It was only a few years ago that I walked into the sanctum sanctorum of one of the newest trends: megachurches, where people go to see and be seen and feel self-righteous while sipping their lattes. I was stunned, having been raised in a standard local church and joining mainstream churches my whole life, where they still had hymnals, an organ and said the Lord's Prayer. When the rock band on stage picked up their equipment and began playing, I nearly jumped out of my seat at the volume. And as I looked around wild-eyed at the audience, I eyed the entrance but knew I was trapped, having come with a friend of mine and her husband, who had driven. She smiled at me and whispered, "Is this awesome or what?" For the next hour I sat there frozen while the band and singers carried on like a rock concert, singing limitless songs which made no sense and had no rhyme (or reason). And the pastor who finally emerged in jeans to deliver a gruesome and gloomy sermon on sacrificial rituals with animals during the time of Jesus. Because they had a large Sunday School for the hundreds of children, frequently a three digit number would flash on the large screens on either side of the stage screen. And after the service I asked my friend what that was about, and she explained that each child (including her two grand children) had an allocated number, and if a child was acting up or was crying uncontrollably, they flash his or her number on the screen, which brings the parent to the school to handle the out of control child.

A few weeks later, since I was staying with this friend for a month, we traveled to Florida where she had a second home, so she could conduct some business, and come Sunday morning, sure enough we ventured over to her church which she joined when she was staying at her second home. This one was nearly identical but actually had a Starbucks-like coffee vendor in the lobby, where members could buy coffee drinks to sip during the service.

The definition of a megachurch is any church with over 2,000 members, of which there are more than 1600 in the U.S. Approximately 40% of these are Protestant and 70% of these define themselves as evangelical. Many of the largest churches have nationally-known pastors who have written best-selling books and have achieved celebrity status. A number of them have solutions which are televised on cable each Sunday for those who prefer not to brave the crowds or are unable to attend in person.

While I am sure that many of the members of these churches are well-meaning and sincere, likewise the clergy, I couldn't help but feel sad and cheated that this is the trend of churches and religion. I missed my small chapels where we sang hymns together, prayed aloud and shook the hand of the minister on the way out. Perhaps these new churches motivate presence from people who otherwise might not attend services at all, but I didn't feel uplifted or motivated when I left. I simply felt that another chapter in American history had closed its doors.