I had a dream...
But unlike Martin Luther King Jr., it was a little disturbing.
It was a dream that started out with a communion service and glasses of wine raised in the air as a toast, and Chex Mix passed around in bowls in place of communion bread (please don't take offense to my un-orthodox dream). In the front, on the platform, they had fireworks going off during the whole service. And when it was all done they watched videos on the projector screen. I know, it didn't make much sense to me either...
This was the first part of my dream, which I watched it in a third-person view. As I was pondering the meaning of all this when it switched...
It switched to a picture of a couple, a man and woman walking towards me heading to church. They looked very happy and intently focused ahead to their destination. 
As they got closer their faces started revealing a blue haze, like someone was watching a TV. As they continued forward line dots of light appeared on their temples, forehead, and cheeks. The view started panning around to the side, and then to thier backs so I could see where they were going. All of a sudden they appeared to be in a tunnel of light flowing from a point in front, almost engulfing them. Inside this sphere of light was a church service. The couple stood there the whole time acting as if they were a part of the service even though they were standing up and sperated from it.
I woke up and realized that these people were part of a virtual reality church. There was no expectation of them, they could enjoy it exactly as they thought it would fill their spiritual needs. They never had to be confronted. Never had to deal with relationship and interpersonal communication problems. They could go whenever they felt a need, and stay only as long as they wanted. It would be the perfect world.
I hope my dream never comes true. I hope people never get to the point of thinking that "church" is just something that fills your time, or soothes the guilty soul. Unfourtunately some people view it like that. People don't realize that God is building the church. That building is constructed of people who need to be supported, first and foremost by the Cornerstone which we find in Jesus Christ. But secondarily by the rest of the structure in those people who are "the church." We all have a responsibility to care, confront, encourage, and exhort one another. It's called interaction. That is a HUGE part of the church today, and something that would never happen in any virtual world. And something that is often lacking in the real one.
So let us not make the real world a virtual one by neglecting our responsibilites to be a body of believers. Let us all take some time to be a family who interacts and shows genuine love for one another face to face.
"To be a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of his body is to live a missionary experience in the world." - Ed Stetzer
