New diversity: from Bono to Elvis

For two millennia, Christians have anchored worship both in timeless tradition and cultural context. In the latest round of adaptations, we've seen so-called U2charists. Now, even merry olde England is emphasizing the "merry", and Ecumenical News International has the story:

Elvis imitator Johnny Cowling had more than 1000 people - many of them non-churchgoing teenagers - rocking in the aisles of one of England's best known cathedrals at a Sunday service. "It was a fantastic service. We've tried country music and classical composers but never Elvis," Truro Cathedral's Cannon Perran Gay told Ecumenical News International. "Most of Johnny Cowling's songs were Elvis's best known gospel songs - 'Crying in the Chapel', 'Peace in the Valley', 'His hand in Mine'.

From the Truro Cathedral website, where there's a news release (Microsoft Word doc):

Elvis Presley'’s music to be performed in Truro cathedral? The Rock 'n Roll King desecrating the sanctity of Cornwall's premier church? The critics, both local and in the national press, should have been there last Sunday--that is, if they could find a spare seat among the nine hundred that filled the cathedral. Although it was in part an Elvis gig it was also a service of worship and joy devised by Perran Gay, the Canon Precentor. "I'’m genuinely excited,” he said, "by the challenge of engaging with people who wouldn'’t normally come to the Cathedral."

Indeed. Has your church been packed lately?