music. Some people might disagree with the whole idea of a U2charist. I had a hard time explaining it to my Dad. He kept shaking his head, and asking about the "point." Okay, here's the point: for some of us, the music is kind of a spiritual experience. I hate to even admit that, and wouldn't unless I felt that there were enough people out there who felt the same way. Songs about love, and peace, and grace, and bloody Sundays, and beautiful days, and mysterious ways, and Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr. seem to make sense. So just in case you were wondering, here's the set list for Trinity's U2charist:
Pride
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
One
When Love Comes to Town
Love and Peace or Else
Miracle Drug
Beautiful Day
Peace on Earth

Let us go forth in the name of Christ.
Thanks be to God.