Beth Maynard, being interviewed by Rudy Carrasco in NextWave, talks about how being part of a U2 concert impacts her imagination for liturgy:
That's partly because as someone whose calling revolves around structuring worship experiences, I found it one of the most effective worship experiences I'd ever been through. And I admired how they were able to create this space where the presence of God was just thick in the room, but where somebody who wasn't spiritually inclined would never have felt like "this isn't for you, you're not part of the in-crowd."Posted by hessma at March 6, 2004 08:14 AM
Mary, I so appreciate your continuing to comment on material related to the "Get Up Off Your Knees" book. I would have said much more in response to that question, but wasn't sure how meaningful it would be to the audience of largely non-liturgical Christians Next-Wave reaches.
Suffice it to say that I think one of the too- unexplored issues in U2's work is their native liturgical and worship-leading skill (despite all "we don't like ritual" protests to the contrary.) The concert I was referring to in the interview was one of the ones they put together post-9/11 with an eye to helping the American audience work through some of the impact of that event. (Revisions to the setlist, ritual actions, lyric changes, etc.)
I planned a number of 9/11 liturgies in both a college and a parish context, co-led others as part of local clergy groups, and attended a couple more. In the 6 weeks prior to seeing U2 in Oct 01, I'd experienced say 15 events in churches designed to bring the experience of 9/11 into conversation with the sacred. U2 facilitated that process so much better that the contrast was almost laughable.
Posted by: Beth at March 6, 2004 08:55 AM