Geekklesia

 A few nights ago, I sat down (virtually) with three other geeky pastors to talk about our geeky hobbies, and how they are intersecting with our vocations as pastors in our different churches.  On the panel sat Ben Avery, one of the hosts of the Strangers and Aliens podcast and children's pastor at Nappanee Missionary Church in Indiana, Hector Miray, author of the Faith and Fandom series of books and host of the Faith and Fandom podcast and Location Pastor at Vertical Church in North Carolina, and Derek White, a.k.a. the Geek Preacher, one of the hosts of the Dungeon Pastors vlog and pastor at Matthews Memorial UMCin Tennessee. Part 1 was posted to the Geekklesia Facebook page . Part 2 has just been posted.

 There was once a disparaging comment about believing in something simply because “I saw it on TV.”   Max Headroom  takes that tension and makes it a central theme.  Many episodes deal with what people see and how easily they can be duped and the cavalier attitude that people in power have toward the truth. In a media and corporate-driven society, ratings are cash and cash is power.  If one has enough cash, one has enough power to shape truth to whatever form is most expedient to increase ratings and thereby increase revenue. In this world, network executives realize that they are playing fast and loose with the truth, but that knowledge is of no concern. One board member of Network 23 accuses Network 66 of theft by “falsifying ratings,” to which Network 23 Chairman Ben Cheviot responds “Nonsense, its merely ethically dubious, perfectly normal practice.”  [1] The same episode focuses tightly on the role of media and its manipulation of the t...

There are three episodes of the  Max Headroom  series which deal either directly or indirectly with religion and matters of faith. The first season episode ‘finale,’ “Blanks,” [1]  dealt with individuals who have elected to remove themselves from the computer databases of the world.  There is no official record of their existence and they are referred to as the “Blanks” of the episode title.  The plot of the story is one where the political chief executive officer, [2]  Simon Peller, has decided to wage a campaign against the Blanks. Because they have no records, they don’t officially exist, and therefore have no rights.  In a later episode where another Blank is arrested, [3]  we see that Blanks are matched up by a computer with unsolved crimes regardless of whether or not they actually committed them.  It’s almost as if racial profiling has gone berserk.  In “Blanks,” Simon Peller arrests and imprisons the Blanks because he finds the...

I’ve been reading No Cape Required: 52 Ways to Unleash Your Inner Hero by Kristen Parrish as a weekly devotional. Parrish uses pop culture heroes to illustrate themes and characteristics Christians should embrace in their daily lives and walks with Jesus.  The first, naturally focused on Superman’s quest for Justice. This week’s was on friendships, as exhibited in the relationship between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in the original series version of Star Trek. As I have been thinking about that theme, I am reminded that humans were created to be relational.  We were created first of all to have a relationship with our God (Genesis 1:26-27). He also created us to have relationships with each other (Genesis 2:18).  God Himself exists in a perpetual relationship with the other Persons of the Trinity (the Son and the Holy Spirit). The Trinity – three Persons existing as One Whole – is an immense mystery, but it testifies to this fact.  If we are, in fact, created in Go...

Recently, I found myself keeping house alone while the Princess Bride was away for a few days.  I took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some of the TV shows I find interesting, but don’t watch as the two of us are fans of other shows. One of those shows is the BBC America series based on (and sharing the same title with) the popular podcast, The Nerdist .  The particular episode I was watching featured ‘ Nerd Girls .’  One guest in particular was actress, writer, producer, gamer and all-around queen nerd, Felicia Day .  She was asked about her hit internet series, The Guild, and had something interesting to say about why she gravitated toward new media over traditional media. Now, I’m paraphrasing here, but her comment was something along the lines of how much fun it was and how satisfying it was to create something, share it with people who enjoy it, and how these same folks receive, discuss it, internalize it, and then give back to the community. ...