Nerd Chapel at Alma Con 2016

Greetings Scholars and Warriors!

I am excited to announce that Nerd Chapel will be attending a new (for us) con this February. We will be at Alma Con at Alma College in Alma, MI. Yes, that was a little repetitive. They must really like the name, "Alma".

We'll have a booth in the artist/vending area and we'll be planning a Sunday morning service for the con as well! The message will be connecting Cosplay with Paul's discussion of putting on the "New Self" in Ephesians 4.

Also, my co-author for 42:Discovering Faith Through Fandom, Mr. Nathan Marchand, will be hanging out at our booth that weekend.

I'll be cosplaying on Sunday as Obi-Wan Kenobi and on Saturday I'm gonna have my Martian Manhunter cosplay for at least part of the day. Hopefully by then I'll have the red eyes going.

Please stop by and say "hi". Keep tuned to the Nerd Chapel FB page for more info.

Cosplay Photo Contest

Greetings Scholars and Warriors.

Today I get to announce a Cosplay Contest! Yes, there is a prize.

No, the winner will not be determined by fighting over a lightsaber.


This is a cosplay photo contest. So here is the deal. Send a message to the Nerd Chapel Facebook Page with your cosplay photo. Friends must enter separately with different photos. The deadline for this is Thursday, August 27 at midnight.

Here are a few details to consider:

I will combine the pictures into a photo album on the Nerd Chapel FB page that will be up for 1 week. At the end of that week, at a time announced at the posting of the album, the picture with the most likes will win. That person will get a new copy of "42:Discovering Faith through Fandom" shipped to them.

The only "likes" counted will be the ones in the album on the actual page. Likes that only hit the shared copies but not the actual album copy will not be counted. Swimsuits inspired by characters will not be counted except where it is shown that the character has dressed that way.

Please photo shop your name into the upper left hand corner of your photo. Yes, fanpage name is fully acceptable as long as you send the message from that page. This is both to make communication with the winner quicker and it will give the cosplayer proper recognition. 

Cosplaying and Worship

In the last post we considered that Jesus has far more to offer us than we realize. A woman at the well found this out in meeting Him. Now we conclude our look though John 4.

As the woman realizes there is a lot more to this man, she begins to wonder why this Jewish man would come to her little town. "You Jews say we should worship in Jerusalem but our ancestors worshiped on this mountain." Now, this is kind of like board gamers asking "Should we go to Gen Con or Essen?" For others it might be like "Should we go to Dragon Con or Wizard World?" Jesus takes this deeper than a location. 

"...believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is coming and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24

This idea of Spirit and Truth is a big one. This means the worship will go beyond sincere to something "corresponding to the nature of its object." (Vincent's Word Studies) The Bible tells us many things about God. He is love. He upholds justice. He hates sin but gives mercy. In order to worship Him, you have to seek after God just like you learn about a character you are cosplaying. 

When you cosplay, you choose a character you love. A character you enjoy reading, watching. Often it is one you find to be a great example of a value that means something to you. Then begins the process of creating or ordering a costume that fits the character. In worship, we see the nature and the values of God and we uplift them. This happens in song, lifestyle, conversation. We tend to only focus on the singing part of worship. But when we vocalize something of the nature of God, whether in private or in a conversation, we are worshiping Him. As a cosplayer you will try to pose and act like the character, but in worship we seek to live a lifestyle that reflects Christ.

So to worship, you need to get to know Him. This is why worship leaders often start with a scripture. As we learn Who God is and reflect on that, worship becomes more meaningful.
 
This weekend (Sept. 19-21, 2014) is GRAND CON! Nerd Chapel is excited to provide a Sunday morning worship experience for those attending the convention at 9am. Come and join us as we discuss "Terraforming the Heart" and as we worship the God we are continuing to learn about.