Waiting For His Return

With a flair for the dramatic and emotional, former soldiers recall their battle stories. One remembers the feel of an enemy gun. Another is uncomfortable in the dark where they hid, waiting. The most telling soldier has a tear on his cheek as he remembers their final battle; but all of these soldiers had hope. They had someone to believe in.

They were waiting for Master Chief.

Microsoft’s commercials for Halo 3 are, quite honestly, compelling and emotional. Shot in a pseudo-documentary style, they feature soldiers recalling the battles, but, most importantly, get choked up in remembering their passion and anxiety in waiting for the arrival of the final battle’s savior, Master Chief.

In just a few, thirty-second commercials, they offer your average, everyday person the following opportunity by playing the game: “You, too, can be a savior.” This isn’t your typical offering of displacement. You don’t get to be just a soldier. It’s not even simply being a hero. By playing this game, Microsoft is offering you a chance to be a savior.

And, in the first week of its release, Halo 3 made more than $300 million dollars and over 2.7 million people played it online (myself included). That’s a whole lot of people paying money for the chance to be a savior.

Is it any wonder that Israel was (and is) waiting for a military messiah to return? Action and adventure, wars and kingdoms are so much more enticing than loving your neighbors and turning the other cheek. Passionate, righteous anger and defying authority seems - at first glance - to be so much more effective at changing lives than a dinner at a short tax collector’s home. Dying on the battlefield, sword, or gun, in hand seems so much more a hero’s death than the agony of a slow death by crucifixion.

And so, the marketing played out successfully to our innermost desires: a need for a hero, a savior, a messiah. Churches sponsor Halo 3 nights. Web sites give away Halo 3 prize packages. Microsoft makes tons of money and people feel happy because they finished the fight.

If Microsoft can create such passion for a game, a story line, a fake world… why do so many of us Christians not get so excited about the Way, the Truth, and the Life? I’m not saying no one does, and I’m not trying to be negative about the “Christian culture” in general. I just wish that there was an easier way for me to hear some of the stories from “old veterans” of the faith. I wish that my spiritual experiences could be the water-cooler talk instead of just another conversation about how cool that grenade video was.

I wish that I had the same vigor and passion about waiting for Christ’s return that I had waiting for Master Chief’s.