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.

As a follow up to the previous post on Truth and Justice in the  Max Headroom  world, I wanted to reflect on the consequences for crimes and misdeeds as portrayed in the series.  One of the tropes in cyberpunk (of which Max Headroom is an example [1] ), is the subversion of justice in favor of the wealthy.  I’ve already explored briefly the fact that justice is outside of the means of the have-nots dwelling in the Fringes and beyond [2] . But on the other side of the equation, it appears that the Haves in the world of Max Headroom don’t have a problem securing sufficient cash to avoid much of the consequences of their actions.  In the pilot episode, “Blipverts,” Ned Grossberg is the chairman of the number one television network, Network 23.  Edison Carter is the largest ratings producer though his investigative journalism program [3] . Edison stumbles upon a conspiracy to roll out a revolutionary advertising system that has the unfortunate sid...

 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...

This winter, we were trapped in the " polar vortex " that had crippled much of the country in the coldest temperatures in recent memory.  I was reminded that winter is often associated with death, but I have been thinking recently about the fact that death is never really the end of the story, and I am certain that life will appear once again. We tend to believe that death is the final word, the in the Bible we often see death as being in one sense "cut off" or "separated." in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve "died" when they were cut off from fellowship with God and each other due to their disobedience. The nation of Israel "died" when they were separated from their homeland during the Babylonian captivity. I think you can understand what I'm trying to say here. God is never satisfied with death, and is always trying to bridge the gap and restore life just as He always tries to restore relationships Some time ago I ran across this artic...

This week, I was asked to give a devotional at my place of work.  I had planned on posting the text, and since one friend asked nicely, I will do so today. Just before Christmas, it seemed as if everyone wanted to talk about the 50th anniversary of the British children’s television series, Dr. Who. Now I am not a fan of the show, only because it has never ‘hooked’ me the way it has for others, but I can appreciate the excitement many fans have for the series. Imagine that! One TV series – fifty years –with eleven different actors playing the title role. In the series, the Doctor, as he is known, is a Time Lord, which means he has the power, via a very special vehicle, to travel back and forth through time. Now, there are other time travel stories. How many can we name? Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, The Time Machine, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and many others. These are neat stories, and I think that in general people are fascinated with the idea of time travel,...

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...

First off, please understand I am not a fan of A & E network's "reality" series Duck Dynasty . I think it perpetuates a myth that people from the south are loud, coarse, obsessed with hunting, and backward, which then encourages others' belittling attitudes. On the other hand, I do appreciate their strong commitment to their family and their faith. It is this commitment to faith that has ensnared the patriarch of the Robertson family. In an interview with GQ magazine, Phil Robertson was asked about what he considers sins worthy of death, and roughly quoting from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, he listed "Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers." Out of that list, people zeroed in on the denunciation of homosexuality, which led to Phil's being suspended from the show "indefinitely." Immediately pundits on both sides of the issue blew up social m...

Note : this post will contain major spoilers from THE MAN OF STEEL film . If you haven't seen it yet , feel free to watch it and come back . I'll wait . In the film, Kal-El (not yet called Superman) calls attention to the fact the symbol that looks like a big red "S" to American earthlings is actually the symbol for his family on Krypton, and that it also stands for hope there as well. Throughout the film it seems as if writer David Foyer and director Zack Snyder are going to reinforce this theme: several times in the course of the film (presumably due to the upbringing of his adoptive earth parent's the Kents) he is seen finding a way to save lives.  Indeed, this has been a major refrain of most reviewers that I've heard that it is this stubborn refusal to end a life that marks Superman as an iconic comic book hero. So what happened in the third act? Why was Superman not able to save both the family in the Metropolis train stat...

In a recent article in USAToday , writers Scott Bowles and Andrea Fuller report on the idea that original stories seem to get eaten up by "sequel-itis" and "reboot raves".  To bolster their argument, they bring out an impressive assortment of statistics: Original films accounted for just 39% of box office from 2003 to 2012, down from 65% in the 10 years before. So far this summer, original stories account for just 30% of sales. Original movies accounted for less than half (47%) of the top summer releases from 2003 to 2012, down from 70% the decade before. Pacific Rim  cost the studios $190 million while only earning $94 million as of the publication of the article. They quoted University of Nebraska film professor Wheeler Winston Dixon, who is generally unhappy about the trend: "Films routinely cost $100 to $200 million, and with that kind of money at stake, who has time for originality? It's much safer to bank on a franchise."  On the o...

I love bad genre fiction. I enjoy movies like National Treasure and the Mummy franchise, as well as the subpar movies based on comic books and other big-budget, low-rent script CGI-fests. I also like the purple prose of stories from the pulp era of the 1930's and '40's that are long on action and short on logic. By all rights, this shouldn't be the case. My degree is in film and television production, and I enjoyed classes in film and television criticism.  But I still loves me some low-brow entertainment. Why is that so? That's a valid question and one I really couldn't answer exactly until after the premiere of the third Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser.  Then, someone who I don't normally agree with actually helped me crystallize my thinking. To be clear, I don't agree with his conclusions, but in modifying his approach, I came up with the following theory: we were wired to enjoy a little visual junk food every now and again. My theory is ...

So I'm a little late in my quarterly review of the resolutions I made on New Year's 2013.  But I haven't given up, and again, I want to be accountable, so here we go.  For review's sake, Here is the original post of my  Goals and Resolutions , and my first update . 1.   Lose at least 15 pounds . There is good news and bad news here. The bad news is that I didn't really begin walking like I said I would a few months ago, and as a result, I'm not nearer my 15 pound loss goal.  The good news is that I did begin this past week, and I have refined my reasons for pursuing fitness as a goal: In my everyday life, we move every 3-5 years. We are in year 4. I want to be stronger for the next time we move, and therefore better able to lift boxes without doing myself potential harm. We are planning an educational tour to the Holy Land in early 2014. I want to have stamina while on the tour so that I can enjoy what I'm learning. I want to look a little more l...

Technorati Tags: Podcasts , Strangers and Aliens , The Sci-Fi Christian , The Spirit Blade Underground , Christianity , SF , Faith , Sci-Fi , SciFi , Science Fiction , TV , Television , movies I enjoy listening to my mp3 player on my morning commute.  Often, I check out Old Time Radio series, but increasingly, my player has featured podcasts covering a multitude of topics.  Lately, three have bubbled up to the top of my playlists, as they focus on science fiction and fantasy TV shows, movies,and other forms of genre fiction.  Now I know that there are a lot of podcasts that cover these subjects, but these three do so from a Christian perspective. A few years ago, I had wanted to produce a podcast of my own along these lines, and actually managed to put together three episodes before Everyday Life concerns killed the project.  That’s why I’m glad these three have picked up and run with the idea, and done so in  a way that makes my efforts look really puny by...

I’ve been reading Douglas Cowan’s Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television (Baylor University Press, 2010) and the first chapter really got my attention in a way that I didn’t expect.  The author states “…transcendence is not a function of sensation, but of relationship, and the reciprocal boundaries between those who exist in a relationship” (p. 40) and “…relationship is the key to encountering an Other” (P 41). These two quotes in particular started me thinking about humanity in general. If the key to transcendence really is relationship, then I think that puts a whole different spin on the story of the Fall found in Genesis 3.  There, we see that God created Adam and Eve as a special part of His creation. He did not call them into existence, but formed them Himself (Genesis 2:7). Mankind was endowed with the “image of God,” which involved much more than the notion that we looked like Him, but rather carried His character. And soon...