Church News
Grace, Anderson, celebrates U2charist
On Fat Tuesday, February 20, the people of Grace Church, Anderson, celebrated a U2charist—a service of Holy Eucharist that rallies around the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the ONE Campaign and features the music of the Irish rock band U2 and its lead singer, Bono.If you missed it, you can still have a taste! What follow are the collect and the sermon by Grace rector the Rev. Jack Hardaway, and some great photos to boot!
Collect: Lord you are One God in trinity of persons. We pray for all the peoples of your earth; that we may be One through the humanity of Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we become the fullness of divinity, through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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The band warms up |
Jack in the pulpit |
U2 kids |
The sermon:
ONE
Where to begin?
Perhaps the eight millennium development goals?
Or the whole idea behind “One”, the idea of 1% for global development, also playing off the idea of being “One” world.
Or with music, the music of a pop band, the sound of my youth, U2? They have adopted the vision of “One”.
Or the Haitian village project? Our village Bois Jolis.
Or all the fun in getting ready for tonight, a true Fat Tuesday celebration?
Where to begin?
All these things, all these people, all these ideas, all these places are all wrapped up together.
Or should we begin with God, who I am pretty sure is the true author and celebrity behind this whole project?
The God in whom we are indeed “One”.
The Christ in whom we find the fullness of our shared humanity, in whom we become the fullness of divinity?
Make no mistake, this is part of God’s project, the project of the kingdom come, when all the colors bleed into one, Love has come to town, excavation has begun.
Perhaps that is why the music of U2 has such lasting appeal, that thinly veiled presence of the Transcendent interrupting our lives.
That is also why U2 is such an appropriate champion of the Millennium Development Goals, it is about God bringing humanity together, about God being our common bond, and the vision of God being the only thing strong enough to inflame our hearts with the love to make such an audacious and fat project possible.
The elimination of Global poverty, it has God written all over it, God’s project, love conquering the great divide.
I’m going to catch that train.
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