Anticipate! Minecraft Church

The Oxford Methodist Circuit recently held a large combined service, billed as “Anticipate!”, and Minecraft Church was well represented!

The service was the week before Pentecost, so we reflected on the theme of waiting. The disciples are waiting for the Holy Spirit to come to them as Jesus had promised them. They know they are going to be asked to go back out into the world, and they know they are going to receive the Holy Spirit, but the world is scary – Jesus has only just been killed, after all, and they don’t know what will be required of them or what the Holy Spirit will be like. While waiting, they prepare by gathering together and praying.

In our Minecraft Church, we thought about waiting and preparing, and prepared for our Minecraft World to turn scary – for it to move from Creative Mode, which has unlimited supplies, to Survival Mode, when players come under attack and have to find food to avoid starvation! There were a lot of ingenious builds, as our Minecrafters prepared for this big change. Here is one description of a build:

This is a secure tower, up on a high cliff overlooking water, so if needed, one can jump into the water for a quick escape. An archery post is added off to the side for defense purposes, and the supplies stockpiled consist of multiple Elytra and Rockets, for flight purposes, fully enchanted maces, swords, crossbows and armour, as well as enchanted golden apples and poison arrows. Given the quantity of enchanted golden apples, these can be used as food as well.

How do we prepare for challenges and changes in our lives, and what might the Holy Spirit be asking us to do?