Well, this is one way to get people to church.
The Church of the Holy Spirit, a historic church located in Heimlichm, Germany, recently hosted a worship service that focused on Taylor Swift’s music. According to Deutsche Welle, an estimated 1,200 people — mostly young women (duh) — crammed into the historic church on Sunday, May 10, for the service, titled “Anti-Hero,” a reference to one of Swift’s songs.
“The Church of the Holy Spirit has always been a place of encounter and exchange,” Pastor Christof Ellsiepen told the outlet. “That’s why a pop-music religious service fits so perfectly. With it, we are giving space to the questions and issues that occupy the younger generation.”
According to parish pastor Vincenzo Petracca, the service focused on the strong Christian themes in Swift’s music that address topics such as women’s rights, racism and gender equality.
“Theologically speaking, she points to the justness of God,” Petracca said. “For her, faith and action are inseparable.”
Petracca acknowledged that Swift has taken flak from some Christian leaders for her recent album, especially in the United States. But he made it clear that the sermon highlighted that Swift’s “faith knows doubt and inner conflict.”
During the service, the congregation sang along to live performances of six Swift songs, led by Tine Weichmann, a singer from Hamburg and professor of popular church music in Heidelberg.
Petracca recalled to DW that one of the most emotionally stirring moments occurred when Weichmann and her band performed “Soon You’ll Get Better,” a song Swift wrote for her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. In the song, Swift sings of the healing powers of medicine and prayer: “Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you / Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus, too.”
During the performance, Petracca was moved by what he saw from the congregation.
“I stared into beaming faces — and during the song that Taylor wrote for her cancer-stricken mother, many had tears in their eyes,” he said.
The church said they plan to continue the “City Church Rock ‘n’ Pop” series with Billie Eilish and Beyoncé-themed services later this year.
