What if “Flaws and All” was a song about a difficult relationship with God? What if “Survivor” was about how black women thrive even when they are undervalued and underestimated?

“Beyoncé Mass” is a special event, a religious celebration of female worship that uses Beyoncé’s music and personal life as a tool to promote a discourse of empowerment about the marginalized and forgotten, particularly black women—their lives, their bodies, and their voices.

Yolanda Norton, reverend and Assistant Professor of Old Testament at San Francisco Theological Seminary, created the course “Beyoncé and the Hebrew Bible,” which she has been teaching and which is based on Beyoncé’s music, with the aim of raising awareness about the spiritual experience of black women and the problems they face in contemporary society. It is a worship service. Yolanda Norton reminds us that “God is in all people and that Beyoncé is made in the image of God. The church has not treated black women fairly, and it is time to face that truth.”

Directed by Yolanda Norton, and featuring the Beyoncé Mass Choir and local musicians, this is a celebratory event representing all those who feel and have felt discriminated against in their lives (black women, the LGBT community, etc.).