Wow. That is annoying. It's a good thing mega isn't used as a prefix seriously.
Oh wait:
Megachurch (The Crystal Cathedral)
That's right. Megachurch. I'd love to say "How very typically American, making something ludicrously oversized, because the bigger it is, the more powerful and thus the more meaningful." BUT. Apparently the biggest churches happen to be in Korea.
Yoido Full Gospel Church
How typically Korean.
The Megachurch
The trend that led to this kind of garbage is easy to explain, hard to show by example. The wikipedia entry describes the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which attracted 5,000 to witness the powerful sermons of a man named Charles Haddon Spurgeon in the late 1800s. The church later burned down. Am I the only one that finds that kind of funny?
The Crystal Cathedral (pictured above) is a monstrosity placed in the white-and-asian haven, Garden Grove, California. Oddly enough, it's a very middle-class area just bursting with people with disposable income. I'm sure it's just a coincidence. The beast cost $17 million dollars and broadcasts its sermons worldwide on a TV show called Hour of Power
The mega-criticism...sorry...the major criticism of these kinds of churches is that they put value on entertainment, on flashiness, rather than on actual worship. It's hard to break out of this stigma, as once church service becomes such an enormous ordeal, it becomes a production. No more humble little preacher reading from a book while his congregation reads along (or falls asleep). Now the words to hymns are blared across seven-yard-long TV screens in flashing colors with a barrage of orchestral music blared over a system of PAs.
Yes. Slight difference, there.
Hillsong: Doing Chuch better than Wal-Mart
To explain just how strange the whole megachurch phenomenom is, it's best to have a really odd example.
Hillsong Church is a chain-church, if you can believe that, that first got real popularity when it put out a CD called Hillsong. It then promptly changed its name from Hill's Christian Center to Hillsong, based on that popularity. Which, I guess, is as good a reason as any.
Hillsong originated in Australia and now has centers in London, Moscow, Berlin and Paris. Basically, it went from a country that didn't matter into every country that does. With the exception of Russia.
Hillsong does everything. Music, TV, women's groups, kid's groups, education, social justice, you name anything high-profile and Hillsong is all over it like Jesus on a T-Shirt.
Unsurprisingly, Hillsong has come under some, just a little, criticism for teaching what is known as Prosperity Gospel. Basically, what it is is the entire content of The Secret. By being religious, you will gain material wealth. Whew. What a relief. And here I thought I was going to have to work hard.
Soapbox
Okay. I'll admit. There was an alterior motive to talking about megachurches. A certain man, let's call him Jeremiah W. No, no...let's go with J. Wright, has been on TV more than Flava Flav, and that's a travesty. Mr. Wright was at one point a preacher at the Trinity United Church of Christ.
Just to be clear, the TUCC is NOT Hillsong, OR Crystal Cathedral. I am in no way insinuating Mr. Wright is a prosperity gospel bullshit artist or a flashy little nothing. I happen to think a lot of what he says is pretty strong and well-reasoned.
HOWEVER. One thing people seem to be missing is the fact that Mr. Wright is taking this media attention, which is OBVIOUSLY hurting one of his former congregation members, and riding it like a wave of sensationalist journalism. Fact is, the guy was a successful preacher at a high-production church a good portion of his life. Of course he's going to jump at the chance to propound his views on TV. He wouldn't have been as successful as he was if he was the kind of person to pass up this opportunity!
With that in mind, I wouldn't blame a certain B. Obama if he decided to distance himself from the guy. He handled the last flare up so well, only to have Mr. Wright come barreling back into the spotlight. It's unfortunate, but the media is going to take Wright's comments and turn them against Obama, no matter WHAT he says. The fact is, Wright is seeking attention and hurting Obama in the process. One of them needs to cut the other out.
Sorry.
I'm allowed one political rant every so often.
We'll be back to Squirrel Fishing later this week.
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