I looked out to see the bustling courtyard. A European café, complete with cobblestone pathways and wrought-iron chairs. As I looked to my right and left I saw the curious gaze of strangers as we all knowingly nodded and did that little half-wave where you just flashed your fingertips up at someone. The host, the one who had gathered us together in this courtyard, posed a question that puzzled me. “Would you like something to drink?” The words hung in the air like a riddle, and I stood perplexed, unsure if I should give a polite chuckle or a real answer. How could this be? I curiously and skeptically said, “I suppose I will go with a coffee please.” Not having any coffee to offer, I watched as the host of the group instead pulled out a marker and began to draw a full coffee cup, steam and all. It wasn’t with a normal marker either; this was with a very special kind of three-dimensional marker. They were drawing a coffee cup that stood up on the cafe table that I was sitting at! When they were done I was even able to pick it up and hold it between my fingers. Now is probably a good time to pause the story and give some context. This group that I was a part of was a gathering of a community group in virtual reality. For those unfamiliar, virtual reality is a technology where the participants wear a headset that is able with a relative degree of realism to create the illusion of a physical world. The end user can move their head around to see different parts of the environment, chat through embedded microphones in the headset with on-lookers, and even be able to “walk around” through the space using handheld controllers. The strangers around me were not faceless avatars but fellow seekers wandering into a brand new space and wondering, just as I was, “Is this community?” They were people with real hurts, stories, joys, and cute pictures of their dogs like everyone else. As we began chatting the courtyard resonated with the hum of conversations, laughter, and the clinking of virtual cups.
Through the glow of the headset that was strapped to my face, I saw a three-dimensional coffee cup become a symbol of hospitality to me. That someone, somewhere in the world, would take time out of their morning to welcome me to an unfamiliar place and engage in the simple act of drawing out a coffee cup. It was for me an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual welcome, or dare I say, grace. The courtyard, though existing within codes and circuits, reminded me that community is not something that is confined to just the material. There have been and always will be new ways to find the types of connection that our spirits long for. Even for such an uncharted time in technological history as this, the spirit of community can thrive. I should also add some additional context, that this group that I was attending, was at 6 on a Sunday morning. As we gathered in the early hours of the morning, the irony struck me—this virtual fellowship mirrored the essence of the church I was about to enter in the tangible world. In the end, I took off the headset and got prepared to attend church in the real world.
Emerging into the narthex after church I was met with a familiar and ironic question, “Would you like something to drink?”
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