Acts 12:6-11 “New Reality Shows”
There is a show on television called “Survivor.” It is a so-called “reality show.” They take a group of people, mismatched as they are, out to some distant island in a far part of the ocean. They greet them with flower leis and show them all having a grand time laughing and eating together. They seem to be genuinely happy together until the inevitable plot twist strands them all on the island, and they become “survivors.”
You do not have to watch this on television by the way. You can just go down to the Aloha Airlines terminal here on-island! It is really amazing to me how upset some people get when they have to extend their vacations! It’s like: “Dude, don’t tell me I will have to spend another day in paradise!?” I suppose that is what makes this scenario strangely entertaining on television!
Just to expand on this idea a little, let me share with you that three weeks ago when I went to pick up our new exchange student at the airport, I stopped and bought her a lei along the way. When I was waiting at the terminal, I saw a lady there who had an armful of leis. I had to ask her whom she was greeting with that many leis on her arm. Her response: “I have no idea. I just check names off against this list as they come off the plane.”
I was mildly shocked at this and asked her, “You mean, this is your business?”
She responded in the affirmative, explaining that people just order over the internet through her company to be greeted at the airport by a Hawaiian lady in a mu-mu who will then kiss them on the cheek and put a lei over their heads. I was taken aback. I could just never imagine paying for a stranger to meet me at the airport with a kiss! What is hard for me is knowing that the welcome was not a real welcome.
In the Bible reading for this morning, we have the story of Peter being released from prison by an angel. He is manacled to two guards. There are guards at the gate to the prison and to the city, and yet, he is able to just walk out of the prison without anybody noticing. He does not believe that it is really happening. He does not believe that what is happening is real. It is not until he is outside of the city gates themselves that he does a reality check and fully understands that he has been freed from prison by God.
We can all understand how it is that Peter would be thinking that what was happening to him was not real. Peter has experienced so much already. Remember that he was there at the transfiguration of Christ and saw Jesus on that mountain in His true glory. He has seen miracles that he thought were apparitions; for instance, Jesus walking on the water. He has seen Jesus returned from the dead. He has seen Jesus being raised up to heaven in a cloud. You will recall that just a few weeks ago we had the story of Peter’s vision of a table cloth coming down out of heaven with all of the animals on it and the voice of God saying, “Take and eat.”
In contrast to these miraculous happenings, Peter has also just seen James, the brother of John the Beloved, killed by the sword to cheering crowds. He knows of Stephens stoning. He saw Jesus beaten and taken away. He saw his Lord crucified on the Cross. He has seen so much horrific reality in contrast to so much of God’s miraculous grace! The first thing that comes to his mind when things happen is “is this real?”
How do any of us know actually when something is real? When I see somebody at the airport being greeted with a kiss and a flower lei, I am not sure it is real. How do we know what is real? That may sound like a silly question, but I do not believe it is. Once again from television, there are commercials for a certain insurance company that I will try not to endorse in this sermon in which customers tell of their experiences having had automobile accidents. In the commercial, the announcer’s voice tells us that in order to help the customer tell their story they have hired some famous celebrity. Then, we see subtitled for us on the screen the customer’s name, and the words “real person.” Why do we have to be told that that is a real person? Should I have to walk around with a badge on myself that proclaims to others that I am a “real person”? I greet somebody at the airport with a lei, maybe I should have a sign reading “real person.” Do you understand the question?
I wish to expound on this idea of “reality” versus what has been called today “the hyper-reality of modern American culture.” This term I am taking from the well-known pastor Stuart McAllister. I did not come up with it myself. However, I do agree with the notion that we do not live just real lives anymore. Today we live in a hyper-reality. . . .a reality that is beyond reality as it was known before.
Way back in 1991, a fellow by the name of Al Gore hosted a Senate Sub-Committee on Virtual Reality. This is 2008. That was 17 years ago. For some people here this morning, that was before they were even born! At that Senate hearing, the outcome was that we here in the States were falling behind such countries as Japan in terms of using virtual reality through computers and the internet. We needed to invest more in virtual reality.
For those of you who are not quite internet literate, let me explain further. The US Senate said that we must invest more in make-believe. There is a practical military application to this, which is today somebody can pilot a plane or a tank from anywhere in the world where there is a computer screen through virtual reality. A person can view everything they need to on the computer screen and control the plane or tank accordingly.
Likewise a farmer can control his wheat combine from the comfort of his living room. Students can be home taught through a virtual classroom. You can host business meetings in virtual reality with people in twelve different countries interacting as if they were in the same room. And recently, the US Congress held its first virtual reality hearing through a computer program called “Second Life.”
In this virtual world called “Second Life,” one creates an “avatar,” a person that can be just who you really are or your own creation. Of course, there are not a lot of ugly people in “Second Life.” People usually create their dream person—who they would want to be if they had the chance, because now they DO have the chance. Some people create themselves as animals, camels, dogs, or pigs. When the US Congress held its hearing in Second Life it was reported that this was the first time that a camel asked a US Congress person a question!
Just to be clearer still, the US Congress’ interest in virtual reality is not just about military application. As it turns out, in the “Second Life World” one can by virtual property, operate a virtual business, build virtual houses. In fact, Second Life itself reports that over 65,000 acres have been sold in its virtual world so far, since 2003. Congress’ interest in this is that real money is being transacted in this virtual reality, yet nobody is even paying virtual taxes on it, much less real taxes! They want to know how they can get their share of revenue from virtual reality!
I don’t know about you, but for myself as a Christian, I always thought that the “Second Life” was that which you get when you are born again unto Jesus! That is reality for us. We have to know that others today have chosen a very different reality. They are choosing a virtual reality and are otherwise caught up in the hyper-reality of modern America.
2 Peter 1:16 reads: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These are sound words for us today. When camels start asking congresspersons questions in a new virtual reality, we need to take a step back perhaps and question if we should in any way follow such cleverly devised mythical creations.
And I know that many of the people who are now living in “Second Life” in virtual reality would tell you that they are Christians. I am reminded of Paul’s reproof to the church in Galatia: (Gal. 4:8-11) “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God. . . .how can you turn back to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them?”
If your reality is God and Jesus Christ, why would you want to be enslaved to a different reality made up of devised myths?! Why would you want to be a camel when you can be a child of Christ?
I believe it is the church’s calling to make sure that the generations to follow understand that this is the reality that matters. This is the “Second Life” that is from God, not from a computer program. Just as Peter was able to escape the prison to discover that he was truly freed by God, so must all of us also come to this realization that any other reality is enslavement or imprisonment to the world.
Listen to the reality that Jesus promises from John 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are any dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
Our reality
is with Christ. We believe. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.