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February 6-13, 2008

Play like a rock god

Warm-up Question:

If you could pick any instrument to play in a band, what would it be? Why that instrument?

 

Jess Hu lives in Brooklyn, New York where she works taking care of children, but for 20 hours a week, she's a rock star. That's how much she estimates she plays the video game Rock Band. “It's like a part-time job,” says Hu, 27. “I gave up sleep.”

Like the other well-known music simulation game for the Xbox game console, Guitar Hero, a new game Rock Band gives gamers a chance to rock out to popular tunes and for a moment feel like gods of rock. Rock Band, released in the United States on November 20th by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, takes up to four players at a time: a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a lead singer. Each gamer plays simulated instruments coordinated to prompts from the game. The more accurate they are to the prompts, the higher score they achieve.

The game has taken over karaoke and guitar hero in local establishments as people gather to watch one another play their instruments, or at least appear to play instruments. Fake bands are popping up and playing in local competitions. The bands come complete with names and tee shirts promoting their non-instrument playing band.

“I sometimes play 8 hours straight” said one 23-year-old gamer of Guitar Hero. “It’s like an obsession. I suppose if I put this much time in a regular instrument I would probably be
really good.”

Another gamer states, “It has fulfilled my fantasy to play guitar like Keith Richards,” Richards being the lead guitarist for legendary real rock band Rolling Stones. “I never was able to play guitar before, but now… well… I guess I still can’t play guitar.”

 

Discussion Questions

  1. (Odds are if these are youth, they have played, so it’s OK to ask…) So, who’s played Guitar Hero? Who’s played Rock Band? Which is better? Why?
  2. What does it feel like to play? Does it feel like you are in a band or not? Do you think it’s the same as playing the real thing? Why or why not?
  3. Why do you think people put so much time and energy into playing these games? How is it better than playing a real instrument? How is it worse?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 10, 2008.
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32 (10)
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection
Let’s face it; Guitar Hero is a fun game. It’s as if you can play your favorite songs and guitar solos along with the band. It gives you the feeling that, yes, you are rock god, able to tear it up.

But the game is an illusion. While it may seem you are playing guitar, really you are pressing buttons or banging pads or singing in sync with the computer. Sure it takes prodigious skill to get through the expert levels, but in the end it really isn’t playing music, it is pushing buttons. And while the illusion tells you that you are playing guitar in spandex with the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden, really you are standing in your living room in your pajamas with a toy strapped to you playing an encore to your TV. You aren’t a rock god after all.

In Genesis, the story paints the picture of Adam and Eve being tempted. The serpent offers a tempting gift—to “be like God.” In the end, most of us can’t think of a more appealing prospect. We have all wondered what it would be like to be God, to have the powers of the universe at our disposal. Adam and Eve take the bite (sic) and the gift turns to a curse. Immediately, their concern isn’t for the world or creation, they get turned inward, focusing on themselves and, in this instance, they clothe themselves even though there was originally no
need to be ashamed. They wanted to be like God, but instead they learned shame and embarrassment.

“Wanting to be like God” is a good way to look at the ways sin can get us caught up in ourselves: murder is really our selfish way of giving out justice rather than letting God do the same, coveting means we want something for ourselves, stealing means depriving another of what they have so we can fill our selfish desires. Adam wanted to be like God, but he used this for selfish means and we can see the echo of this in how we see sin play out in our lives today. Like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, it seems like the real thing but in the end it is only imitation.

In the gospel and epistle we see how this works itself out. Jesus is offered everything, good food when he was starving, personal safety; even to be king of the universe, but unlike Adam, Jesus turns away from selfish gain to selflessly die for us. Jesus gives up being a king of power and strength to become a king who would put aside himself and die for us, even when we did not deserve it. And just as Adam wanted to be like God and used it for himself, Jesus reversed this and began to set the world straight. Through Adam we know death, the result of our selfishness and desire to be God, and through Jesus we know life, a life of giving, selfless love, and service.

When we play Guitar Hero we get the easy, fast-track way to act like rock gods, but in the end it fails to teach us how to play guitar. Through Adam, we want to be like God but in the end it fails to teach us God’s heart for us. When we have patience, time, and energy to learn to play an instrument we learn just how great a gift exceptional musicians possess. When we serve Christ by serving the world, striving for the same heart and love Jesus showed us, we learn just how great a love God had for us through the death and resurrection of Christ.

This Lent, consider how we can turn away from our selfish desires to have a heart like Jesus.
 

Quotables

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.  Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

The principle of liberty and equality, if coupled with mere selfishness, will make men only devils, each trying to be independent that he may fight only for his own interest. And here is the need of religion and its power, to bring in the principle of benevolence and love to men.  John Randolph (1773-1833)

We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Adam, the first great benefactor of the human race: he brought death into the world.  Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Discussion Questions

  1. How do you see selfishness played out at school, work, or home?
  2. Take a look at the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-21). How can each of these be about denying the self? (i.e., No other Gods before me: we can “leave” God for another when we don’t get what we want.)
  3. Why are people selfish? What might prevent one person from helping another?
  4. What would a selfless day at school/work/home look like for you? Is this possible?

Activity Suggestions

There are a couple of great films to explore selfishness in the context of Christian vocation. Feel free to invite youth to watch these films with you or show scenes from one of these films to help focus the lesson. As always, preview the film content warning students and parents for any possible objectionable content.

  • Bruce Almighty. Bruce is mad at God and insists he could do a better job. But when his wish comes true and he uses it for his own gain he finds that it ruins things rather than makes his life better.
     
  • Groundhog Day. Everyday weatherman Phil wakes up on the same day, Groundhogs Day. At first he uses this to seek selfish gain but comes to realize this does not work and isn’t freed until he begins to use the day for others rather than himself.

Closing Prayer
God, thank you for this day. We thank you for the selfless gift of your son Jesus who died not because we deserve it but because he loved us. God give us hearts to love others selflessly that we may reflect the gift given to us in Jesus to those who need to see your grace. Move us in this season of Lent that we may love as we were loved. Amen
 

Contributed by Pastor Jay Gamelin
Pastor to Jacob’s Porch, a mission to The Ohio State University, Ohio.
 

Permission to reproduce for local use. Copyright © 2008 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ELCA Youth Ministry. 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2447. To offer your comments or responses to Faith Lens, e-mail:  rod.boriack@elca.org.

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