We're living in the Twilight Zone
October 13, 2011
Yesterday I went out for coffee with a new guy in our church. He was asking about what I'd been reading and, for some unknown reason, I started to talk to him about the whole James Macdonald/ TD Jakes gate. It was like an epiphany moment in lots of ways. I began talking about the gospel coalition, which he had no idea about, then James Macdonald whom he'd never heard of. TD Jakes was a completely foreign name and when we got to the elephant room, I could see he was losing the will to live.
It was then that I suddenly realised he neither cares nor needs me to be telling him about this. I used to love the game Championship Manager. It's a computer game where you are the manager of a football (soccer) team and you buy and sell players, manage their training and fitness. Some of the players you are managing are real but in the main they are imaginary. The actual games are speeded up but, still, to play out a whole season of 50 games with all the negotiating and off field activities takes days, even weeks. Where it becomes interesting is when you meet someone after church who is also interested in Championship Manager; you begin to talk about signing players that don't really exist. You become excited and animated about games that didn't happen, fitness regimes that don't take place, and potential signings that only exist in the minds of those who play a game that isn't real. At this point when someone walks up who has never played Championship Manager they think you've lost your mind. You're talking about something that's not real, about people who don't exist, whom you'll never meet.
As I related my internet heroics and my friend's eyes glazed over I realised how far from the pack I'd strayed. James Macdonald, for all he knew, could have been Ronald Macdonald but the internet has had such effect that issues he has with something called the 'elephant' room become issues I'm involved with on the other side of the world in a bizarre manner. As a leader in Christ's church I have to guard the flock and be aware of the nonsense that is out there. I want my people to be crystal clear on what the Trinity is and why it matters so very much. It's not good enough to say you can be saved without people knowing about the Trinity. We need church leaders who will be crystal clear on it and fight for it but I also have to realise that there are times when people have no need to know what is going on in my little subcultural world on the internet. I have to recognise that there is a sense where the Christian blogging world bears an uncanny resemblance to Championship manager.
It was then that I suddenly realised he neither cares nor needs me to be telling him about this. I used to love the game Championship Manager. It's a computer game where you are the manager of a football (soccer) team and you buy and sell players, manage their training and fitness. Some of the players you are managing are real but in the main they are imaginary. The actual games are speeded up but, still, to play out a whole season of 50 games with all the negotiating and off field activities takes days, even weeks. Where it becomes interesting is when you meet someone after church who is also interested in Championship Manager; you begin to talk about signing players that don't really exist. You become excited and animated about games that didn't happen, fitness regimes that don't take place, and potential signings that only exist in the minds of those who play a game that isn't real. At this point when someone walks up who has never played Championship Manager they think you've lost your mind. You're talking about something that's not real, about people who don't exist, whom you'll never meet.
As I related my internet heroics and my friend's eyes glazed over I realised how far from the pack I'd strayed. James Macdonald, for all he knew, could have been Ronald Macdonald but the internet has had such effect that issues he has with something called the 'elephant' room become issues I'm involved with on the other side of the world in a bizarre manner. As a leader in Christ's church I have to guard the flock and be aware of the nonsense that is out there. I want my people to be crystal clear on what the Trinity is and why it matters so very much. It's not good enough to say you can be saved without people knowing about the Trinity. We need church leaders who will be crystal clear on it and fight for it but I also have to realise that there are times when people have no need to know what is going on in my little subcultural world on the internet. I have to recognise that there is a sense where the Christian blogging world bears an uncanny resemblance to Championship manager.
