Pastor's Message - October 2025

Technically, I land between generations, not quite a Boomer, not quite Gen X. Culturally, I am closer to the latter. Fo •xample, I came out publicly as a gay man when many were still in the closet. My car has a reference to "The Goonies," not "Rebel Without a Cause." I readily adopted gaming innovations as they came along, from arcade game: to games on the earliest personal computers, then on to consoles and handheld devices. I am what is sometimes called "a gamer," and even more specific, a "gaymer."

Though first-person shooters like Call of Duty and Fortnite get all of the media attention, there are thriving industries in other genres, cooperative games, puzzle games, simulation games, and even a whole genre that appears to have neither plot nor score.

I haven't played a first-person shooter in decades, for all of the obvious reasons. Not that all of the games I play are completely non-violent. They tend to be open-world role-playing games, with rich plots and amazing graphics, a bit like a Hollywood film that is interactive. You might play a heroic knight or a gunslinger in the not-so-wild west. One thing these games have in common, is they present you with choices, often complex moral dilemmas with lots of consequences and no easy answers.

And then, this week, the games themselves became a moral dilemma.

The question is seemingly simple. Do you do business with a store that pays protection money to the crime syndicate that is terrorizing your community?

I suppose you might if every business you can reasonably reach is mobbed up. But what if it is a non-essential purchase?

American corporations are paying protection money to the white supremacist mafia ruling our country. And on the list of those contributing to the new golden ballroom (how Marie Antoinette!) is Microsoft, the company behind the hardware, software, and subscription service for my gaming console, the Xbox X.

It was easy to cancel Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ in the wake of the Jimmy Kimmel debacle. There are other streaming services, and way more TV than I could ever watch. Cancelling my Xbox account is a more expensive proposition. If I want to continue console gaming as recreation, I'd need to purchase new hardware, a Sony Playstation 5, with a price tag well north of $500, never mind buying all new games and purchasing a new subscription.

I haven't made a decision on that purchase. After all, the new puppy is coming soon, requiring time and money. And I have a mountain of books to read. But I did pull the plug on the Xbox and I did cancel my Microsoft subscription.

Jesus healed people and fed people. Scripture condemns the greedy and corrupt. Our government is taking away food and healthcare. How can I participate in that, however indirectly, and still call myself a Christian? There may be moral ambiguity around businesses that pay protection money to the mob, but at least I know I'll be contributing a little less to this murderous regime, which may be the best I can do.

We are all being asked to make difficult decisions these days. We won't always get it right. Fortunately, our theology is based on grace, the idea that God, while demanding accountability, ultimately offers love and forgiveness. May we offer that same grace to one another.