That’s the truly awesome new U2/Green Day video for The Saints Are Coming. Watch it; it’s an eyeful, just as it should be. Strong medicine hurts going down.

And this is the story of how church services are using the music of the greatest band in the world to inspire a new generation of Christians.

A communion service based on the music of U2 has become the latest trend for a number of Episcopal churches across the U.S.

The U2Charist–named after the band and the Eucharist communion–weaves songs by the Irish rockers into a church service along with corresponding slides.

Reported by USA Today, the special service was the idea of the Reverend Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, who held the first U2Charist at her church on July 31, 2005.

Kicking off with “Pride (In the Name Of Love),” the service also incorporates images from historical civil rights campaigners such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks… a key part is an offering for Bono‘s campaign to eradicate extreme poverty and global AIDS.

On this, Blair added: “It’s a big reason that this has taken off as a movement. It’s what Bono and the band are passionate about.”

Take THAT, Rolling Stones!