For the 14th year, First Christian Church of Tyler hosted “U2Charist,” a Good Friday service built around the music of U2.
A Tyler church observed Good Friday with U2 music, blending rock, reflection and communion.
For the 14th year, First Christian Church of Tyler hosted “U2Charist,” a Good Friday service built around the music of U2. During the event, the church band covered popular songs, leaders also walked attendees through the final hours of Jesus Christ’s life and participated in communion.
“Good Friday is remembering Jesus Christ’s last night on Earth, the events of that night, and trying to interpret or reinterpret the meaning of those events for our lives today,” said Rob Mason, a longtime church member involved in organizing the service.
Church leaders said the service is designed to present a familiar story in a new way by drawing connections between faith and popular music.
“It’s loud, it’s jamming, but it also feels right for a worship service,” said Ginger Brandt, senior associate minister at the church. “We work very hard to make the room feel like worship more than a rock concert.”
The idea behind U2Charist centers on finding deeper meaning in unexpected places.
“Finding the sacred in the secular. Finding a different kind of meaning in what are pop songs,” Mason said.
Mason said each year, the service takes on a slightly different theme. This year’s focus highlights the emotional experience of Jesus’ disciples in the aftermath of his death, drawing parallels to modern-day feelings of grief and uncertainty.
“We invite people who are open to this kind of thing to come imagine bigger,” Brandt said. “What could be sacred to you? What could sound like holy music? And what could put you in touch with the feelings of Good Friday?”
Organizers say their goal is for attendees to leave with a sense of connection, both to the story of Good Friday and to one another.
“I hope we all leave with a sense of the power of the story, a personal connection to it,” Brandt said. “And the sense that it’s okay to bring whatever emotions you have, and that somehow in the story of Easter, all our emotions have a place.”
The church will continue its Easter observances Sunday, shifting from the somber tone of Good Friday to a celebration of the resurrection. First Christian Church of Tyler also invites the community to attend its weekly contemporary worship service at 9:30 a.m.