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Beyoncé Mass to be held at San Francisco cathedral

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco church will hold a Mass devoted to the music and accomplishments of Beyoncé.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Grace Cathedral Church's The Vine will host the event.

"Come to The Vine SF to sing your Beyoncé favorites and discover how her art opens a window into the lives of the marginalized and forgotten — particularly black females,"  the Grace Cathedral event page reads.

The Vine a service offered by the Episcopal cathedral that has contemporary worship and progressive theology. It meets Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the cathedral.

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"In this year where there's been so much conversation about the role of women and communities of color, we felt a need to lift up the voices that the church has traditionally suppressed," Rev. Jude Harmon, The Vine's founding pastor, told the Chronicle. "The beauty of Beyoncé's music is she explores those themes in an idiom that is accessible to everyone. We can use it as a conversation starter. That's what it's designed to be."

The Beyoncé Mass was planned before the singer's history-making set Saturday at Coachella in Indio, California, Harmon said. The mass is part of a three-part series hosted by The Vine called "Speaking Truth: The Power of Story in Community." It will have music and scripture readings by women of color, and a sermon by Rev. Yolanda Norton. Norton is an assistant professor of the Old Testament at the San Francisco Theological Seminary and teaches a class called "Beyoncé and the Bible," the Chronicle reported.

“I know there are people who will say using Beyoncé is just a cheap way of trying to get people in the church,” Harmon said. “But Jesus used very provocative images in the stories he would tell to incite people to ask hard questions about their own religious assumptions. He regularly provoked. We’re following in the way of Jesus.”

The Beyoncé Mass will be April 25. More information can be found at the Grace Cathedral website.