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Where are the worshipers?

Sing a new song. Fail until you succeed. These are the two things I heard God saying to me today, and I place them here because I do not want this note to sound contrived. I'd rather be real than any other thing.

As I have soaked in one of the aftermaths with which God is forming me, I have wanted to write out what I have been feeling about worship. As one of the banners under which I used to gather within the confines of the organized church, it is a kind of touchstone for authenticity for me. It is also, however, what I believe to be a hotly debated subject among Christians in general, whether they be within or without the traditional fold of the church. I know when we talk about worship that more often than not passions are exposed and considerable light is thrown on the differences we have as believers, so it's not polite parlor room talk we are about to engage in.

What does it mean to sing a new song? I felt strongly that God was speaking this to me today as I went around on the carousel of my life once again, walking the rut of existence that we as busy first-worlders know so well. I wondered how it could be possible to sing a new song when no new words or melodies were in my heart or on my mind. And then I thought about faith and how even it is given in measure by God himself to each one of us. And I thought about how songs are written-by someone brave enough to take a chance on singing out into nothing something-someone who has the capacity or faith to articulate with the intensity of their heart a moment of intimacy by putting to music the words that communicate and the melodies that convey the beauty within that moment. I thought about how I could do that right now, even though what I hope for is not seen-precisely because what I hope for is not seen.

I have heard much talk about authenticity. I have seen leaders attempting to conjure God by appealing to base needs and emotions. I have seen all of it amplified by the dynamic of mob mentality, wherein people do things in the deceptive safety of a large crowd what they would never do in more intimate settings. I have seen tens of thousands of Christians in name gathered in one place for worship and the attendant drug culture atmosphere that dominates the social and spiritual climate-the fans as the users and the leaders as the dealers, with worship serving as the drug. I have heard leaders refer to the experience of worship as a spiritually sexual act, complete with foreplay and

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