The Anglican Cathedral of Second Life

St Paul founded many churches and helped new Christians to grow to maturity through his teaching. It was not easy as these people were learning a whole new way of life and sometimes they were tempted to listen to false teaching.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians was written to help them counter false teaching. It in Paul spells out his vision for the church (Colossians 1:24 – 2:7). This may have been a vision for a particular church at a particular time but it’s relevant to us too.

Together with writing a letter, Paul prayed for that church also. At this time of review of the ministry of the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life, prayer is a vital part of the process.

What should our vision be? Listen to what Paul thought for the Colossians in this message from the noon service in the Cathedral on Sunday. Your thoughts on our future are invited. Do share them here or directly with the Leadership Team.

http://www.phil-wright.net/sermons/Paul_vision.mp3

In this week of prayer for Christian Unity, the service in the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life today will be adapted from one written specially by Korean Christians who are acutely aware of the division of their country where brothers and sisters have been parted for 50 years in some cases. The service starts at 2pm SL time. You are very welcome to join us, whether you have attended a service before or not. There is always someone who is happy to guide you if you are unsure of anything.

I look forward to meeting you there!

Helene Milena

January 3, 2009

What is your expectation of religion in SL?

The first question posed this first Saturday of the new year was not the above, but the following:
“are there any actual Anglican or Roman Catholic priests operating in SL?” While the answer was affirmative, and the Cathedral numbers several in its membership and leadership,the specter was raised of inauthentic credentials.

The gathered group consisted of both newcomers to sl, experienced residents who were new to the cathedral, and some discussion regulars. This mix inspired me to ask the above question about expectations. I will try to do justice to the further questions that followed!

Reality or pretend? There is both here in SL, and our expectations of religion seems to parallel our expectations of SL overall. Reality based missionary groups like the Jesuits maintain presence here, and we are reality based here at Epiphany Island. But the question is ubiquitous in SL, and lead to others! Do our actions in SL “mean as much” as our actions among flesh and blood humanity?

SL residents sometimes “partner” and sometimes “marry.” How do these relationships compare to flesh and blood relationships? Do these SL relationships have any impact on RL relationships? Unfortunately for our discussion, no one present was or ever had been married within SL, so the ramifications could only be described as we had observed them from outside the relationships. But there is no doubt that some RL relationships have been impacted by online relationships.

Some residents consider their time in SL to be role-play. Some are acting out personal fantasies. Some use SL to try out alternative lifestyles and choices in relative safety – physical safety if not emotional! One comparison was made to historical re-enactments. Some even consider SL to be an important part of their expanding social network within the flesh and blood world! With all the possibilities, and all the motives, the specter was raised of whether a person’s representation of those attitudes and motives can be expected to be their actual attitudes and moties.

Then we were off on the naming conventions of SL! And then SL in General. And among the regulars we usually wind up with personal exchanges about life in general.

Lots of questions. Care to give us your answers?

Being Christian in Second Life

Every Saturday (well, almost!) the Cathedral hosts an open-to-anyone discussion with the above theme. Often these discussions are thought provoking. Occasionally they are just provoking! They are always interesting. In the spirit of ongoing discussion, I plan to post a summary of the live discussion from every Saturday. This is not to say that it will happen, but I will do my best.

In case you are interested in joining the live discussion, we gather at 11 am SLT, and follow a handful of groundrules:
All are welcome to come and go.
When you arrive, I try to catch you up on the current discussion.
And if you let us know you are leaving, you will be given blessings to take with you, however no one is offended if you simply leave.
All are welcome to contribute comments and questions or to just listen.
Please respect everyone else’s opinions and beliefs; if you feel someone is being disrespectful, please IM me or another of the Cathedral Welcomers, because I am really very tolerant and let much pass that perhaps I should not.

We hope you will check out the new page, and continue the discussion!

Congratulations to Rev. Mark and his family on the arrival of Patrick Reuben Brown!  For more on this (with pictures!) head on over to http://brownblog.info/?p=702.

Blessings to you all!

From Revd Mark Brown:

Today I led my final 12 noon service in the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life. After 18 months the time has come to hand the leadership onto others. This decision was a hard one and brought about through a change in work circumstances. I have become very fond of the service and have loved serving those from around the world who worship within the virtual Cathedral.

And as mentioned by Cady in a previous blog post I will be starting a new service! In a couple of weeks I will start the sixth service specific for those in the Asia/Pacific area. More news to follow.

At my last 12 noon service I preached about my hope for the church which grew out of my concern of the slowly eroding influence of the church in the West. The churches message is still as fresh and as deeply relevant today as it was thousands of years ago. And without a doubt we continue to have something important to offer society. So it is with this conviction that I shared my hopes for the church and for the Cathedral of Second Life.

To listen to the short message press play below.
.
.

.
If you would like to subscribe to Revd Mark’s messages through iTunes click here

Back in October Episcopal Life Online printed a piece called. “Worshipping online: Is it really church?“  And a couple of days ago an opinion piece by Dina Mann called, ‘Not by Internet alone: Virtual church can’t replace real thing‘  was published on Episcopal Life Online.   The leadership team of the Second Life Cathedral intend to respond and we encourage you to head over to Episcopal Life Online, read the article and leave a response.  In short, we agree with much that Mann writes but feel it misses some of the positive and significant ministry that does occur online.

To read the article click here.

Hello all!

I hope all of you had a truly blessed Christmas season.  On behalf of the leadership team, I’d like to wish each of you a happy new year, and let you know that we are all very much looking forward to our work together in the coming year!  I’d also like to take this opportunity to let you know about some changes planned for the near future.

(more…)