I know that some of you reading this blog may find George Carlin’s bit on “stuff” to be quite off color and possibly offensive. I’m not going to defend his language but I must say that there are some great truths to be found in his stand-up routine. You can find it here:
So, what does this have to do with Christianity and the Geek life? Well, as some of you may already know we’ve experienced a bit of a displacement as of late. The parsonage in which we live was invaded by an evil Treant/Ent (read some Tolkien, okay?) on Saturday, April 24, 2010. It crashed through the roof of the parsonage and in doing so broke itself in half. Its suicide attack did not do the damage it may have hoped to do as it only took out part of the attic without fully crashing through the roof. However, its efforts were not totally fruitless in that its “attack” did cause a great deal of water to come flooding through the kitchen and washroom ceilings.
Well, again, you may be asking yourself what does this have to do with The Geek Life, preacher man? Besides your geeky Lord of the Rings references we don’t see much geek “stuff” going on here so what’s the problem?
The problem, my friends, is that my extensive gaming/geek collection was in the attic. I have been collecting many of these items (figurines, books, etc) for a long time now and a great deal of them are out of print. Over the past few years, a number of the people that originally wrote many of these products have passed on so some of this “stuff” is virtually irreplaceable. Many of these items mean a great deal to me both as a geek and a minister. Why? Because quite a few of these authors are/were people of faith and those that have passed on have had an impact on both my geek life as well as my life in ministry. (Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and Bob Bledsaw…you will be missed.)
Again, I was very fortunate. The Ent (Tree) that attacked the attic missed my collection by mere inches. Even with all the extensive rain and wind only one or two items were really damaged so I must say I was very fortunate. I was even happier when a company showed up to help me move these items out of the attic. Friends also arrived from Jackson, TN later that night to also help make sure my collection was okay.
Now, you may be wondering about the family during this whole time. Was I worried about them? You bet! I made sure they were safe and that our bedrooms and other areas of the house were secure before giving any more thought to this collection so put your hearts at ease on that point. My son and daughter were quickly picked up by my mother-in-law and were in the safest of care. My wife and I also checked on quite a number of other things before worrying about the collection.
However, over the past week I’ve had a great deal of time as a geek and a preacher to think about all this stuff. What meaning does it have? Am I too focused on my stuff? During this same time, I remembered the fear in my daughters eyes as she realized the possible of losing quite a number of her stuffed toys. She really loves WebKinz and she’d worked hard to build up her own collection of toys. (She works around the house for an allowance and does a great job. She is becoming a very responsible young lady. Yes, I’m her dad and allowed to brag. She’s a much better child than I was at her age.)
So, here are my thoughts on stuff. As a geek, I’ve got ties to quite a few things. Just like a hunter has his trophies scattered across his home, geeks have quite a few books, games and electronics scattered throughout the house as well. Since I’ve had some time to meditate on these things over the past week while living in a motel and moving from room to room (Yes, motel rooms even flood!), I realized that stuff often can be a huge hindrance. We supposedly need tons of clothing to get by but I’ve found that two or three outfits can be cleaned fairly easily and reword throughout the week. When you don’t have room for a lot of things, it’s very easy to narrow your “stuff” down pretty quick.
As geeks, I have found we have come to rely on our tools and toys much more than we rely on our brains. I have noticed over the years that geeks who did great math in their heads as a child now like to pull out the latest gadget and use it instead of that great brain that made us so “cool” in school. The other thing that I’ve become aware of is that our stuff often helps us lose focus on our spiritual life as well as the geek life. We become so enamored of things that we often don’t think about other people. Spiritually, the pursuit of things (whether it be toys, gadgets, wealth or power) often blinds us to the needs around us. On the geek side of things, all those nice geeky toys end up getting in the way when we try and have fun. Who among us has sat down at a gaming table to watch someone pull out twenty or so gadgets and books and realized that no gaming is going to occur until all the flashy toys and books have been examined?
I’m reminded of this very good tale:
Mark 10:23-31: And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter(AH) the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you,there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
I know this is a long blog and I hope many of you are still with me. I’m not going to go into all the ramifications of what Jesus is saying in this passage but I’ll let it suffice to say that “stuff” isn’t all that we’ve made it out to be. Following Jesus and spreading the good news is more important than any single thing any of us own. Now, what is this good news? Is it telling people about Jesus? Yes. Is it sharing forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus? Yes. But this good news is also about serving others. Helping one’s fellows….even those unlovely ones. Giving to the hurting, helpless and hopeless is a major part of the Gospel and so many times things get in the way.
It’s not impossible for those of us attached to “things” to follow Jesus but it sure is hard! Are we willing to take the hard path? Are we willing to count those things as nothing? Can we set the things aside and put our brains and hearts back into action? It doesn’t sound very geeky but, hey, isn’t going on an adventure one of the things that geeks love the most? Just follow Jesus and you’re going to find yourself on the adventure of a lifetime (or maybe an eternal adventure, eh?)
Remember the words of Johnny Cash:
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me.
Well, my buddy Redd and I have driven up to Illinois to visit with my friend Jolly Blackburn and his wife Barb of Knights of the Dinner Table fame before heading over to GaryCon in Lake Geneva, WI. GaryCon starts on Friday and is going to be three days of Old School Gaming in honor of the late co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, E. Gary Gygax. The convention is put on by his family and is a wonderful way to honor the memory of someone who helped create a game that many of us still love to play. There is also going to be an auction run by the amazing Frank Mentzer to help raise money to build a memorial to Gary Gygax.
So, you may ask, what does this have to do about geekiness and spirituality? Well, I had the honor of meeting Gary the year before he died when he was on a panel at GenCon on Christianity and Gaming. It was wonderful to realize that this man who had a profound effect on my life was also a person with a deep rooted and abiding faith in Jesus. He once told me that he was simply “trusting Jesus” and I think that’s the best any of us can do in this life…..simply trust Jesus. It’s a great place to start and an exciting place to end up!
Over the past few days, I’ve been reflecting on my own spiritual journey. It’s been quite an interesting one for a person who did not grow up in a family that emphasized any type of regular church attendance and considered spirituality to be something we just discussed half-heartedly. As a geek, I often felt like an outcast so I did a lot of reading and I find it amazing that many of the authors I enjoyed were people of faith. I did not realize people like CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and, yes, Gary Gygax are people whose lives had been affected by their faith journey. So, as I’ve thought on these matters, I realize that God used all of these people (and many others I won’t mention right now) to guide me on this journey even though I did not know it!
You see, many people affect you in this life and they have an influence on what you think, believe and feel even when you least expect it. As a young and often lonely geek, I found solace in books written by these people and felt a connection to a wider community. Gaming books, especially Dragon Magazine, helped me realize there was (and still is) a large community of gamers out there of which I could be a part. As a kid, that wasn’t always possible. I sometimes felt disconnected from my local gaming scene but I knew there was a community out there of which I could be a part of even though it wasn’t until I became an adult that I began to actually visit other gamers and become an active participant in that community.
The church should (and often is) the same way. There are many Christians living life who feel lonely and apart from other believers and the people around them. They go to a local church and might not feel that connection to the larger community of faith but, hopefully, the pick up their Bible or a Christian writer’s latest book and begin to feel that larger connection to a community of believers. The book of Hebrews refers to this as a “cloud of witnesses” and theologically it is often referred to as the universal church but we can never forget the need to somehow search and seek out those other people of faith that help complete us and make us feel a part of a community. This is what I’ve done in both my gaming and faith journeys but, to be honest, it’s never been easy. Often I’ve had to travel all over the country just to meet up with other gamers to feel a part of that physical community and I’ve also had that experience in church.
In the end, you’re probably asking yourself what this crazy geekpreacher means in all this rambling. Simple. I don’t care how hard it is or how difficult it seems find a way to plug yourself into your community of faith. You may have to travel or you may find it right around the corner from your house but, in the long run, like a good game of D&D it is definitely worth finding because The Game Must Go On!
Thanks, Gary, I look forward to hanging out with you in the resurrection.
Here is a topic that I’ve been meaning to address for some time now. Many people in Christian circles talk about how American society has become “post-Christian” and very few people have any understanding or familiarity with the faith. While this has a certain truth to it, this is not a hard and fast rule and couldn’t be less true in the South.
As someone who has spoken with Geeks across the world on a variety of topics, I have found that the Geek in the Southern part of the United States still has a somewhat nominal acquaintance with the faith. In a way, this bothers me for the same reason most “nominal Christians” irritate me but it especially irritates me where Geeks are concerned. Why might you ask? Well, let me relate something that recently happened:
I was recently in my FLGS sitting around talking with the store owner and some friends. As often happens, a group of customers walk up to the counter and ask about a particular product. Being a good Geek and supportive of my FLGS I point out several nice items while the owner retrieves some of the games from behind the counter that might interest them. As the customers are browsing through the games, a conversation starts up about technology. Imagine that! Geeks talking about tech. Go figure, eh? Well, since I didn’t bring up the topic I thought I would listen for a bit to see if I might want to jump in the conversation. Hey, Geek Talk is Geek Talk, right?
As I listen to the conversation, one of the customers begins to talk about credit and debit cards while another brings up the concept of electronic chips being implanted in someone’s hand and then scanned so they might pay their bill. It’s a similar idea to the “quick pay” system you see at many convenience stores and gas stations. It was at that point I decided to speak up. I mentioned how it would be much more convenient and less likely for someone to steal your information if it was placed on a chip that would only work while implanted. This gamer, this Geek looked at me with wide eyes and said that it was a scary concept. I then asked this young man why he thought it was such a scary concept. His answer? “Because of that Bible thing. It talks about it, you know?”
Now, a few things were immediately obvious. First, this young man had only heard the “chip concept” within some type of Conservative Christian context. Next, it was fairly obvious that he had not really read any of the Biblical texts that are so often stretched to “prove” this point. So, what was my response? The first thing out of my mouth took him by surprise. I simply said, “That’s bad theology.” Well, the young man looked at me as if I’d suddenly rolled three consecutive ones on a Twenty-Sider or had told him that I’d never heard of an XBOX. I went on to explain that I work in the field of Biblical Studies (doesn’t that sound so much geekier than “pastor”?) and that the texts used to try and prove that point were never meant to be read in that manner. Needless to say, I think I effectively killed the discussion at that very moment. It is times like that I remind myself why I try my best never to bring up these topics but I also realize that when someone else brings it up I’m definitely going to try and jump in and have a bit of fun.
So, you might ask? What’s the problem? Don’t people show their Biblical ignorance daily in the South? Haven’t people been exposed to just enough of the Scripture in the Southern US that they can pretend to know what they’re talking about? Yes, these things are often true but I expect better from Geeks! Come on! Geeks are the ones who are known for reading through 300 page rulebooks so they can Min/Max their character or learning a new programming language just for the fun of it. Shouldn’t we know better than to just make statements we haven’t really researched?
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I don’t expect every Geek in the country to immediately become a Biblical scholar. However, I do expect Geeks to try and learn about a topic to some degree before just making some off-hand remark. Maybe I am asking for to much because I have to be honest with myself. In the electronic age where everyone immediately claims expertise on a topic, I probably should expect Geeks to behave like everyone else. Aren’t we the ones that invented flame wars and L33t Speak while also constantly editing peoples Wiki entries just so we can have our own shot at rewriting history?
So, what does all this mean? What’s the point I’m trying to make? First, most people need to realize that many people of all stripes like to say “The Bible says” without having one damn good idea as to what it really says or means. Second, Geeks are like everyone else. We pretend to have knowledge we don’t. Third, Southern Geeks are affected by Southern Christian culture just as much as the next person. Honestly, we’re all guilty of these things so I’ll end with my good ol’ Southern Mama’s Advice. She would say to me:
“Derek, when you don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about keep your damn mouth shut!”
Thank you, Mama. I miss you but I don’t think I’m ever going to forget that advice. Maybe it would do us all a bit of good to remember it.
Well, I’m taking a class called Introduction to Educational Ministry and we have to paraphrase the 23rd Psalm for an in class project. I decided to go The G33k route so I thought I’d post it here to share it with everyone.
The G33K’s Twenty-Third Psalm
God is my programmer; I always have the latest software
God gives me the fastest processor on earth, My hard drive never crashes
God gives me constant updates that are always helpful
Even though it seems the computer crash is coming, I’m not worried for I.T. is with me
Their flash drives and high-speed access comfort me
Even when the Mac users hate on me I sit down with them because you’ve
Let me know that the PC & Mac will learn to live together in harmony.
Surely I’ll be able to handle internet flame wars all the days of my access.
Well, I’ve been wandering around the blogosphere for the past few weeks reading blogs. In fact, I’ve probably read more blogs in the past week than I have in the past two years. One of the things that has piqued my interest have been some stories about Old School Gaming vs. New School Gaming over on the Grognardia Blog plus I’ve been talking with a friend who runs a gaming store about retro video games.
Well, most of my geek friends will have no problem understanding the Retro Gaming part of this post but what does all this have to do with Old Time Religion. It’s all one simple word: nostalgia.
Humanity loves to thing about the “good old days” whether it be about gaming or religion. I talk with gamer geeks who are always talking about the Golden Age of Roleplaying. For them this was the best time of their lives and this was when gaming was “at its best.” In their minds, no one can really duplicate those halcyon days of yesteryear when the dice always rolled Nat’ Twenties and everyone always tried to roleplay their character. There was always a game to be found that would run 24 hours a day, the Cheetos never ran out and there was always a fountain of Faygo that had your favorite flavor in it (which was, of course, Red….though I never knew how Red got to be a flavor.)
I also hear about that Old Time Religion. Wives stayed at home and husbands worked 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. Children knew their place and never spoke an unkind word to mom or dad. Everyone came to church and it was the center of the community. If there was an event to be had, it happened at the church. Revivals occurred monthly and if you didn’t arrive early you wouldn’t find a seat because it was always standing room only. Souls were saved almost on a daily basis and all was right with the world. Those were the days when the church was at its heyday!
The only problem with both of these scenarios is that they’re a fiction. They never occurred. Of course I’ve exaggerated a great deal to make my point but, in reality, the “good old days” were never as good as we think they were. Those early days of gaming for those of us who were in our teens in the 80s were times when parents would often cut off the game in the middle of the good part because they were tired of all the racket we were making. Most of the time, we had to sneak a few moments of “hack-n-slash” in during a recess break and, as kids, we never had the money to buy the game books we really wanted. The older gamers during that time had the same problem most adult gamers have today. How do we fit our hobby into our ever increasingly busy schedule? How do we find time to game while also playing the games our kids enjoy?
As to that church scenario, it’s a fiction that’s not even close to anything I remember. It’s just something I’ve seen on TV in reruns from the 1950s and 1960s. I’ve heard all kinds of wonderful stories from people that could have been my grandparents about how great those days were but, interestingly, in most cases neither their children or grandchildren attend church. I recently read a statistic by Brian McLaren that 90% of the converts during a Billy Graham crusade were among the 40% of the population that attended another church. Instead of those so-called church growth years blowing the world up for Jesus, we simply were shuffling pieces around on the chess board of our own religiosity.
Maybe I have a unique insight into both these areas because as a kid in the 80s I always wanted to game but the opportunities were rare for me. It seemed my friends could get together and play more often than was available to me so I know how scarce a good game of D&D was to find. It is the same way with the church. I remember being very interested in religion, faith and spirituality from my earliest years but my family hardly ever attended any type of formal religious service so, like my gaming, I had to find out a great deal of things on my own.
You see, spirituality is a lot like table top gaming. It’s no fun doing this thing alone. You can sit down and try and play a solo rpg but the fun runs out really quick. It’s the same way with the spiritual life….you can try and read all those great books, pray and practice all types of spiritual disciplines but when they’re done alone it really takes the joy out of it.
Gamers in the 21st century are realizing they constantly have to “rediscover” the game by going back to what they believe are their roots but, in a sense, they’re reinventing things to a certain degree. I’ve noticed there’s a movement among “grognards” for a return to the simpler rules systems for games. I think the same thing is happening among Jesus followers yearning for a real spirituality. These people are wanting to go back to their early days as well. They want to find their spiritual roots but, in doing so, they reinvent (or reform or revitalize) the Christian faith. There is also a minimalist approach among quite a few Christians. They just want to get back to OC (Original Christianity) just like some gamers want to get back to OD&D (Original Dungeons & Dragons) and both of these groups are looking for a rules light system.