Koinonia uses Second Life to create a safe environment where people can learn about the Christian faith and experience a loving Christian community.Įach week we meet for worship in the 3D rendered sanctuary where as avatars we gather for fellowship, prayer, music, and the preached Word.
#Sacred space software
Koinonia Congregation is an actual congregation meeting in online space – a virtual reality world de- rived from the revolutionary software program called Second Life, which allows users to socialize and use voice and text chat. They hadn’t traveled from those places they were still at home in all those places, but making church online – worshipping, studying, praying, crying and laughing together from all corners of the globe. When it came time for the passing of the peace, people greeted one another from Germany, England, California, Mississippi, Georgia, and Toronto. This group has been worshipping together for two years, and the joy was palpable. They chatted quietly about their lovely dresses and crisp Sunday suits while the music welcoming the Risen Lord floated lightly overhead. So it is with the new metropolis of the internet: churches are springing up every day online, and I am one of the ministers.Īt our church this past Easter morning, for instance, folks wandered in, picked up their bulletins and settled into their seats. You’d also expect to find houses of worship where the new town’s citizens can connect with God and with each other. Imagine a new town emerging on the outskirts of your city, a planned village filled with all manner of retail, rolling golf courses, night clubs, and civic arrangements necessary to organizing a small city.
I also see it in practice as the pastor of an online church, Koinonia Congregational Church of Second Life. I see it in practice at The Beatitudes Society. Community is the common thread to all my work. How does a seminary graduate end up as an online Circuit Rider? Answer: I genuinely believe in online community. I enlist online resources that help clergy learn and act on pressing social issues and give them online places to meet and talk with other progressive faith leaders. 1 My tools are the currency of the online world – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Second Life. You are blessed and the source of every blessing.Īnd whenever we use this symbol of our faith.I am the Circuit Rider for The Beatitudes Society, but my tools are quite different than the well-worn saddle and leather-bound Bibles of my forebears. When installing these objects in your home oratory, you may wish to bless them using the “Prayer for Placing Objects for Prayer and Devotion”: Seasonal objects such as a rice bowl (for Lent) or and Advent wreath (for Advent).A tablecloth or covering in colors appropriate for the liturgical season (or white which is appropriate all the time).Icons or paintings of Jesus, Mary, the Holy Trinity, or the saints.Books for sacred reading and meditation, such as the Bible, children’s religious picture books, lives of the saints, a daily missal, prayer books, and so on.Some objects you might include in your home shrine: You can use the space as the focal point for family prayer time, or as a special place for individuals to retreat for prayer or sacred reading. Whatever you call it, use the space as a physical reminder of God’s presence in your home, as well as your intention as a family to create “space” for God in your life.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to this home prayer space as a prayer corner or “little oratory.” (An oratory is a place of worship not attached to to parish.) Set aside a special place in your home for prayer and holy objects-a small table, the mantle above your fireplace, a corner with shelves and comfortable seating.
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