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United Church in the Valley: Aug. 21, 2016
Student Minister: Matthew Heesing
“Pokémon Go and God’s Possibility!”
Scripture Readings
Genesis 28: 10-16:
[A long time ago, a man named Jacob wandered the desert.]
He left the land of Beersheba, and set out for Haran.
When Jacob reached a certain place,
he stopped and spent the night there.
When the sun had set, he took one of the stones at that place
and put it near his head. Then he lay down.
He dreamed and saw a raised staircase,
its foundation on earth and its top touching the sky,
and God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it.
Suddenly, the Lord was standing on it, and saying
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth;
you will spread out to the west, east, north and south.
Every family of earth will be blessed
because of you and your descendants.
I am with you now,
I will protect you everywhere you go,
and I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised.”
When Jacob woke up from his sleep, he thought:
“Surely—apparently!—the Lord is in this place,
and I was not aware of it.”
Mark 16: 15a (MSG):
After the resurrection,
Jesus appeared among his disciples.
He said to them:
“Go out into the world.
Go everywhere and announce
the message of God’s good news to one and all.”
Sermon on Following Page.
Sermon:
Has anybody here heard of Pokémon Go?
Released last month,
Pokémon Go is a game for your mobile phone
with over 140 million daily users.
That’s right: 140 million daily users,
making it a viral, global phenomenon,
the latest fad,
the most popular app ever produced.
In fact, within just a few weeks,
the game was valued around 3 billion dollars,
bringing in over a million dollars a day in revenue.
In more ways than one,
Pokémon Go is a pretty big deal.
But for those unfamiliar with language of
PokeStops and Pikachu’s,
Eggs and Evolution,
Polywag’s and Pidgeotto’s,
here’s a fairly simple primer:
Pokémon Go requires players to walk around with their phones,
hoping to find and capture
all kinds of colorful, mythical creatures called Pokémon.
When you catch one, you can train it, teach it,
and take it to a nearby PokeGym to compete against other players.
In essence, it’s a high-tech scavenger hunt:
with 150 varieties of Pokémon available,
every individual wants to “catch ‘em all”—
and in the process, become a Pokémon Master.
You might be wondering,
what’s the point?
Or, at the very least,
what’s the meaning for my life,
why is Matthew telling us this,
how does this impact our community of faith?
First, Pokémon Go is part of our culture:
the world outside our walls
which we are called to serve, and love and learn about.
Pokémon Go is having an impact
on lifestyles, relationships, recreation, even careers—
and we ought to be informed, engaged, and curious.
Second, the United Church in the Valley is part of Pokémon Go;
Lewis Memorial, this physical place,
plays an important role in this popular game.
Major landmarks in every town and city are transformed within the app,
automatically associated as PokeStops or Gyms.
Maybe you’ve seen the sign at Sheep River Library,
saying “This is a PokeStop, come in and play!”
Likewise, this very building has become a Gym:
a geographical area to compete and claim a team.
So if you see kids sitting on the front steps,
or adults driving slowly down the road,
or people on the picnic bench, playing on their phones,
now you understand.
But third,
there’s a few similarities between this fad and our journey of faith.
In fact, I want to consider three ways
that this emerging game
both reflects and reminds us of our calling:
our calling as Christians, as we follow the way of Christ.
To start, Pokémon Go is all about seeing more.
When you play Pokémon Go,
you experience an Augmented Reality.
Augmented Reality, or AR, for short,
is a form of technology that enhances our perception of reality:
expanding what we see, hear, and experience.
When it comes to Pokémon Go,
you play the game using your cell phone,
walking around just like this,
looking at life through the lens of your camera.
And once you find a Pokémon,
it will pop up on your screen,
making it look like the creature is actually in front of you,
as if they were in the same location.
Here’s some examples.
[Show pictures from Pokémon Go screenshots]
You see your normal surroundings,
but you also see something more.
Reality is enhanced:
as if Pokémon were in this place, in every place,
and we were not aware of it.
Pokémon Go is all about seeing more:
noticing something extra,
an augmented reality,
an awareness of something you’d previously missed.
This morning, we heard the story of Jacob in the desert,
who dreamed and saw a staircase,
who saw the Lord stand on it and say:
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants
the land on which you are laying….
I am with you now,
I will protect you everywhere you go,
and I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised.”
Wow.
That’s an augmented reality unlike any other.
Jacob’s perspective is expanded,
his eyes opened wider,his world blown open:
He sees something bigger, greater, more:
a deeper reality than the one before his eyes,
a divine presence he had never before noticed.
In a place of uncertainty, he now sees security,
in a space of scarcity, he can now see abundance.
Jacob suddenly perceives God’s promise,
sees the source of love surrounding him:
“Surely—apparently!”—he proclaims,
“The Lord is in this place,
and I was not aware of it.”
And we also heard from the Gospel of Mark,
where Jesus appears to his disciples after the resurrection.
The risen Christ appears!
And however you understand that,
we know what happens next;
we know these first Christians could now see something more.
In front of their eyes,
pops up possibility:
the world, as they knew it,
as they’dpreviously viewed it,
would never be the same.
Surrounded by death,they suddenly see life.
Light, in the midst of darkness.
They start to see hope,in a setting of despair.
From the start,
following Christ has always involved seeing more:
more to life than materialism,
more to our identity than individualism,
more to the universe than only us:
a larger, greater, source of love
that we call God:
a God that is with us,
for us, within and around us,
making all things new.
But sometimes we forget:
we think small, and self-centered.
We focus inward, on ourselves;
we fixate on the lack, the little things,
we look through the lens of fear, instead of faith.
Sin distorts our vision,
and a diminished, not augmented, reality is the result.
So People of God,
any time you play Pokémon Go,
or come across someone on the front steps with their phone,
may it be a reminder, as Christians,
that we are also called to see something more.
But any Pokémon Go player knows
that you can’t see more from inside.
In fact, the whole point of the game is found in the title:
Pokémon Go!
This is not an indoors experience;
you can’t catch any creatures cooped up,
on the couch, and behind closed doors.
Players are encouraged to
“Get up, get out, and explore,” proclaims the homepage:
to exit their house,exercise outdoors,
walk around their neighborhoods,to wander outside.
Pokémon Go is all about seeing more and stepping out:
stepping out the door,
steppingout into the world.
As disciples of Christ, we are called to do the same:
In the reading from Mark,Jesus says to those gathered
“Go out into the world.
Go everywhere,” he exhorts,
from right outside your door to around the globe,
small-town sidewalks to big-city streets.
Step outside, explore, engage, get active and involved.
But so often, we do the opposite.
Instead of stepping out, we stay in.
We conceal ourselves in closed-off rooms,
safe, content, and comfortable behind closed doors.
We get stuck, static, scared of the future—
so we seek security in seclusiveness,
safety in exclusiveness.
We remain apathetic, uninvolved—
avoidingcertain issues—even our neighbors—
all the while hiding under the radar,
removed from the wider world.
But following Christ
necessitates stepping out:
stepping out of our sanctuary,
our physical buildings,
but also our comfort zones,
our familiar routines.
“Go out into the world.
Go everywhere,” urges Jesus:
even the unknown.
So People of God,
any time you play Pokémon Go,
or see someone with their phone, wandering the streets,
may it be a reminder, as Christians,
that we are also called to step out.
But what happens next?
When we see more,
when we step out,
how do we respond?
We share.
That’s the third similarity with Pokémon Go:
sharing the experience.
Those of you who have heard of Pokémon Go—
how did you hear? From whom did you hear?
Perhaps it was a grandchild, excited to show this new game.
(And probably asking you to download it on your phone!).
Maybe it was a fellow parent,
a friend that was fascinated with this fad.
For me it was my brother—and my mother.
It’s hard not to hear about this new phenomenon:
it’s on the news, it’s on the internet,
advertised on library entrances,
impossible to avoid in public parks and playgrounds.
There’s an incredible energy,
an irresistible enthusiasm,
when it comes to Pokémon Go:
people are excited to talk about it!
Players want to swap advice,
show off their collection,
share the experience.
As followers of Christ,
we are summoned to do the same:
“Go out into the world,” says Jesus,
“Go everywhere and announce
the message of God’s good news to one and all.”
Express your excitement, insinuates Jesus:
get jazzed up and joyful,
filled with fascination,
unafraid of the E-word—Evangelism!—
of announcing the message of God’s good news.
Strike up a conversation,
ask a question,
tell your story:
share your experience of the Gospel,
of feeling God’s grace,
of finding community.
In your actions and words,
revealthis augmented reality,
go out and share with others how you see more,
what you find in faith:
not fantasy creatures on your cell phone,
but something even more inspiring:
hope, and life,
light, and wholeness,
the infinite possibility of God.
Imagine the effect,
if we went out with as much excitement,
enthusiasm, willingness to engage,
as those playing the game of Pokémon Go.
People would get curious!We’d catch people’s attention!
We’d foster community, promote a common purpose;
We would point others to the presence of God—
for the Lord is in this place,
in every place,
even when others aren’t aware of it.
People of God,
may we open our eyes:
not to imaginary Pokémon,
but to God’s possibility,
an Augmented Reality all around us.
May we go out into the world:
embarking beyond our buildings,
the world outside these walls,
with courage and faith
in the one who calls us forth.
And with enthusiastic energy,
may we share what we see:
this light, life, and love,
the message of God’s good news to one and all.
For when we see more,
when we step out,
when we share our experience,
we might maybe, just maybe,
inspire others to do the same.
Thanks be to God.