The "Pokémon Go" Phenomenon: Friend, Not Foe

I was one of those ministers in the early 90s who was adamantly opposed to Pokémon and I strongly felt that no Christian should engage in it, and further, that parents (& churches) should protect their kids from it. I had just come out of Bible college, was in some of my first youth ministry assignments, and although Pokémon was all the rage then, I did my research and concluded that it was a doorway to alternative (Eastern) spirituality. In hindsight looking back, it's hard to believe that trading cards could lead people into demonic possession, but we had some pretty convincing information back then (albeit a bit overhyped and exaggerated), and when I saw a few episodes of the cartoon show later, my worst fears were realized because they DID portray some clearly Eastern religious themes which contradicted Christianity. However, as a student of semiotics & future studies (a Biblically-informed trendwatcher) with many geek friends these days, I've been really watching this Pokémon Go phenomenon from its earliest announcement, and to be honest, I prepared for the worst. Instead, I've found that it's not at all what I imagined (or feared). I have been playing it with my 14-year old son as a way to not only engage with him but also find out why it's so popular and determine whether there's any concern. As an active player, I HAVE YET TO FIND A SINGLE SPIRITUAL CONCERN. We're now 9th level (of some 20+), already have a few "rares" (higher level characters), and have played around with "evolving" a few characters into more powerful ones, and I simply cannot find a single thing in the entire game/app to criticize or condemn, and nothing which suggests an agenda of alternative spirituality. If Niantic (the American company which developed the app in coordination with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company) had ulterior motives in releasing it, I certainly can't find evidence of that. On the contrary, it's just fun! It IS quite addicting because you want to collect them all, and like all games and activities, it does raise time management issues. I've also read some accounts of people doing stupid things while playing the game (driving, walking off a cliff, mobs chasing a rare appearance, etc.). But the game itself isn't the problem here; it's people not using common sense, failing to balance work & leisure, and/or doing stupid things because they've allowed themselves to get caught up in something without proper boundaries. People do that in all sorts of areas of life, and much of our ministry deals with the fallout from that kind of stuff. Beyond that, however, I see lots of positives. It has forced millions of kids and young adults (& even middle-aged adults) to get out from in front of the TV, Netflix, Xbox, and computer and WALK (we have, too), and since most of the PokéStops and gyms are churches, community buildings, and civic interest features, it is quite informational. I have walked alot in this game and found all kinds of neat historic markers and information about my town's heritage, things I never would have discovered if I hadn't been trying to chase down an elusive virtual Pokémon character who was missing from my Pokédex (collection). It's positively transformative on a community, too. I used to avoid my town's downtown square at night because of the several bars which surround its perimeter, but now it's a happening place overrun by Pokémon Go players! (the last few nights, I've counted well over 50 players of all ages, including entire families and groups of teens playing together). I've met and talked with more people on the square and in local parks this last week while playing the game than I have met in the last 2 months combined! We're total strangers, but we immediately have something in common to talk about. I can understand the hesitation to embrace the unfamiliar (especially if you grew up in the 80s or early 90s and know its checkered past). But past misperceptions don't equate to present realities, so I encourage you to look beyond those. I can't help but think that God can use this for Kingdom potential and that a wise ministry leader would look for opportunities to engage! (the pic here is what our downtown courthouse square & vicinity look like within the game)

Communication that changes lives (& gets great leaders killed)

I was taught (up through about 7th grade) that bias and subjectivity were to be avoided: All "good" journalism (and often writing itself) is "bias-free," we were told, and I remember even being graded down if I let subjectivity color my writing (unless it were a "creative writing" project, but that of course, was "play").  In other words, we learned to be rational expositors of knowledge that was "pure" and scientific (where was Polanyi in all this?).  But what we got was communication that was devoid of influence, and the people who's speeches changed the world (MLK, Roosevelt, Hitler, etc.) didn't fall for it...or at least ignored it when they were trying to call for transformative change.

As an example, Peter did this in his first sermon (Acts 2): He unpacked the significance of Pentecost using the signs/metaphors/codes his hearers knew well, but gave it new significance - i.e., re-framing.  His sermonic story journey begins with re-framing their misperception of drunkenness by explaining (& justifying) it as prophetic utterance (something they knew from their cultural religious codes).  Then he draws yet another connection to King David (again, a religious and cultural code of his audience), and more specifically, to their messianic hope (a sub-code), making the point via re-framing that the day of their hoped-for destiny had arrived.   Even with his use of strong accusatory verbage (essentially, "You just killed the Messiah you've been waiting for"), they got the message loud and clear.

RESULT: The audience begged, "what shall we do?" and 3,000 people got saved. 

Here in America we are so wrapped up in ordered rational modernist thinking and half-baked rhetorics (with just enough philosophy and quasi-structuralist thinking thrown in to make us sick) that we seldom distill the codes as they meant to the audience to whom they were first delivered; instead, we rush to "exegete" them (an important teaching function, but not a communication one). Ironically, I've even heard preachers and Bible college prof's suggest that Peter may have misquoted or distorted the OT!

Nor do we (preachers as a whole) very often communicate in the codes of our day like like the great rhetoricians of the past did - for example, check out the full text of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech - note the metaphoric language of promissory notes America had defaulted on, blank checks marked NSF, whirlwinds of revolt, the "summer of [the Negro's legitimate] discontent, etc.  He's basically doing the same thing as Peter did at Pentecost and Paul did on Mars Hill, doing a masterful job of connecting the biblical imagery and metaphors our culture knew well then with the "signs of the times" they were seeing in the early 60's.  And not only did it change the world, but it was a threat to the establishment, too.

What's really come alive for me in the last few months through my D.Min and exposure to several writers in the field of semiotics and narratology is the impact of the first part above...that to connect to today's culture, we have to understand the codes that were at play with the original audience.  I think we neuter our words when we skip that vital step, and then we wonder why they're not pregnant with meaning.  Peter knew exactly what he was doing; he was re-framing their codes & interpreting the events they were observing firsthand in a way that gave the words of Scripture immediate relevance and meaning.  The Word of God came alive for them!