Ron Aulbach

If playing cards online as a virtual avatar with friends or celebrities from all around the world is your thing, then FaceBook’s move to the Metaverse should excite you. The tech giant already has the market with 2.8 billion monthly active users, 6 in 10 Americans are on it, and spend on average 19.5 hours each month scrolling through content. And ads. Facebook brought in $27 billion in 2020 Q4 revenue. The company has bet their entire future on social media moving beyond two-dimensional posts of your favorite cat videos to an immersive experience of virtual reality that takes you to a whole new world. If you’ve seen the promotional videos, you might be scoping out your next pair of VR googles and dreaming of going to Kaui, Shanghai, or Mars to meet new digital friends that share the same. Oh, the pixelated possibilities!

            I know what some of you are saying: “Pastor, it’s called progress. The digital revolution is just beginning. And if you aren’t on board, you’ll be left behind.” I get it and I’m all for innovation. But as a pastor I want to ask if virtual everything is what’s best for our souls? Is there a limit to what our eyes can take in, and our minds process? Will our physical lives be able to keep up with what our virtual selves are being fed? Scholars call this the “tipping point” at which machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Digital technology is not simply changing what we do as human beings, they are in fact rapidly changing who we are as a species.

            It won’t be long before the Metaverse will meet the church. Avatars sitting in virtual services hearing meta sermons, and I’m certain in that medium, the Good News will be shared. But will it be good news for the Christian community? Will we “feel” closer and more connected to our neighbor? Have opportunities to serve, and laugh, and show our flaws? Or will a generation disappear behind the anonymity of another screen? We have what’s real and need to remember “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8.