Last week, as I was catching up on blogs and various Lutheran forum discussions (something I've been limiting of late), I came across a link to a video from a "Lady Gaga Mass." I thought it was a joke. Turns out, it wasn't. This was an actual "service" held at St. Aidan's Episcopal "Church" on Transfiguration Sunday. "Pastor" Megan Rohrer rewrote the words to some of Lady Gaga's hit songs and employed these rewritten songs as liturgical elements throughout the "mass." You can read about this
here and
here.
How any Christian could possibly think something like this would be okay is beyond me. I mean, really, really, really beyond me. Talk about profaning the Name of the Lord! Can it get much worse than this? Kyrie, eleison!
Here are a couple of videos from the "Gaga mass" - the first one shows "pastor" Megan leading the people in the Prayer of the Church, which is set to the Lady Gaga song "Bad Romance"; the second one is the rewritten "communion liturgy" set to the tune "Telephone":
And . . . Jesus wept!
9 comments:
This post reminds me of what my ex-Episcopalian friend said "Lately the Episcopalian church has sure gone to h*ll"
Megan Rohrer's name sounds familiar... wasn't she involved with "HerChurch" at one point?
Pastor Klages,
Yes - that's what I thought too!
Pastor Messer,
I also thought this was a joke when I first saw it floating around Facebook. The Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags are a nice touch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag
Bethany Kilcrease
I dunno what the big deal is. If it gets people in the door, the church needs to be all things to all men (people, right? Jesus sure could learn some PR from Lady Gaga.
You're so relevant, Pr. Hemmer! :)
Saddens me as a pastor of the church where the Gaga Mass took place to read such negative and judgmental comments coming from fellow Christians.
We have brought in 6 new people to the church through baptism who are in their 20s and 30s in this new emerging church. Sometimes we have a Sunday evening service up to 40 people of younger people - We started this service only 9 months ago. We would much rather ask for prayers than your criticism.
Look at the words of the Prayers of the People we used in the gaga mass- Isn't so heretical......
[PART ONE]
Ohhh ohh ohhh
ohhhh ohhhh
Let us do all in love
Ohhh ohh ohhh
ohhhh ohhhh
Let us do all in love
Ubi caritas
Est cor nostrum
Omnia nos amore
Let us do all in love
[PART TWO]
We pray for the hungry
We pray for disease
We pray for outcasts and
For all to be free
May you feel loved
Love love love
We want God’s love
We pray for the lonely
and for the depressed
We pray for all workers
And those who are stressed
We want God’s love
Love love love
We want God’s love
PART THREE: x2
Live and love
the best you can
You and me were gonna live forgiven
[REPEAT PART ONE]
[PART FOUR]
We pray for children
And for their parents
We pray for teachers
And all who pay rent
May you feel loved
Love love love
We want God’s love
We pray for the war torn
And those who bring peace
for politicians
And the whole diocese
May you feel loved
Love love love
We want God’s love
I remember reading at some point Martin Luther wrote hymns using tunes of pub songs.
Come visit us and see a growing church of young people.
IN Christ's Love-
Fr Tommy
Rector, St Aidan's Episcopal Church
Fr. Tommy,
As I said in my blog post, it is really beyond me how any Christian pastor could think that a "Lady Gaga Mass" is appropriate. That boggles my mind and saddens me.
You have my prayers, but they are not the prayers you covet. Rather, I pray that you would stop making a mockery of Christ and His Church by such nonsense. Have you seen Lady Gaga in action? Have you not heard the vile she pours forth as she "entertains" the masses? And you think it's appropriate to have a Lady Gaga Mass? Really? Repent!
But, it's not just that you think it appropriate to use Lady Gaga songs in Mass; it's that you think it appropriate to follow the "whatever it takes" principle, which is a delusion under which many have fallen in our day and age. God makes it vividly clear in His Word that He detests this principle. The OT is filled with example after example of the Israelites combining things from the pagan culture around them with their worship of God. He's never happy about it. Never. He hates it. He sends prophets and calls them to repentance whenever they go down that road.
As for Dr. Luther using "pub songs," you have been grossly misinformed. He took music in the church very, very seriously and would never, ever - no not EVER - sanction what you're doing.
You've brought young people in using the Lady Gaga Mass. The question is: Into what have you brought them? The other question is: Do you really think that YOU can bring people into Christ's Church? Isn't that God's job?
But, enough. It amazes me that we're even talking about this. Such is life in today's Christendom, where, sadly, many have profaned that which is sacred.
Pr. Messer
This judgmental (read: hypocritical) spirit is one of the reasons I left the church. To those of you who think you're helping this diocese by mocking (or worse, patronizing) the implementation of their theology, you are wrong. Please mind your own business and stop thinking you have everything right. You don't- and it's you, not them, who are driving once devoted Christians out of the church.
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