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Friday, 20 November 2009

  • The Road: Coming Soon to a Church Near You

    By Justin at Faith and Geekery

    Awhile back I talked a little about the trend of marketing movies to Christians — both Christian film directors talking about their faith as well as other films that are being marketed specifically to churches regardless of the intent.

    I have to say up front that I knew nothing about the movie The Road or the book it came from before doing a little research. I see it has some great actors and it looks like a good story. It’s getting positive reviews, and is a film that may have Oscar potential. I don’t want to criticize the movie itself, but I would like to question how it’s being marketed to Christians.

    Jared Wilson at his blog The Gospel-Driven Church mentions an Entertainment Weekly article (which doesn’t appear to be online, although maybe that will change) that talks a bit about The Road’s plans. Directly from the article:

    [T]he adaptation of . . . McCarthy’s acclaimed novel about a father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) traveling through a bleak wasteland is getting the full pitch to Christian audiences . . . Plans include 15 advance screenings for church leaders nationwide, a website featuring free sermon and discussion guides, and a special trailer with extra scenes underscoring the film’s moral message.

    The website in question is here, and you can download a PDF filled with multiple sermons and questionnaires. The studio is using a marketing firm that has marketed to Christians in the past. More Here...

  • Thoughts on Transition

    I just moved into a new place. Every time I move in to a new building, city, or ministry there is a tension present. I always feel as though I can't properly rest or be fully comfortable because I'm not settled. The movement from one house to another, from one job (or unemployment) to a new job, or from one form of marital status to another is difficult All transition seems to have this tension. Being in between two places makes you feel like a stretch Armstrong doll being or a tug-of-war rope. When I think about my moving around in the last several years and the ministry of Jesus I see a shared tension.

    "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
    -Jesus of Nazareth, The Gospel of Matthew

    Jesus was on the move. He lived in the tension. Jesus was between his heavenly kingdom and the world. Both were of Him and he was in both. The Church lives in a similar tension as she aims to be the kingdom of heaven on Earth. She is to embody the all ready (in Christ) and not yet (new earth) kingdom. More Here...

  • Anger, and the Eternal Perspective

    By Clayton King

    I was commenting this weekend to my pastor about the culture we are living in right now in America and how everyone, or at least alot of folks, have such a short fuse.  Really, more and more people get riled up about less and less.

    I’ve seen this on TV, in the movies, and on the news, but I’ve noticed more and more in my daily routine as I drive my kids to school, buy groceries, or go see my 7 year old play football.  It doesn’t take much for most people to have an all-out meltdown, to go from sitting still and quiet to ranting, raving, cursing and threatening those around them, for insignificant things like taking a parking spot, failing to let them in the line of traffic, or for just looking at them (seriously, the other day I was staring off into space thinking about something random, and a guy in a truck thought I was looking at him - I was wearing sunglasses - and he challenged me to fist fight.  I turned him down).

    What’s behind all of this?  When people crater and just go nuts, like some parents recently did at a little league football game I attended, what is the cause of such out-of-control behavior?

    Well, there are many factors, to be sure.  Immaturity.  Stress.  Family problems.  But I really wonder if the reason why we all tend to blow up about such minor things is that we fail to realize the difference between what really matters and what is absolutely unimportant in the grand scheme of things.  We lack an eternal perspective. More Here...

  • Divorce and Loss

    I live in one of two remaining countries in world which doesn't allow divorce.  We're a Roman Catholic country, as stated in our constitution, and hold on dearly to our traditions, culture, the family and its values.  We have had endless political and religious discussions and debates over whether or not Malta should introduce divorce.  So, this 'hot' topic gets a lot of coverage in the media.  To date, there is divided opinion on divorce: 

    The anti-divorce camp (made up of conservatives, moralists, right-wing politicians, the church and it's various organizations), zealously see 'the family' as the cornerstone of society and morally claim that everything must be done to preserve it.  They argue that families need to be strengthened and that help should be given to those families in trouble so they can face their difficulties which strength and courage to overcome them.  The focus usually turns to children and their needs.  They argue that the introduction of divorce will make matters worse - not better.  It will bring more chaos than order.  When referring to the family, they are of course, referring to the nuclear, conventional family.  Family diversity does not feature in their discussions.  Yet, their staunch anti-divorce views sit unrealistically with social reality.  Maltese marriages are breaking down at an accelerated rate each year.  And even with separation, children are still the casualties of such breakups.  Couples have fought endless battles in court over 'their children.' 

    More Here...

  • How Biblical is Too Biblical?

    By Dean Lusk

    I had a great discussion with a friend this evening. We talked about several things, but one that kept me thinking was the fact that sometimes Christians don't hold to the same standards. That's pretty much fact.

    A question that came to my mind -- one that I'd like for you to respond to -- is, how Biblical is too Biblical?

    I won't qualify the question further for now, though it's admittedly a very broad question. You're free to take whatever angle you'd like, whether it touches on legalism, liberalism, literalism, or any other "l" word.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

  • The Reasons for Things, If They Exist

    After an unwanted and stressful encounter, a friend finally regained composure and expressed a sense of acceptance saying, "Well, I guess everything happens for a reason."

    That was the second time I'd heard that phrase this week. So this time I asked, "For what reason?"

    He struggled to accept the validity question. For to say, "Everything happens for a reason," is supposed to be the period, the final punctuation, on a typically bad situation. When we can finally say this, we have reached the point of maturity, it is assumed. Nothing more can be known until the future unfolds and we can look back with 20/20 vision.

    Certainly, it is good to "accept the things we cannot change," as the serenity prayer guides us, but that's different than saying the thing we cannot change (a part of "everything") has a purpose. Our future actions beyond the thing that just happened for a reason are dependent upon what we believe that reason is. More Here...

  • 'In God We Trust' is Source of Controversy Again

    The US national motto, “In God We Trust,” is just about everywhere. It is on every piece of US coinage and currency, in many government buildings, and even on license plates in Ohio, Florida, and the Carolinas. Yet it is the engraving of the motto on the entrance to the Capitol Visitor's Center that is drawing the most recent controversy.

    According to a recent article by the AFP, “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit in July to scrub 'In God We Trust' – designated the modern US national motto in a 1956 law – and the US Pledge of Allegiance from the wall of the Capitol Visitors Center.” The group cites, among other things, the Establishment Clause, which states that government cannot endorse a religion, as the basis for their claim.

    Though the phrase has been the US national motto for only 60 years, its use dates back more than 150. It was first seen on the design for the two-cent coin in 1837, and in 1873 it was approved for use – thought not made mandatory – on all coins. In 1955, the slogan was made a mandatory feature on all currency. Shortly thereafter, the phrase was adopted as the national motto. More Here...

  • Submit Your Posts to Revelife!

    Have you written a really good post this week, or read a good post somewhere else?  Submit it to us, and it could get featured on the Revelife front page!

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  • Doesn't Anyone Have a Sick Friend We Can Pray For?

    By Matt at The Church of No People

    Does your church open the floor on Sunday morning for prayer requests?

    What’s the most requested prayer?

    My guess is most people want to pray for healing.

    Every Sunday we open the floor to prayer requests. Sure, we get a sprinkling of other concerns. But I can always count on the old standby “someone I know is sick” prayer. I almost don’t know if I could give a prayer in front of my church without “lifting someone up” and asking that “healing hand” of the “Great Physician” would “be upon them.”

    And yet I dread it when that’s all we have to pray about. It’s apparent why we make health related prayers the most. Being sick is the most obvious problem a person probably has. But I hate just praying for recovery. I want people to know that suffering can glorify God. It’s in the Bible.

    This may sound terrible, but when poor old Pope John Paul II was at the end of his very long life, and the Parkinson’s he had suffered with for a long time had made him a shell of his former self, and the biggest mercy he could recieve would be to die and see the Lord, I was appalled to see people on TV saying they were just saying a little prayer that his life would be extended. While you’re at it, go ahead and say a little prayer that poor old Dick Clark does one more heartbreaking New Year’s special. More Here...

  • Supporting Ministries

    By Dani

    Once upon a time, I visited a random church that I had never been to before. I was travelling with a college drama ministry and my teammates were laughing and pointing at the mission’s board. You’ve seen these monstrous bulletin boards before. A large map of the world (from sometime before the Soviet Union dissolved), was thumb-tacked with photos of families with a country written next to their name. My family was in the upper left corner floating somewhere in Canada with a strip of yarn pointing to southern, upstate New York. Out of curiosity, I asked my dad if that church was still sending his church-plant money. His reply baffled me, “No”.

    It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
    -- Philippians 1:7-8

    It seemed a little crass. Did they forget that they stopped supporting? Did they just forget to support? Did they intentionally stop supporting but still leave the photo up to make it look like they still did? The implications were endless. For my own sanity, I decided that some kind little old lady felt our family was too handsome to toss in the paper recycling bin.

    More Here...

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