Yesterday I attended the U2charist at
Uptown@Incarnation, Dallas. The service was very interesting. It was sort of a merger of "seeker-friendly" with some emerging church components (they had candles - but so does almost every other parish in the Episcopal Church!). It mostly followed Rite II of the 1979 BCP, using Eucharistic Prayer A and the basing the Prayers of the People on Form 1 from Rite II. The entire offering was to be given to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and to provide care for those Africans living with HIV/AIDS. The place was packed. I don't know the seating total, but it was packed.
I know it wasn't a "typical" Uptown service and there was a good number of GenX and younger types there as well as some Baby Boomers and even one or two pre-Boomers, but I do have a few observations to list. (Sorry about the big blank space - it is Blogger's doing not mine!
Jump to the rest of the blog entry.)
Negative |
Postive |
Too bright, just too many overhead lights and not the good kind either |
The average age of laity and clegy was closer to my age |
No kneelers (I realize that Uptown rents space but this bugged me) |
There were lots of people there |
Being invited to "kneel or sit" during the Confession - BCP says kneel |
The Communion wine wasn't too strong or too weak, but just right |
Being invited to "kneel or sit" when the BCP says "kneel or stand" |
They had people available to pray with people desiring prayer in the narthex during Communion |
Not really being able to sing along without being a big U2 fan |
While I didn't go, there was an announcement made about a group gathering for lunch - I take it that this is a weekly event |
Overall, I think I'd have to attend a "usual" service to form a full opinion, but I got the impression that Uptown is trying to be seeker-friendly and emergent at the same time.
Photo added on Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Tags:
Africa,
AIDS,
Anglican Communion,
Bono,
Christianity,
Church Music,
Dallas,
Emergent Church,
Episcopal Church,
HIV-AIDS,
Incarnation,
Texas,
U2,
U2 Eucharist,
U2charist,
Uptown, &
Worship
