Stories and Truth

Greetings Nerds of the High King.

So I just found an article on comicbook.com about a very interesting new class being offered in the spring term of 2015 at the University of Baltimore. This is a class on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, that is right. A class on Marvel movies such as the Avengers, Captain America and even Guardians of the Galaxy. This is being taught by a professor who has taught classes on Comic Book history and Zombies. The University's statement announcing the class can be read here. 

The class will focus, in large part, on the inter-connectedness of the universe being built in these movies but also on the ideals and perspectives on modern issues found in them. I think this sounds like a fantastic class. There are many thoughts to be pulled from these movies about modern issues, ethics, etc.

The Professor, Arnold T. Blumberg, was quoted on the Univ. of Baltimore as saying this:

"Every generation has a modern media mythology that serves as a framework for entertaining as well as educating about ethics, morality, issues of race, gender, class, and so on," he says. "For the past several years, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have served in that role for tens of millions. When I was younger, it was the first Star Wars series, which I saw in the theater. For me, that saga—along with many other science fiction stories—provided that essential exploration of the hero journey, the struggle of good vs. evil, in a mainstream pop culture context."

Why does every generation have stories like this? I have a simple answer for you: truth can not be ignored. We live in an epic universe, but we don't believe it is epic. God created this vast universe, gave us a great opportunity to follow Him. We chose our own way, with a little help from a dangerous being who was jealous of God. So God sent His son to come to us. To teach us, train us, and love us; but ultimately to pay a heavy price so we could be back in relationship with God.

Some people do not believe in a spiritual realm. They have all sorts of ideals of what truth is, but they don't want to see the Truth Definer.

In Romans 2:14,15 we find out that:

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.

God has placed bits of truth and woven them in our various cultures on Earth. Unfortunately the devil also wove some lies amongst many of those same truths. I encourage you to hold fast to the Bible for:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16

The Holy Spirit is also sent to us to comfort us and protect us and train us. When we put these two together we become strong in the Christ. Life is epic. God has an amazing story and adventure for you. Do not miss out on it!


 

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.

Kheb and Christ

Today is  flurry of details as I get read for the Church service at Grand Con. I am excited for what God is going to do as we come to worship Him and step closer to Him.

How recently have you read the story of Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman? He was resting next to a well and she came to find water for her household. The story can be found in John 4. Jesus asks her for some water, as he does not have any way of getting it. In their conversation a couple things stand out to me. Today we look at Jesus provision for us and next time we will look at their discussion of worship.

First of all, Jesus was coming across lines here. Men did not speak to women and Jews did not associate with Samaritans. So this was a huge moment as Jesus met with her and broke down these walls. He also revealed that he knew about her sin, but was still interested in talking with her and spending time with her. Jesus tells her "If you knew who I was, you would ask me, and I would give you living water. You would never be thirsty again; indeed this water would lead to eternal life."

In trying to imagine how she felt, I think about SG-1 visiting a monk in an episode called "Maternal Instincts". Daniel Jackson and the team are looking for the Harsesis, a son of Sharee/Amunet and Apophis that has all the knowledge of the Goa'uld. They come to Kheb, a place where people are welcome to come and learn to ascend to a different plane of existence.  

Found on the Stargate Wiki

Daniel Jackson has quite an experience talking with a monk and eventually meets an ascended being he eventually comes to know as Oma Desala. As Daniel tries to learn their ways, he gets frustrated (although not as much as O'Neill does). The guy keeps using confusing sayings to express his ideas. Daniel soon realizes that they are so much more than he ever thought and that there is so much out there he does not know about. As he sees this, a Goa'uld army gets closer and closer, but when they arrive the ascended being destroys all of them, and even gliders, with lightning. Daniel finally realizes what they were saying: The Harsesis child is better off with us. But more than that SG-1 was opened to a whole new perception of the universe.

Jesus is saying that he has far more to offer than we can hope or imagine. More hope, joy, lessons, protection, mind blowing ideas and experiences than we will ever understand. Sometimes we get frustrated by Jesus. Looking at some of His sayings in John (i.e. "I am the Bread of Life" or "watch out for the yeast of the pharisees) we feel a little bit lost. His disciples sure did! But Jesus has so much love, mercy, and even deep truth just waiting for us! He just wants to walk with us through all this and show you what He has for you.

Do Good to the Those Who Exterminate You

So I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately. Over the summer I watched much of the classic Who available on Netflix, including quite a bit of the "Key to Time" storyline. Lately I've been watching "Nu Who".

Announcing that the Master will be in "The End of Time".

Today I watched both "The End of Time" which is our last storyline with Mr. Tennant (apart from "The Time of the Doctor" 50th Ann. Special) and also "Into the Dalek"; our second full experience with Mr. Capaldi on Doctor Who.

What has been amazing to watch is how both these story-lines show an attempt to win over a mortal enemy. In "The End of Time" the Doctor takes on the Master. The Master has implanted himself into all humans around the world through a device that was part of a space ship that fell. He intends, as always, to take over the universe.

"You are so brilliant. So beautiful" Says the Doctor. "Come with me. You don't need to own the whole universe; just see it!" He tries so hard to get the Master to change. Of course, the Master refuses and the Doctor has to run away for a time while he figures out what to do.

Jesus said the following about enemies:

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. "If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount." Luke 6:32-34
                                                                                                                  

In "Into the Dalek" we have this weird experience of a Dalek that has seen that Dalek's must be stopped. He is damaged and the Doctor and a few people actually miniaturize to go inside the Dalek to find what is wrong and fix it. The Dalek, who was named Rusty by the Doctor, talks of seeing the birth of a star. "Resistance is futile" he says, trying to explain to the Doctor that as much as Daleks try to destroy life, it will always be rebuilding itself.

After repairing the Dalek, it starts back into normal "dalekism". Rusty starts attacking the rest of the ship's crew and then sends out a signal to a large Dalek ship which brings more Daleks on board. While the Doctor starts to point out how evil Daleks always are, Clara looks at him. "Is that what we've learned here today?" she asks him. No. It isn't.

Found on Denofgeek.com

What we learned is that even Daleks can be reached; at least to a point. As Clara climbs around in a Dalek's memory center to bring back the image of a star being born; the Doctor goes to be face to face with Rusty and gives him a link to his mind.

After seeing the beauty of a star being born and seeing more beauty in the Doctor's mind; he starts a change of mind. Now, the Dalek doesn't quite take the lesson as the Doctor wants him to...but he does change. He stops the Dalek attack on the Aristotle and changes to a new trajectory in life. Unfortunately the most impacting find in the Doctor's mind was his hatred of Daleks.

Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us and love those who hate us. This is hard to live out. As the song "Jesus, Friend of Sinners" by Casting Crowns says:

"No one knows what we're for only against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like you did"

You don't have to start big. You can start small, like saying "hi" or getting someone a cup of coffee or water. But Jesus calls us to start somewhere.

Disagreements, The Doctor, and Falling Skies

So I just watched a episode 9 of the current season of Falling Skies. There were several sets of characters who were in significant disagreement about various things. The two older brothers were arguing. Tom Mason and Anne Glass had a significant argument at one point (after Tom made a crazy decision for the group). Pope and Sara (played by Mira Sorvino) were at odds. Pope found her looking for a pain pill and jumped to the worst possible assumptions.

Most of these pairs had arguments this episode that did not go well. But for Tom and Anne it was different. Tom realized his strong suit and Anne's. His is hope but her's is faith. They both agreed that they needed to cling to one another, despite their disagreements. They came to a deeper understanding of each other in the middle of their argument.

So far the others have not, but I have yet to watch episode 10.

"Deep Breath", the new episode of Doctor Who also showcased disagreements and how to handle them. Clara was having a very difficult time adjusting to the Doctor's regeneration. She felt like she lost someone and wasn't sure who it was she was now with. She also found herself in a heated discussion with Vastra about this whole change. This discussion was fairly fruitful in that both participants came to a closer understanding of each other.

So how do we handle disagreements? They will happen throughout life. That is a sure thing. It is unavoidable.

James 1:19 has some good points about this:

^"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,..."

Yes, that's right. Now, I will grant you that Tom Mason did not exactly slow down to listen to Anne in their conversation...but she did listen to him, after she had voiced her frustration. It ended very well for them. I am really enjoying watching this relationship unfold. They are learning to recognize each others' strengths and appreciate them, even in disagreements.

Whoever said that nerds are slow to speak has not watched us react to casting announcements. We get really upset and really vocal about the choices we do not like. Yet the reality is that quick anger and quick speaking will not help us build healthy relationships.

James does not say we should never be angry or that we should never speak boldly. He tells us to find out all the information before we do this. Clara was simply asked to give this new generation of the Doctor a good chance. Not to like everything about him.

The important thing is not in winning arguments, but in building healthy relationships. In learning to trust and cooperate together. That is what James is pointing to.

Who do you need to be listening to?

Gen Con 2014

Hey guys.

Just one of several huge gaming halls at Gen Con.

Gen Con was amazing. TI spent two hours a day hanging out at the Christian booth, with Fans for Christ, Christian Gamers Guild, and Innroads Ministries. We met a lot of people. Some were pastors/youth pastors who were surprised to find something like our organizations. Some were gamers who were unsure or frustrated with the church. On Sunday we joined together for a worship service in the Crowne Plaza...some 200, I think, in attendance. Derek White (the Geek Preacher) gave a great message on how the Church is Bigger on the Inside (you must be a whovian if you have a huge smile on your face right now). I am sure that the video of the sermon will get on You Tube at some point so I'll share it to the Facebook page when it does.

The Worship Service at Gen Con.

So many gamers were glad to find Christians who don't think them evil for playing D&D. We had a great response from both the convention and the gamers. I remember some buying shirts who just wanted to support us (even a couple who don't attend church regularly).

I pose with a couple other Star Wars fans in the Family Fun Pavilion near the CGG/FFC booth.

The most significant conversation I had was with a guy I'll call Moe. Moe came by and we started talking. I shared that we were gamers, nerds and geeks who were also Christians. We realized that the church doesn't understand gamers and that gamers have had some hard times with Churches. He was hesitant about things but glad to see someone trying to deal with this issue. He admitted that the churches lack of respect and relations with gamers was one of the reasons he doesn't attend church. Moe was hesitant to share much...but I could see wheels turning in his head.

Jesus came for those who are "sick" or those who have been hurt and are weary and caught in sin. Please pray for those who interacted with us this weekend. Some have relatives/friends who are really sick. Some have been hurt by experiences with churches.


If you are experiencing the Nerd Chapel now after find out about us at Gen Con, welcome! I am really glad to have you on board. Nerd Chapel is happy to join with these organizations in working to build bridges between the Church and the Nerd/Geek/Gamer community. There is a lot of work to do but God has given us His presence. As Romans 8 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

M.A.S.K. and the Body of Christ

Hey guys. Welcome to the Nerd Chapel.

Do you remember M.A.S.K.? It was a great cartoon and line of action toys I loved growing up. They actually had a base in a Volcano! You have Matt Tracker, a man with an organization (M.A.S.K.) bent on helping people and fighting a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M. The cartoon featured a kid with a robot that could turn into a scooter for him to ride. Each member of the M.A.S.K. team was connected with a particular vehicle that would change for battle. For instance there was a Semi that acted as a mobile HQ and also could launch large missiles. There also was a race car that could turn into a jet plane and two little cars. They also had "masks" which were really helmets that had different abilities/powers. Yes this show is ripe for a movie! If so, I hope they base it on the original and not the "re-imagined" comics from 2011 (Admittedly I have not read those comics but I just like the original idea a lot more than what I know of them).

I had this one!

Every episode featured a situation of someone needing help, always because V.E.N.O.M. was up to no good. For each mission, Matt Tracker would gather intelligence on the situation with his huge super computer and then have the computer build the correct team for the operation. Each member had a different area of knowledge needed and a different vehicle that had gadgets. They also all came from different backgrounds and jobs. One was in a rock n roll band, one owned a pet shop, etc.

The Body of Christ is very similar to M.A.S.K. 

• We are called to "do good" and help those who need it.
• "He has shown you, O mortal what is goood. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
•  We have the Holy Spirit that gives us all different abilities and knowledge for situations. 
•   "There are different kinds of gifts but, but the same Spirit distributes them. Different kinds of service, but the same Lord." 1 Corinthians 12:4
• We all come from different backgrounds.
• "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body. So it is with Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12

What are some ways you use your gifts? I often serve on the tech team for my church and sometimes I help at other events, such as the food truck where we provide food for needy families. If you don't know what your gifts are, ask your friends and family and talk with a pastor at your church about how you can help out.