Recipe for a U2 Service, or "U2charist"
You will need
- Legal electronic copies of the U2 songs via CD converted to MP3 or WAV, iTunes, or a DJ or cover band (Electrical Storm and 2U are two examples).
- Sound equipment (speakers, really) for your space, or a DJ or cover band who will bring theirs
- Zippy laptop with Power Point and enough memory to play the music without "skipping", or a DJ or cover band. If we prepare a Power Point for you, the most recent edition of Power Point will be necessary to play the service glitch-free.
- A Projection Screen for the Power Point, showing the lyrics and liturgy
- A Power Point Projector
- Bulletin for those who want something to hold on to or take home afterwards. Good for newcomers!
- Earplugs for those who realize they want them. Found in bulk at a drug store.
- ONE Declaration Forms, with extras for people to take to their place of work, including the mailing address for them to be sent once signed.
You will want to
- Send out press releases to your local radio stations, NPR stations, newspapers, post fliers all over town (send them out with your congregation to post a few weeks before).
- Invite your diocese to come, especially but not limited to, people active with ERD, Youth, Young Adults
- Invite other area churches to come with their congregations
- Have your clergy visibly involved even if St. George's is "doing" the service at your church for you. Plan to have your priest in charge introduce the service, and encourage people to participate by singing, dancing, clapping. We have learned through experience that having the local clergy in active leadership in the service is an important aspect in giving the congregation permission to enjoy themselves in the service, to sing, clap, or even dance. If the local clergy are not involved, it can be very challenging for some congregations to believe they are truly "allowed" to have this much fun in church.
- Have your guest book visible, have greeters to welcome new people, and hand out information about your church
- Similarly have info on Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, Episcopal Relief and Development, ONE, The Millennium Campaign, and your outreach ministries available as well. ERD publications about the MDG's are available free but for the cost of shipping at www.er-d.org and follow the resources and materials link.
You may wish to
- Schedule the service in the evening so that people's "normal" liturgy isn't messed with. This goes a long way toward getting even your most traditional members supportive even if they don't attend the U2charist. This also allows people from other churches and other traditions to come, without missing their own services in the morning.
- Rearrange your pews so that there is space for dancing, and the possibility of people facing one another. Ever tried to get a party started on a 747? Most likely someone in your congregation has an automatic screwdriver they'd just love the chance to play with!
- Make a sign outside your church for drivers and walkers to see, at least one week ahead.
Inviting St. George's to take the service on the road
St. George's is building a "U2charist team" that can travel to your church and "take this service on the road." We are happy to speak with you about the possibility of coming to your church to work with you to bring this liturgy to life. (207-363-7376 or pblair1@eartlhink.net) However, we encourage you first to pray about whether you have the makings of your own U2charist team in your congregation. We don't want to take away a ministry from anyone else!
We ask that you provide
- The projection screen large enough to be easily seen from the back of your worship space and power point projector (your diocesan resource center or businesspeople in your congregation may be able to loan you one. We *may* be able to bring one but can not promise to have one available to us.)
- Sound that works in your space (since we don't know your space or acoustics) A local music store or DJ may be willing to loan you sound equipment or give you a significant discount. If your space is cozier, one of your flock may have a home entertainment system with pretty cool sound too. If using Power Point as the DJ, the sound will need to plug directly into the computer running the program.
- That the ONE Campaign (of which the Episcopal Church and Episcopal Relief and Development are partners) and/or the Millennium Campaign (www.millenniumcampaign.org) and Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation are part of the event (Please see www.one.org and www.e4gr.org for more information). If yours is not an Episcopal Church we ask that ONE and the social justice and outreach branch of your denomination be engaged instead.
- That the offering be dedicated to an organization (local, international or both) that is working toward the Millennium Development Goals. (Such as your local AIDS Service Organization, ERD, Heifer International (www.heifer.org), CARE (www.care.org), Beadforlife ( www.beadforlife.org ) It is important that the organization is addressing global AIDS or extreme poverty or both. Addressing relative poverty (such as we have in the US) is actually not the same as addressing extreme poverty (the kind of poverty that kills a child every three seconds.) Special note: the ONE Campaign can not be the recipient of your offering, as their granting from the Gates Foundation prevents them from receiving donations.
- A note about donating internationally: If you choose to donate to an international organization, please be sure you can make the donation through a branch of the organization in the US, or make your donation by wire transfer. Please do not, for example, send a regular check to an AIDS service organization in a foreign country. Such checks often are stolen, tampered with, the money stolen (as we have experienced first hand-ouch!). Time to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove....
- A donation to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation in lieu of a stipend for the Rev. Paige Blair. EGR's address is:
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
c/o Michael Fitzgerald, Accountant
115 Pinewood Ave.
Brandon, Florida 33510
- The hard-copy of a bulletin if you choose to have one. We recommend this so that people can take something home with them. It is also helpful for the celebrant and other worship leaders to have something to hold onto and look forward in while leading the service.
- Earplugs for those who realize they want them. These can be bought in bulk at a drug store.
- That if you are located more that 2 ½ hours from York, Maine or if it promises to be a very late night, you help our crew find a place to rest their heads.
We will provide
- The liturgy, done in Power Point and designed and implemented for you, with U2's music woven in, lyrics appropriate to liturgical role, propers, church season and occasion, and if you like, pictures from your congregation's ministry life.
- The music, legal copies of which we own.
- Draft text for your bulletin, including lyrics, Prayers of the People that address the MDG's, and the liturgy itself.
- A Power Point Projector unless you have one in your parish or Diocesan Resource Center
- Someone to run the Power Point Program in a graceful fashion and troubleshoot if need be, unless you have such a person in your congregation.
- Preaching and teaching the Gospel in light of the Millenium Development Goals and how we as individuals and congregations can work together to make them a reality
- With God's help, and the inspirational and moving music of U2, an invigorating liturgy that will not only teach your congregation and the visiting curious about the MDG's, but will also give them hope that in Christ, anything is possible, and that they have a chance to participate in this inbreaking of the reign of God in our time.
Getting Permission from Universal Music Publishing Group
Great news from Universal and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) in late November 2006!
We do not need a license for U2 songs played during our service of worship! And we no longer need to fax a request to Universal.
Apparently we were wearing out their fax machine-- so they called and told us we were all set, so long as we were not making money off the services.
The caveat "during our services of worship" is important: the U2charist needs to stay a service of worship, and not be called a "concert."
For the integrity of this agreement, and the integrity of what has become the U2charist movement, it is also very important that the offering is going *in its entirety* to another charity outside ourselves, that the U2charist is an event to raise awareness and motivate people to engage in the movement to Make Poverty History, and that we have legal copies of the music we are using. We rise in the of esteem of the media when they ask me if this is just a way to fill our pews, or to fulfill our budgets, and I can tell them in all honesty that this is about fighting poverty, and that the offering leaves our churches to go and do great things in the world.
This permissions information is also true for those of us using Barenaked Ladies' "If I had $1 000 000" (great power point on the MDG's set to this song at www.e4gr.org thanks to the hard work of Mike Kinman+) which is also covered by ASCAP.
If we want to play U2's music in another context, outside of worship, our new contact is Eric Williams at ASCAP His contact information is:
Eric T. Williams
General Licensing Manager - ASCAP
770.805.3406/direct tel #
800.505.4052/ext.3406 toll free #
770.805.3475/fax #
E-mail : ewilliams@ascap.com
The Performing Right Society Limited (PRS) London, UK
Southern African Music Rights Organisation, Limited (SAMRO) Johannesburg, South Africa
Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong, LTD. (CASH) Hong Kong
Australasian Performing Right Association, LTD. (APRA) Australia & New Zealand
