Spent a little bit of time in Second Life tonight. That's me in the picture getting my "groove thang on" at a new Christian dance call The Fire Escape (The link is a landmark in Second Life, so you'll need an account to check it out).
I'm really impressed with how the Christian community is starting to latch on to virtual worlds. I actually went into SL this evening to join a prayer meeting in progress (thanks to Lisa Durff for the heads up).
I know joining a prayer meeting in a virtual world doesn't sound exciting, but it was! Each person had an opportunity to offer up prayer, praise, and thanks to God, it was very cool and done in a very reverant manner. I know Lutherans tend not to pray with folks from other denominations for fear of being synchronistic, but it was pretty cool to pray with the other 25 or so people there (where ever "there" really was...we may have been under water, I can't be sure).
This is just my own personal observation, but there don't seem to be a lot of faith growing communities on the Internet (that I've noticed), so when you run across them they really cause you take notice. It was awesome tonight to be able to join with other folks who share a passion for Jesus and fully trust in the work he has completed for your behalf. The LCMS Ablaze! ministry team should consider how they can be more open and receptive to online communities like Second Life or Facebook.
I really didn't have the time to spend just hanging around in SL tonight, but it was worth it! I've been thinking the past couple of days about some of the observations Clay Shirky makes in his book Here Comes Everybody about the power of latent groups. I do think Christians are a latent group, except on Sunday mornings of course, and that for the most part, we are still relatively uncoordinated on the Internet.
It was nice to be organized for an evening!
