Mike's musings

Places and spaces

(Fairly) recently, Sally sent Mark and me an email:

One of my MA modules focuses on Christian Community and Worship, I am currently reading about place and identity, the need for community and rootedness, I was wondering how you see the Cathedral in Second Life in the context of this Walter Brueggeman quote:

“Place is a space which has historical meanings, where some things have happened that are now remembered and which provide continuity and identity across the generations. Place is a space in which important words have been spoken which have established identity, defined vocation and envisioned destiny. Place is a space in which vows have been exchanged, promises have been made and demands have been issued. Place is indeed a protest against an uncompromising pursuit of space. It is a declaration that our humanness cannot be found in escape, detatchment, absence of commitment, and undefined freedom…Whereas pursuit of space may be a flight from history, a yearning for place is a decision to enter history with an identifiable people in an identifiable pilgrimage …”

…and this line of thought:

Philip Sheldarke points to the way that the world has effectively “shrunk” for many of us due to technological advances – but notes that space is an objective thing that is subjectively perceived and experienced differently depending on perspective.

It struck me that the Brueggeman quote could be used to both defend or to critique the Second Life Cathedral depending on your perspective.

Sally ran the question in her blog, along with Mark's response, in her blog. I've added a comment, which I thought I'd post here, as I think it's relevant.

So, I was one of the original people on the "To:" line, and I've yet to respond. Here's my attempt. I think I'm going to try to do so at two levels. The first is a response to Tim. I wrote a paper a while ago, which you can find as a post on my blog. I, too, struggle with the issue of sharing communion: and that's not the only sacrament which I find important, but which I struggle to situate in SecondLife. I hope you find the paper interesting: it attempts to deal with a number of the questions that I think you're alluding to, including, I think, the issue of sect-dom (if you will). Maybe it's not explicit, but I think the attempts we've gone to maintain an authentic Anglican voice, and to take all comers, mitigate against the (real) danger of a descent in the sect.

(15 minute hiatus while I take over putting one of the kids to bed)

The other part of my response is really to reject Brueggeman's view. I kind of see his distinction, and by his definitions, I'd say that the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife fulfills both of them. But I think that a place - if it is separate from a space, and I think it's a useful distinction, then I think that a place is negotiated, and personal. That negotiation may be internal and personal, but as I take a postmodern view of "truth" and "experience", then whether a space is a (Brueggmannian) place is always already up for negotiation. Obvious examples are whether you find Stone Henge a "spiritual place" (and is that enough to people - even Christians - meeting there as a "church"?) or whether King's College Chapel, Winscombe parish church, a chapel in Iona, a mega-church in Orange County of the front room or your house is what leads you to "being church". In short, Brueggeman's definition - at least as presented above - is too modernist for my taste, and I think that if we insist on engaging with SecondLife with a modernist agenda, then we're sunk before we've begun.

Labels: church, secondlife

SecondLife and preaching

(backposting) Oh - I completely forget to post about the fact that Mark, a friend and member of the ministry team in Secondlife, had asked me to take the 1200 SLT (2000 BST) service in SecondLife. It's only the second service I'd taken in-world, and I was touched that James, the other Halstead curate, turned up. I preached on the importance of the Sabbath - even if we don't take a legalistic view of every Sunday - and how we owe it to ourselves, our families, our work, and our God to take some rest and time out for ourselves. God did, after creating the Universe, and if _He_ can, so can we. And so should we.

I'd hoped to chat to people afterwards, but had serious problems afterwards. God gave me enough to take the service, and then made it clear that I had to follow the advice I'd just preached. So we went to bed.

Labels: preaching, secondlife

Misc

Busy day, had a haircut, missing the girls. Oh, and I discovered that one of the bishops who attended our Lambeth conference gig has signed up for SecondLife. Go him!

Labels: secondlife

The zoo (and Lambeth)

(backposting) This morning, we went to one of our favourite places for the girls: Colchester Zoo. Dad came along as well, and we all had a good time. Miri's now at an age where she can start to enjoy the animals, and she seemed particularly interested in the sea lions and piglets.

In the afternoon, Dad and I drove down to the Lambeth Conference, taking place at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus. I managed to get online, and a good connection to SL, and then we headed off to get some supper. Gareth (also on the SL ministry team) and I passed over 50 flyers around different bishops at their supper tables: I've never seen so much episcopal purple in one place. Lots of senior people, including, I noticed, the bishop of Sudan, who's in the news at the moment.

Here's a couple of paragraphs I wrote today to be read out at one of the SecondLife Anglican Cathedral services today:

Last night, members of the ministry team had the opportunity to speak to attendees at the Lambeth Conference. Numbers were small - as for many of the fringe events - but discussion was committed and deeply thoughtful. I can report that the Anglican Church is taking us very seriously, as well as the opportunities for mission in other online media. We need to think hard about what kind of church we want to be, with what responsibilities and duties, but the Church is listening, and will continue to listen. The attendees were unanimous in their opinion that our mission is both truly Christian and vital to the Church's future.

We have lots of work to do: but it's God's work, and he will give us strength and guidance! Hallelujah!

I still need to do lots of thinking about what's come out of this, but it's very positive. Thanks be to God!

Labels: family, ministry, secondlife, zoo

A miscellaneous day

Sennen came over for the morning, and he went with Jo to ballet and tap, though he sat most of it out, in the end. Trip to the park with him, Grenville (his Dad, who turned up for lunch - including strawberries!), Jo and Miri. Quite a lazy day, to the extent that you can be lazy with two 3 year olds and a 1 year old. Miri said "bread" and "lady" for the first times today. And I've got started on a presentation on Web 2.0 and SecondLife for the Lambeth Conference. And I've got a SecondLife meeting about it with the ministry team of the Anglican Cathedral there.

Labels: miscellaneous, secondlife

Daddy's squidgy ordination cake

Moo insisted that I take this picture and show it on my blog, simply because it looks like a cowpat. Things went wrong (separately) with not only the sponge, but also the icing. It tastes lovely, and meant that I had some fun Daddy-Jojo time, but it really looks pretty darn awful.

Things are taking off with SecondLife: more information to come, because nothing's official, but please keep an eye out.

Moo and I both took the day off today, which was lovely. We spent most of the morning together while Jo was at school and Mel looked after Miri, and after lunch at a pub we sent Mel home (with a bottle of wine which she probably _shouldn't_ have finished on her own this afternoon) to spend time together with the girls. It was a real holiday, and what we all needed, I think.

Although I get pretty upset at some of the Gafcon and anti-women bishops stuff, this is nothing compared to how riled Moo gets about it, so I've taken the step of inviting her to write piece for this blog. I'm not sure if she will, but I'm going to keep prodding. I've said she can write whatever she wants...

Lots of contact over the past 24 hours from friends around the ordination, which is great. Some good pictures up on Chris Newlands' pages on Facebook, if you can see them.

Oh, yes: this morning, Jo had asked if I'd take her to pre-school in my "priest's clothes", to which I'd agreed. It turned out that she meant my cassock, but I did consent to clerical shirt and collar. With it I wore what I'd have worn anyway: sandals, cut-off jeans, and mirror shades. "TV Comedy vicar" is how Moo labelled the look, somewhat hurtfully, I thought. I had to dash to the kennels to pick Buster up immediately after, and got accosted by someone there: "Ah, a vicar!" he said. I explained that I'm but a deacon, and it turns out that he's the vicar of Balsham, across the border in the Ely diocese. I'm going to have to get used to being stopped in odd places when I'm collared-up.

Last, but not least, my good friend Sally published a lovely post for me yesterday, to which I promised to link. Thank you, my friend.

Labels: church, food, ordination, secondlife, women

SecondLife Cathedral

(backposting) Woke up at 0545, 15 minutes before the alarm. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be meeting in Guildford at 0930 or 1030, so left lots of time. Even getting lost didn't stop me arriving before 0910, so I had a second breakfast, courtesy of the Bishop of Guildford and his wife.

The Bishop was hosting a conference on "Web 2.0 and the Church", to which Mark (Arkin Ariantho), Gareth (Gareth Janus), my Dad (with his church law hat on, metaphorically) and a variety of folks from i-church, the diocese of Guildford, and others (not all Anglicans) were invited.

Although it was mainly to talk about the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife, we were careful not to restrict ourselves to that. We had a tour of the cathedral, we talked about responsibilities, duties, team structures, authority, discipline, finances, resources, theology, succession, and just had a really, really productive meeting. We came up with four groups that will work on their respective pieces: charter/constitution group, legal group, resources group and theology group. I'm engaged with the first, and hope to work in the future on the fourth. I can't do justice in the blog to what a great and productive time we had, and how good it was to share communion with many of the people there. I think that the church - or at least parts of it - are really keen to engage, and see the developments we're part of as being of significant importance to the future of the church: more so than we have so far done ourselves.

At the end, some of us went to the pub for a drink. One of us collapsed, which was interesting. Not from alcohol - he just seemed to faint. I looked after him, called the ambulance, etc. People seemed surpised that I'd know what to do, but that Rescue Diver training just takes hold, I guess.

Labels: illness, secondlife

Frankie!

(backposting) Well, we'd not met little Frankie - Jim and Nina's new little one, and Florence's little brother - until now, but we drove to just the other side of Bedford and had a lovely time with them. Not the most welcoming pub in the world for kids, though I suspect it would have been better if the weather had improved, but it was great to see them all. Frank shares Jo's birthday, so it should at least be easy for us to remember when it's coming.

I was supposed to have a ministry meeting for SecondLife tonight, but was absolutely shattered, so we both went to bed early.

Labels: family, secondlife

Pastoral work

Sometimes you need to reach out, and I offered someone on SecondLife my phone number to talk. She called, and we spent nearly 1 hour on the phone. Mainly, she just needed to chat, and that's fine. I actually can listen...

The girls have been away today with Moo at her parents. Mostly, I've been studying for my (last!) ERMC essay, doing lots of reading around the family and marriage, but I've also walked the dog, put the washing through, hoovered and general stuff. It's been lonely without Moo and the girls around.

Labels: girls, pastoral care, secondlife

SecondLife

Check out the Ulfilas project. Good stuff going on, and it's interesting.

Labels: christianity, inclusiveness, secondlife

Doctor

(backposting) Someone went to the doctor today, and should start getting better soon. Well done...

Had a good chat with Mark today, who's working with me on SecondLife. We're part of a working group within what could be broadly be described as the Anglican Establishment (the capital "E" makes it seem more imposting, doesn't it?) that's looking at some of the legal and theological issues that arise. We don't often talk - the fact that he's in New Zealand make it difficult - but we overlapped for a while today, which was useful. We're preparing for a mini-conference, and wanted to coordinate, so I've got to send him some stuff, and now that I've talked to another member of the working group, to give him some info, too. Useful conversation.

Labels: humour, illness, secondlife

SecondLife

Beginning to try to get some ducks in a row to arrange some theologians to help discuss issues around online religion, SecondLife, etc.. I've now got some good ones to try to track down... If you know of good theologians in this area, please let me know!

Jo not vomiting anymore, but running a temperature, has a rash, emotional, etc.. No sign of anything with Miri, luckily.

Poor Moo's very tired at the moment: she spends every spare hour at a project in Southend-on-Sea, where they're trying to recruit some management. Hopefully when that's done, things should calm down somewhat.

Labels: Moo, secondlife, theology

SecondLife - a paper

In November, I had to write an essay on fresh expressions of Church, and chose to do it on the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife. I got the essay back this weekend, and as it was pretty well received, I've decided to publish the second part - in a somewhat edited format - as a contribution to discussions about SecondLife and online religion.

It is entitled The Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife: is it a successful "fresh expression of Church"?, and I welcome comments.

Labels: secondlife, theology

Ash Wednesday in SecondLife

I didn't get a chance to attend a service today, but happened to log into SecondLife 15 minutes before one of the ministry team was due to start a service, so I stayed around.

I'd forgotten what a powerful service you can have around Ash Wednesday, and this was one of them. I listened to the Allegri Miserere and Tallis Lamentations in the background and found myself in tears a couple of times. I spent most of the service on my knees: it just felt right.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem: convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum."

God, yes.

Christ, yes.

Labels: Lent, secondlife

Canons B1-B43

(backposting) I read all the Church of England's "B" canons today, in preparation for a weekend at London Colney with ERMC. They are all about what services should - and must - be celebrated within the Church of England, what's allowed, and what's not. My Dad's Liturgy, Order and the Law is pretty much the definitive guide, it seems, and I've inherited something of an interest. There is certainly relevance to what we can and can't do within the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife, although part of the question we're looking at is exactly which of the canons are relevant, and which aren't: these are the Canons of the Church of England, remember, and SecondLife is international, as is the group that comprises the Anglicans on it. Insisting, for instance, that all services are conducted in English might be inappropriate: but what languages _should_ be allowed? The doctrine behind this insistence is that all attending should be able to understand (hence Welsh is allowed in Wales in certain circumstances). Most of the members of the Anglican group in SL have English as their first language, but not all: and would we want to restrict ourselves? So, these are the sorts of questions we need to tackle.

Did all the ironing, watched Samuel L. Jackson's fantastic performance in The Negotiator, went to bed around midnight.

Labels: church, ERMC, films, secondlife

SecondLife and the virtual self

(backposting) I went to a lecture in Chelmsford Cathedral today: "The Virtual Self". The lecturer, though providing some decent quotes from Baudrillard and making some comparisons with the images in Plato's cave which I liked a lot, was generally very negative about SecondLife and the rest. I didn't like the fact that he spent a lot of time talking about people with clear issues IRL, and then how much time they spend in-world, or how different their avatars are from their "real" bodies. He talked about idolatry a lot, and addiction.

There were questions at the end, and I was one of those who stepped up. I made three points:

1. that everyone there is very welcome to join us at that Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife, that we hold services and prayers meetings and have pastoral encounters
2. that Baudrillard would say that they growth of the "imagined" other self dates from at least the invention of the printed book, and that every time we make a phonecall or write an email, we're imagining a self, and employing a persona. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and no-one - not even ourselves - can truly know the "real" us, except God. The imagined selves that we present are part of who we are and how we engage with the world as it is now, and although there are dangers, there are opportunities, too.
3. that we have a duty as Christians to step out and engage with people wherever they are, and that not only are there lots of normal people there, but they are very ready to engage in spiritual and theological encounters - more so than is often the case IRL. And they are _young_ people, who the established churches have problems interacting with generally...

I wasn't the only person to stand up and make positive points, but the people there were mainly in their 50s or above, and this was all pretty new to them. And frightening, from the way he talked about it.

I was flabbergasted, by the way, that he felt in a position to talk about, and criticise, MMOs (and social networking sites like Facebook, which he painted with the same brush!), despite never having visited any of them.

Ah, and my first night on my own with the girls (Mel baby-sat until I got home).

Labels: secondlife, theology

Tomorrow already

According to my laptop, it's already tomorrow. Which means, I suppose, that I'll be home today. My laptop's on UK time, my watch is on East Coast time, and, to be honest, I'm not quite sure which one I'm one - leaning towards the latter, I think. It's never much fun coming back eastwards - the jetlag hits your harder - but hopefully it won't be too bad this time.

I've had a productive trip, all in all, and though one of the tasks I'd hoped to achieve was less successful than I'd hoped, the other went very well, and I've got lots of other things done as well, which is always pleasing. I've got lots of writing up and new work to do when I get home, so that'll keep me pretty busy.

I've spent some time this evening responding to a document discussing some of the legal issues around services in SecondLife, which is quite exciting. I was also very touched to be invited to the ordination of a good friend. Unluckily it's in New Zealand next month, so I don't think I'm going to get the chance to attend, which is a pity.

On a geeky note, I've just managed to install compiz on my laptop, which rocks. Lots of lovely 3D desktop effects, etc. which I'm looking forward to applying to my desktop machine at home as well. There are some performance problems which I need to address, but that's all part of the fun: tuning is definitely part of the deal.

Well, on a plane soon, then home.

Labels: geekery, secondlife, travel, work

Football!

(backposting) Not only were my parents-in-law at Anfield today watching the Derby match (a nil-all draw, but they were in the hospitality suite and were treated like royalty so had a great time) but we had more football (ranging from 2-a-side to an mean average of 3.5-a-side) at Ditchingham which was lots of fun.

The day was mainly spent doing work on verbatims. I'd presented one about SecondLife, and the other 5 in my group were very supportive and helpful. The other ones were fascinating, and it was an excellent day. It was really hard work listening, reflecting and feeding back, but very worthwhile indeed.

The music at the evening worship was excellent: Tavener, Moore and Holst.

Labels: ERMC, football, secondlife

SecondLife

I'm trying to get to speak to a Linden in SecondLife to discuss some stuff related to the work we want to do as Anglicans, but either timing is out, or there are technical problems, so it's been a little frustrating. It doesn't help that the main folks are on the West Coast (of the US), so we're 9 hours out.

Labels: secondlife

Apologising to the Archbishop of Canterbury

I attended a meeting today with the Bishop of Guildford and his communications officer on SecondLife, and what we should/could be doing there, alongside the leader of the Anglicans in SecondLife group, Mark Brown. We had a fantastic discussion, which should bear lots of fruit, and I had a good chat afterwards with Mark, who'd never met IRL before.

Beforehand, I turned up early to work out where to go, and phoned Mark to give him directions. I was standing in a corridor, giving suggestions down the phone, when who should walk towards me but Rowan Williams. He was chatting to somebody else, and I felt a little rude being on the phone in his palace, so finished the call and said "sorry" as he went past. He raised his eyebrows in a forgiving kind of a way, so I think we made a connection.

Labels: anglicans, secondlife

Lessons learnt

We ended up going to Trebarwith again, and had a lovely time. We arrived a little early, as the tide was still pretty much in, but it went out fairly fast, and we installed ourselves on the sand. Moo spent most of the time on a little chair we bought (apparently it's difficult to breastfeed on the sand) for her. Miri spent most of the time feeding and sleeping and gurgling. Jo spent most of the time running around saying "I love it" again. We found a green millipede, two different types of anemone, limpets, a sea louse, some small fish, barnacles, lots of mussels and some small waves to jump over. The bigger waves were a little too scary, obviously, but I was allowed to spent a few minutes in them later in the day.

Jo got a little cold and tired, and lost it rather, which was quite understandable. She's still not well, obviously, which doesn't help. Lots of running around in the garden again "I'm a bear", "now I'm a tiger", "you hide: no, let's both hide: here. Boo!" You get the idea.

Dad phoned me this morning to tell me to buy The Times. Hard to do, obviously, but a brief article about how the Jesuits are telling Catholics to embrace SecondLife for missionary work. Good for them.

Oh - and I forgot to mention. On Friday, Miri giggled for the first time, and then laughed. It's the first time, and it was for me, which was lovely.

Labels: holiday, illness, secondlife

Misc. post

(backposting) Bits and pieces:

• we're starting to look at the legal issues around holding services in SecondLife. Maybe it's because the Anglican church is a little bureaucratic, but there are some really interesting and complicated problems and issues. Personally, I'm quite happy that there are questions to be asked and answered, and not worried about the bureaucratic side: if we can be safe and know we're coming from, we'll be stronger in the future.
• my Wii age was back up to 37, but as I turn 37 next month, I'm less worried about it. Had a nightmare on the bowling tests, as it happens.
• I've been looking at the ERMC summer school programme, which looks interesting. I'm down to take part in a service for only the second occasion in my time on the course. And it's leading a Methodist service. Should be interesting.
• Miri had a nightmare evening last night. Teeth or stomach: we don't know, but she cried almost incessantly for around 3 hours. We ate in front of the TV (in shifts) and then watched Harry Potter DVDs with subtitles on.
• Jo slept all the way through the night without coming in to us, so got 2 stickers on her chart, and 2 for her top. Very pleased (as were we).
• is there something wrong with the freezer in the cat kitchen?

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, miscellaneous, secondlife

Disappointment, but affirmation

Up at 0515, which really wasn't great. The SecondLife ervice started a little after 0805 - I'd managed to get the streaming working at around 0755 (having woken Moo up at 0730 to look after Jo, though the former had also been up at 0315 for Miri - why?), but it didn't seem to work for anyone else, so we went without. We had a congregation of around half a dozen, I was robed in a cassock, and was ready with cut and paste for a complete BCP Mattins. The only parts which I didn't cut and paste were the intercessions - I invited suggestions from the congregation, and we ended up paying for a goth outreach for Birmingham Cathedral, the Anglican communion and other issues and people - and the sermon, which I constructed as we went. I'd done some preparation, obviously, and preached on condemnation, starting off with Mary Magdalene, who is commemorated today. I talked about condemning the sin, not the person ("I look out in front of me, and I see sinners. But then again, I look in the mirror, and I see a sinner, too"). I really enjoyed preaching, and got some feedback during the sermon, too.

Hopefully someone's videoed the service. If so, I'll probably make bits available.

Had an interesting conversation with a member of the congregation afterwards. A non-believer, but interested. Brought in partly due to his interest in physics and creation. Need to think about it. I've said I'm very happy to talk more about science and religion if he'd like - I have some background in the subject.

Finished the Harry Potter around 1100 (I've been busy, which is why it took over 24 hours), have so far failed to find anyone to talk to about it, who's also finished it. No spoilers, but it's a very good ending, more deaths than I'd expected. Got a little sad towards the end...

We've been so tired today. Cafe Clare for brunch, played in the playground there, back home, played with Jo. I had a bit of a sleep (Moo had tried before, but been kept awake by the Miri monster), then took Jo for a lovely swim. I see what Moo means about her really getting it. With a backfloat on, she's really capable - can go quite fast and steer, as well.

Bath: Jo didn't want her hair washed, but went to sleep in under 2 minutes.

Labels: books, reading, saint, secondlife

God be thankit for geekery!

I hope to be able to stream and text the service tomorrow at 0800. Recompilation, after lots of failed attempts. God gives gifts (and then forces us to use them).

Labels: geekery, secondlife

Very tired

Not much sleep last night, and a busy day today with Jo. Still managed to read over half the Harry Potter.

I'm also taking Mattins in SL at the Anglican Cathedral at 0800 BST (12 midnight SL time). Please join me.

Labels: reading, secondlife, services

Getting younger

I love the Wii, I'm afraid. Yesterday, I managed to drop my age from 64 to 63. Today I did the test stone-cold sober (and with some practice), and I'm down to 45. This is better. But a little tragic, to be honest.

Si and Morgan came round. We enjoyed the tennis, the baseball, and particularly the golf. Si's already bidding on eBay.

On another topic, I really enjoyed the service last night. There were some problems with the streaming, but the bits that did work were really effective, and I'm hoping to lead a similar service next Sunday, again in the cathedral in SecondLife.

Labels: secondlife, wii

Turning over a new...

... baby. Miri's three months and 2 days old today, and turned over from her back onto her front today for the first time. She's been close to it for a while, but this was the first actual event.

Church in the morning (Long Melford), Clare craft fair (where I had a pint of Nethergate's Augustinian while eating some lunch in the grounds of the Augustinian priory. Very fitting.

Up for over an hour during the night trying to get Jo back to sleep. She was adamant that she wanted to sleep in my bed (she'd assumed that I'd moved into the spare room, though I hadn't by that stage), and I was adamant that she wasn't going to. I prevailed, but, as I said, it took an hour.

We'll be holding our first service in the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife at 8pm UK time, 12noon SecondLife time (PST). You're very welcome to join us.

Labels: church, Jo, miriam, secondlife

A SecondLife Utopia

For those who don't know it, SecondLife is a virtual world where you can interact in 3D with other people. Each person has an avatar, which you can dress up, change the looks - even appear as a different animal or fantasy creature. People and organisations can own land, build structures, exhibit art, sell and buy property, furniture and art, vehicles, objects and intellectual property. Universities, companies, charities and churches are provides services (pun intended) worldwide.

But why do people take part in SecondLife? The obvious joke is that you don't need SecondLife if you have a first life. And it's true that many people use SecondLife as a way out of the life that's outside. SecondLife gives people a chance to look how they want, to build what they want, to live in the sort of environment that they want, and to present the personality that they want.

And SecondLife is, almost by definition, a no-place (the Greek root of the word) - you can be whatever you need to be. But I'd argue that this isn't always a bad thing. A chance to explore what you can be - as long as you're honest to yourself and God - may be a good thing. There are some very exciting things going on in a church sense in SecondLife. An example which I'm involved in is the Anglican Church in SecondLife. We're building a community, are planning services, and have an amazing mediaeval cathedral on our own island. We have a leadership team committed not only to liturgy, but also to the pastoral as well.

And the pastoral comes up more than you might expect. For a variety of reasons which I think it would be very interesting to examine, many people seem very open to pastoral or faith-based experiences in SecondLife. Opportunities to talk about faith - with people from a huge range of traditions - come up fairly frequently. It's not always when you expect it, or want it, but when it comes, you need to embrace it.

There are dangers to SecondLife, certainly, but opportunities. There are circumstances in which it could be destructive - and there's gambling and sex and pornography there in ways that are difficult to reconcile with faith - but it can be positive, too. A no-place can be a what-place, a who-place, and a how-place.

Synchroblog

Today is a "synchroblog" on the subject of "Utopia". If you've liked what you read here, or, more particularly, if you didn't, and you'd like to read some other opinions, please visit one of the other participating blogs:

• Steve Hayes at Notes from the Underground
• John Morehead at John Morehead's Musings
• Nudity, Innocence, and Christian Distopia at Phil Wyman's Square No More
• Utopia Today: Living Above Consumerism at Be the Revolution
• Nowhere Will Be Here at Igneous Quill
• A This-Worldly Faith at Elizaphanian
• Bridging the Gap at Calacirian
• The Ostrich and the Utopian Myth at Decompressing Faith
• Being Content in the Present at One Hand Clapping
• Eternity in their Hearts by Tim Abbott
• Relationship - The catch-22 of the Internet Utopia at Jeremiah's Blog
• U-topia or My-topia? at On Earth as in Heaven
• A SecondLife Utopia at Mike's Musings
• Mrs. Brown and the Kingdom of God at Eternal Echoes

Labels: secondlife, synchroblog

SecondLife

(backposting) We had our first ministry team meeting for the Anglicans in SecondLife group today. A good representation from across the globe, including some good discussions of what we're doing, what we plan to do, and what we're _not_ planning to do. Among the last is a Eucharist. The theological questions around it are quite complex, and we want to probe them, but, for the moment, we think it's safer not to push the boundaries - and neither, I think, do any of us feel happy theologically or pastorally about doing so.

The group was interested to hear that we've made contact with The Ecclesiastical Law Society, and look forward to discussing various issues with them. They seem keen to engage with what's happening online, and in particular with SecondLife, so I'm looking forward to more involvement there.

Labels: secondlife, theology

Canada

So, I'm now in Canada, after a 7 and a half hour flight. Heathrow was busy, but quieter than I'd expected, given the terrorist attacks (and attempted attacks) over the weekend. Most important, everything was moving.

It's now 0015 local time, and I've just spent quite some time doing SecondLife stuff - we've got a leadership team forming, which is great news. I'm already doing some community liaison work, which is great.

Must get some food now, as I'm getting hungry...

Labels: secondlife, travel

SecondLife

I've joined "Inclusive Anglicans", and "Anglicans of Second Life" have just got our 100th member. Yay!

Labels: secondlife

Lapsed, and in SecondLife

I couple of days ago someone contacted me about some scripting in SecondLife, and we got together last night. In the end, all the stuff she wanted to do just worked, so there was nothing for me to do, but we got chatting afterwards about what we do in SecondLife. The Christianity thing - and ordination - came up, and we had a fascinating talk. She described herself as "a lapsed Anglican", and we got chatting about why. There were a number of things, including Bush and Blair (who call themselves Christians), the "yes-man" attitude of all the priests she's known, the "safeness" and "utterly unspiritual" nature of church in her experience, and problems reconciling the Old and New Testaments. She felt that doubting, or asking questions, wasn't acceptable, and was surprised by my opposite views: I hold the opinion that we have a responsibility (to God) to ask questions and to delve into the mysteries of the world and of theology. We had a good discussion, and I hope that, if nothing else, she feels that the church isn't as anodyne and hypocritical as she previously thought.

If you're reading this, I hope this is a fair description: I'll see you in SL...

Labels: christianity, secondlife

SecondLife

(backposting) I did some serious scripting today: it was difficult, partly because there's rather less API documentation available than I'd like, but I got a script done that I was rather pleased with.

Also today - Moo lost it a bit. She's really stressed about the amount of formula that Miriam's taken, particularly as she can't yet give her enough breastmilk. Surely there's something wrong with an hour and a half of feeding from the breast? Under duress (from me), she phoned a helpline, and ended up speaking to Jackie, one of the breastfeeding counsellors who she'd spoken to last week. Lots of support - but I still needed to take Miriam out for an hour this evening to allow Moo a bit of time to herself this evening for some packing.

I'm getting used to walking Buster in the rain - listening to music on headphones (renaissance sacred music is a _great_ counterpoint to the hilarious Goldie Looking Chain (not for the faint of heart or language).

Labels: miriam, secondlife

SecondLife developments

There's now a blog for the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife. The exciting news is that we've been offered some money to buy an entire island to support the ministry, by a Christian (not an Anglican, as it happens) in New Zealand. Mark Brown (Arkin) is unsurprisingly overjoyed, and at a meeting (which I missed, unluckily), members of the "Anglicans in SecondLife" group agreed that we should go ahead with a purchase.

There is talk of services, more building, theology groups, the works. We're rushing ahead, which is fantastic, and trying to work out how to organise ourselves. It's going to be fascinating, and hard work - how to deal with the logistical, organisational, not to mention political and theological issues. What about a Eucharist, for instance? I'm really looking forward to being involved.

Labels: mission, secondlife

Feeding

8 minutes went well: we hope to try a little longer today.

Introduced my Dad to SecondLife today: he didn't really get it, to be honest.

Oh, and the dog woke us up this morning at 0320. Turns out he was scared because he had hiccups...

Labels: family, miriam, secondlife

Back home with Moo and Miriam

All well, and all home. The paediatric SHO who checked Miriam over before we left wanted a Registrar to check her over as well, but it turned out to be nothing, so we left and got home around 2pm. Jo's been fantastic with Miri (which is how we're shortening Miriam), though she's needing to understand appropriate levels of physicality! She's a little discombobulated, but who wouldn't be, and all in all, we're really happy with her. The next few days are devoted to rest, rest, rest for as many people as possible.

SecondLife

Yesterday, I popped into SecondLife. There, I met my friend Sophianne, and she gave me a fantastic present: a place to call my own. I've been debating whether I want to start renting anywhere in SL : it's a big commitment, particularly as I don't know how much time I can devote to it, and it costs real money, too. Sophianne has gifted me a place of my own in SL, part of a tented community in Koinonia, and has even given me some money to spend. I'm overwhelmed by her generosity. This is a community where land is a basic commodity, and just to be gifted something is very kind. I was also very touched that Arkin has said that when the Anglican cathedral is built, that I should consider it there for me to use whenever I want.

This all coincided with Radio 4's Sunday Service, which came from St Pixels. The online is becoming increasingly important to me from a Christian point of view - consider also the Synchrobloggers - and I'm wondering how to make a sensible, manageable commitment to that. SecondLife alone has had over 1.5 million people logging in over the past 60 days, from a community of 5.5 million: it's a very active place, and there are lots of opportunity for mission - in the broadest sense.

Labels: Jo, miriam, Moo, secondlife

SecondLife

I popped round to SecondLife yesterday. The group of Anglicans there is starting to build a cathedral, which is pretty cool. Arkin, who runs BrownBlog is very keen to be developing a ministry in SecondLife, and has asked me to be involved. I'm really keen, but I'm not sure how it's going to work. Partly, I think we need to find a well-defined mission - and there are _so_ many opportunities in SecondLife, don't get me wrong - partly, I need to work out how much time I can commit, and how regular I can make it.

Labels: anglicans, secondlife

Good Friday

(backposting) For me, this is the most theologically charged day of the Christian calendar. For reasons not worth enumerating, I knew from early in the day that I wasn't going to get a chance to go to a church service, which was difficult. I managed, however, to find 20 minutes or so to sit down with my laptop and listen to Tallis' "Lamentations of Jeremiah", streamed from home. We need to take the spiritual comfort we can, when we can, and this saw me through.

We had a good day, and the evening's meal ended up with my trying to explain the intricacies of the Anglican hierarchy to the assembled throng -

• Mac: I don't see why we don't just call all priests "vicars"
• Me: For the same reason that we don't call all doctors "GPs"

- and then talking about vocation - mine, and others. It was interesting, and an important part of my ministry, I think: to be open to the questions and probings of those around with little faith or none, but at least showing an interest.

Managed to make the end of a party in SecondLife to mark the opening of a new area for faith groups called Koinonia. Only stayed for a while, but caught up with a few friends, listened to the live music, etc., so at least I made an appearance.

Good Friday - some theology

Looking back on this post, I thought that I ought to spend a little time talking about why Good Friday is so theologically charged for me. There are other candidates, of course: Christmas, when the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us; Easter, when Christ rose again from the dead in glory; Pentecost, when the disciples, remaining behind, unsure and leaderless, were gifted with the Holy Spirit and given a reality to their commission. These are the most obvious, but for me, it has to be Good Friday. Without the death of Christ on the cross, none of the rest of it would make sense, or have any substance. It is the rending of the curtain of the temple, the destruction of the split between heaven and earth, the kenosis, the moment when, in death, Jesus, a man, suffered and became Christ, our God. I should qualify that last statement: I don't mean that Jesus was not God before his death on the cross - that way lies heresy! - but that this moment is where the reality is revealed, the single moment of history on which the rest of the created order turns.

Easter is now possible: Christ, the propitiation for our sins, can rise in glory (but what a tear-obscured rising in the garden!). Christmas suddenly makes sense: there is a reason why God has made an appearance. And Pentecost is where we, God's church, need to take over the witness.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem: convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem: turn to the Lord your God.

Labels: Christ, death, music, party, secondlife, theology

Seminar

On placements. A bit scary. I'm wondering whether I should see if I can do one in SecondLife. Hmm.

Labels: ERMC, secondlife

SecondLife

After reading an interesting article in The Tablet (the UK's Roman Catholic weekly) suggested by Keith, I decided a couple of days ago to go back into SecondLife, which I've not visited recently. The article lambasted the use of online communities as a direct challenge to the ecclesia of Christians in the real world (or "IRL", as I'd put it). This hasn't been my experience of SecondLife, where I've found real community - and Christian support - and I wanted to see if that was still the case.

In fact, there's more Christianity evident than when I was last there, including a group of Anglicans, a "Chaplain's Corp", and several churches. There's sometimes some robust theological debate too - and it's interesting to join in. So, I'm going to participate when I can - unluckily it's often late by UK time, but we'll see how it goes.

Labels: online, secondlife