“My Ministry in Second Life”
Sermon for the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse
August 29, 2010
By Fred Toerne
On March 5 of this year I was born to Second Life.
In the virtual world known as Second Life,
that is really how they refer to it.
One is born into that virtual world.
A virtual world is like a video game,
with a three dimensional environment
rendered onto a two dimensional computer screen.
Second Life is a free (no charge) virtual environment,
but of course, it’s possible to spend a LOT of money there!
When you enter Second Life for the first time,
you are given an avatar,
an onscreen virtual body
in which you appear to yourself and others.
You choose your name, and your name
and your virtual body will be yours all through your Second Life.
They’re working on ways to let you change your name,
At least in the way it appears on screen,
But so far, you cannot change it.
You can, however change the appearance of your avatar,
And that is one of the first ways you will find
To spend real money
in this virtual world.
You can buy clothes, shoes, hair, skin, eyes, and all sorts of ways
to change the appearance of your avatar.
In fact, you can appear to be almost anything or anyone you want!
The concept of an avatar comes from ancient Vedic religion.
A divine being, usually the god, Vishnu,
Takes on physical form, often human form,
In order to appear in our world
And to help people move toward salvation.
In the movie, Avatar,
the leading characters placed their consciousness into bodies
that appeared like the inhabitants of an alien world.
In the avatar bodies, they could survive in an alien environment
And interact with the other beings whom they found there.
Likewise, in Second Life, each resident of that virtual world
Can take on a form of her or his own choosing
And interact with the environment and the creatures
That he or she will find there.
On our bulletin for today is a picture of my avatar,
Standing to one side of the Church of the Dawntreader,
With ocean and waves as the background
and rocks that resemble those of the Oregon Coast.
My avatar in the picture is wearing a traditional clerical collar,
And that’s what I usually wear to lead worship.
That’s why I’m wearing a clerical collar this morning -
so that I’m dressed like my avatar.
The Church of the Dawntreader is really a beautiful virtual place;
it is there that I lead worship services every Thursday at 10:00a.m.
People from all over the world gather there,
So there is one universal time zone, our own time zone,
Since the company that runs Second Life, Linden Labs,
Is located in San Francisco, California,
And their time zone is the same as ours.
The first time I attended a worship service
at the church of the Dawntreader,
I was somewhat startled
To find a dragon in attendance!
I wasn’t sure what to think, as you can probably imagine.
Maybe I should not have been so surprised…
The church was named for one of the Chronicles of Narnia,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
where one of the major characters turns into a dragon.
(You might want to watch movie listings –
the movie version of that book is coming out in December. )
At any rate, the dragon sat respectfully during the service
And participated in the discussion period afterward.
By now, I’ve gotten used to the idea of sharing worship
With all kinds of creatures.
One frequent attendee is a blue, furry fox.
In the case of Second Life –
and in the Furry community in the real world –
the term furry refers to anthropomorphized animals,
also sometimes called “anthros.”
All kinds of creatures are welcome at the Dawntreader church,
And it is a welcoming congregation for LGBTQIA folk,
Much like our own UUCP.
(Wow – that’s quite a serving of alphabet soup, isn’t it?)
As you can probably imagine,
Many of the church and religious groups in Second Life,
Just as in First (or real) Life,
Are not so welcoming of people who are different
in various ways.
Part of the ministry of the Church of the Dawntreader,
And part of my own ministry there,
Is to provide a place and opportunity for refuge
For those who feel or who actually have been excluded
From other spiritual communities –
again, in Second Life and in Real Life.
One example is a church musician
who was asked to stay away
from the church he was serving in Second Life
because he was known to be male,
and yet enjoyed appearing as a female avatar.
It’s sad that discrimination of that sort takes place
Even in a virtual world where almost anything goes
In the name of religion.
But the Dawntreader church is very open and welcoming.
I could not be there otherwise.
In fact, before inviting me to serve as a pastor there,
The founding pastor asked me about the church’s statement
on the subject of homosexuality.
In brief, it says that “pelvic issues”
Are not central to the Gospel,
But Charity might be!
I told him that I agreed wholeheartedly,
And I’ve been leading services there weekly ever since.
The experience is important to me in a number of ways.
In sharing some of them with you,
I hope that we can think together about some of the ways
That virtual worlds can bring people together
And even promote peace in the world.
There are Unitarian churches and fellowships
that meet in Second Life.
I find my need for the depth and breadth of Unitarian spirituality
Is met right here at home, in my real life.
As I’ve said before to many of you,
Nowhere else in my life
Have I been able to experience and express
The full range of my own spirituality
except right here with you.
At the same time,
I have felt a need for an opportunity
to share my own Christian faith more fully,
and the church in Second Life
has given me the opportunity.
I am a Christian agnostic:
That is, I approach my own faith
from a position of not knowing.
I just cannot buy the a priori assumptions of the theist,
Taking the idea of the existence of God
As an assumption before we even begin
to talk about what and how we believe – or don’t believe.
I find the presence of the Divine in each and every one of you,
And that is enough of God for me to see and know.
So I’m very much at home here, and I guess I always will be.
I choose to call the presence of God that I see in you
By the name of Christ,
And so I am a Christian.
I have also sensed the same Divine Presence in many people
From all over the world
Whom I have met only by encountering their avatars
And sharing in conversation with them,
through online chat.
The difference and the beauty of Second Life
As a graphics based chat client
Is the opportunity to meet people in a form they have chosen.
Let’s face it:
The bodies in which we are present together in this beautiful –
And newly beautified – place
Are an imperfect representation
of the minds that are inside those bodies.
With an avatar in a virtual world,
We have the opportunity to appear in a form
That better represents who we really are.
That immersive quality,
Of meeting people as we choose to be,
Is a unique way to come together
As people who could meet each other
in no other way than online.
And Second Life offers an opportunity to meet people
in many different environments,
in parks and cities,
in dance clubs and homes
in churches and temples
even in representations
of outer space and other worlds.
At any given moment in time
There are 40,000 to 70,000 people present in Second Life,
So there are plenty of opportunities to meet people
from many different places and ways of life.
It is a unique way of engaging people for dialogue
and for education.
Our own local universities are deeply involved in Second Life.
Washington State University has two regions in Second Life,
And many of the buildings from the campus in Pullman
Are represented in virtual form
On the virtual campus.
The University of Idaho is even more involved.
They have a virtual representation of the old Admin Building,
The I – Tower, and some of the physical features of the campus.
In fact, just for fun, I want to share with you that my best friend,
Who is in the congregation this morning,
And is a graduate of the University of Idaho,
Has a photograph of his avatar
Standing proudly on the top
Of the virtual representation of the I – Tower.
But best and most important of all,
in the region known as Idahonia,
far above the virtual campus with its trees and hills
is a “Skydome.”
The Skydome is a Skybox, as they are called,
a building that floats in the virtual sky
above the virtual ground of Second Life,
and there they have virtual classrooms
where students from all over the world
can attend real classes with real professors
in real time
and have real interactions
with each other.
They even have a special animation
That allows the students to raise their hands to ask a question.
The professors can tell who has raised their hands
and how long the hands have been raised in each case.
Another way Second Life has been a great opportunity for people
Has been allowing people with different kinds of abilities
To get out into the world
And interact with others
in ways that we could not do otherwise.
As some of you know all too well,
I have a sometimes debilitating condition
known as Meniere’s Disease.
It causes dizziness and a sensation like seasickness,
sometimes even when I’m just walking around inside my home.
At the very least it can make it difficult to get around
and impossible to drive.
Much of the time I can do very well,
Even in the middle of an episode
If I can just stay very still and quiet,
preferably sitting up and doing something interesting.
Needless to say, it’s very difficult to do any kind of ministry
while sitting very still and quiet,
but I CAN do it in Second Life.
It has been a very great opportunity for me
To share my abilities
And to get to know lots of interesting people
at the church in this virtual world.
I am not alone in experiencing this kind of interesting second life
despite the inability to do things that most people take for granted.
There is an organization that works within Second Life
Called Virtual Ability, Inc.
That reaches out to people with different abilities and challenges
Including the inability to see, hear, think or learn
according to common patterns.
There are so many opportunities to explore
Within the virtual world of Second Life
That all I can do at this point is list some of them.
Second Life has a virtual economy worth billions of dollars
in U.S. currency.
Linden Labs, the parent company is a billion dollar company,
And they make their money primarily
From the sale of virtual land,
space on their servers, in effect.
The first person to make a million dollars (U.S.)
In the context of a video game
Made his money on Second Life.
On the land that people buy
They can build homes, offices, parks, woodlands, lakes –
- almost anything one can imagine.
In fact, the creation of content for Second Life
Is entirely the work of the people who play the game,
The residents of Second Life, as we are called.
Much of the content is free or very inexpensive.
One can find avatars, clothing, houses, furnishings, animations,
And many other kinds of content for one’s Second Life
At no charge at all or for only pennies.
Music and other art forms are to be found on Second Life
in abundance.
Live music concerts, where musicians and their audiences gather
In avatar form
In all sorts of venues
are happening constantly.
Dance animations enable people to participate, at least on screen.
There are often 300 or more opportunities to share
In performances of live music
In any given 24 hour period.
Sometimes the music is really very good.
There are hundreds of art museums –
even opportunities to purchase original works of art -
in Second Life.
Governments and businesses have facilities
For meetings and the dissemination of information
In their own buildings and on their own land
In Second Life.
Where so many people are able to gather and communicate
Where so many shared experiences can lead to friendship
World peace can surely be promoted:
At any rate, that is one of my hopes.
I could go on and on,
But I think it’s high time for me to stop.
If you want to learn more, ask me – or better –
Just visit secondlife.com,
with secondlife as a single word.
You can read about it, watch videos about it,
Maybe even get your own avatar and visit to see for yourself.
For now, Second Life is open
only to those 18 years of age or older,
although 16 and 17 year olds will soon be able to join.
If you do come into Second Life, please let me know:
Give me your avatar name, and I will “friend” you.
I’ll be delighted to chat with you and show you around.
Whether you are interested in seeing for yourself or not,
I feel that knowing about the virtual world of Second Life
Is worth the time we have invested this morning.
Blessed be!
