The Episcopal News Service takes an extended look at a Pennsylvania church that has added a Goth liturgy to its menu of services. The liturgy is adapted from an Anglican model, whose self-description is wonderfully British:
The structure of the service revolves around the baptismal candle and reflects a serious engagement with the depressing and darker sides of our lives before moving towards a position of hope and happiness found in the empathy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's hard to imagine an American, well, anything selling itself as "depressing," and it probably comes as no surprise that the word does not appear in the description of the U.S. variant. Instead, we find the liturgy framed in business terms:
These days, it isn't unusual for Divis to drive past a closed car lot in the greater Scranton area. One day, she found herself thinking that the church could go out of business as well. Like automobile manufacturers who are struggling to meet consumers' expectations for more energy-efficient vehicles, she thought, "we need to market a 'product,' if you will, that meets people where they are today. Maybe Goth services can provide an alternative energy of some sort."
To use the language of the charitable world, it's liturgy as social enterprise, blending business with transcendence.
For more detail on the service itself, check out the Anglican site and the Episcopal News article, or click below for a fascinating excerpt:
When a priest in Colorado, the Rev. Rob Lundquist heard of St. George's experiment, he emailed Divis asking to learn more about the services, noting that he's "seen the disapproval when a young person, with the spikes and piercings and mascara, comes to church. They only come once." Lundquist likened Goth services to "making new wineskins for some new wine."
The church building -- built in 1887 -- itself was an inspiration, said Divis, as she described the dark red stone outside and the dark wooden ceiling inside. She spray painted cookie tins from the local dollar store black, and filled them with sand and candle stubs or incense. She dons a black cassock, as does the acolyte, while the priest who presides over the Eucharist wears a white chasuble and stole. It's "a dramatic contrast of dark and light, and the overall effect is lovely," the deacon said.
Because the Nanticoke area has a large Goth population, Divis was surprised to see that of the 35 worshippers at the first Goth service, held on Saturday, November 30 at 9 p.m., just a few wore trademark black attire and sported body piercings. Several middle-aged parents brought their children. Only two were St. George's parishioners.
Divis described the group as largely "displaced Christians." Although the worshippers didn't look like she imagined they would, Divis had achieved her goal: "to reach out to people who may not know what the church is."
While the services are based on a liturgy created from sources familiar to most Episcopalians -- The Book of Common Prayer (from which Holy Eucharist Rite II was used) and Enriching Our Worship -- and Divis preached on the venerable theme of creation, the music wasn't what most Episcopalians sing on Sunday mornings. Instead of being accompanied by an organ, worshippers sing along with CDs featuring music by Goth-approved groups, including "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode and "Nova" by Flux.
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