[Our Sunday Visitor, August 17, 2003]
Seabiscuit
“Seabiscuit” is the best big-story, big-heart movie of the summer. You know the type: it has underdogs, or rather an underhorse, and three men drawn to him by a common dream. Strings and cymbals crowd the soundtrack to the point of bumping elbows, and the action goes to slo-mo, then to black-and-white. An unseen narrator solemnly drops stones into the pond: “It was the beginning and the end of imagination at the same time,” and the middle too, I'll bet. Later, the Works Project Administration is described as “showing somebody really cared,” which must be how it won the Strawberry Shortcake award.
[Again, June 2003]
Often in conversations with Christians of other traditions I find myself explaining the Orthodox view of sin. For most Western Christians, sin is a matter of doing bad things, which create a debt to God, and which somebody has to pay off. They believe that Jesus paid the debt for our sins on the Cross-paid the Father, that is, so we would not longer bear the penalty. The central argument between Protestants and Catholics has to do with whether “Jesus paid it all” (as Protestants would say) or whether, even though the Cross is sufficient, humans are still obligated (as Catholics would say) to add their own sacrifices as well.
[Beliefnet, July 16, 2003]
I can't be the only Christian reading “Beyond Belief,” Elaine Pagels' celebration of Gnostic theology and texts, and thinking, “What's so heretical about this?”
This best-selling book, and its accompanying train of reviews and author profiles, presents a familiar cast of characters. The Gnostics, developers of a variety of Christ-flavored spiritualities in the earliest centuries of the Christian era, are enthroned as noble seekers of enlightenment.
[Today's Christian, July-August 2003]
Will I Be Married in Heaven?
Q. Since the recent death of my wife, a godly “Proverbs 31” woman, I have been wondering if our marriage will continue in heaven. --John R., via e-mail
[Beliefnet, June 2003]
The bridal season is in full swing, and many of us have already clutched more little plastic champagne stems than we can count. As I look back over my own 29 years of marriage-most of them years as a pastor’s wife, with the unique perspective that gives on other people’s marriages-there are two mistakes I think a new couple can make. The first is to take marriage too seriously. The second is to fail to take it seriously enough.
[Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 2003]
Spellbound
Last month the movie buzz was about “The Matrix Reloaded” and its “What is reality?” theme. Joke's on us, because movies are inherently unreal. From the time you step into that darkened auditorium, you're a guest of Tinsel Town.
But there's another kind of movie which sets out to challenge this assumption. Documentaries are based on the irrefutable premise that film can capture reality more truly than any other art form. The 1922 silent, “Nanook of the North” set an early high standard. It depicted the harshness of Alaskan life with such directness that reporters flocked to the tundra to interview the star. Too late: he had perished, starving to death on an ice floe. That's reality, brother.
[Beliefnet, June 2003]
The topic “Jesus and Women” calls forth such a varied cast of characters that it's hard to focus on just one of them. At the forefront is his mother, of course, followed swiftly by the many young, vigorous women who served or questioned him, who were healed or protected by him. Far in the back of the crowd there is a nameless woman who is easy to miss. She is bent double with pain.
Jesus heals her, but she doesn't get to be the center of attention long.
[Our Sunday Visitor, May 27, 2003]
Finding Nemo
You probably don't need any encouragement from me to see Pixar animation studio's new feature, “Finding Nemo.” If you have kids in the house, they have been clamoring about it for weeks. You can't turn on a TV without seeing the dazzling colorful ads. You can't go to the store without passing mounds of Nemo plush toys. If you huddled on the floor with your arms crossed over your head, someone would still shove Nemo fast-food coupons under the door.
[Our Sunday Visitor, May 27, 2003]
People may disagree over whether a glass is half empty or half full, but both sides have to admit that it's about half what it could be. “Bruce Almighty” is about half of “It's a Wonderful Life,” the 1939 classic that it admires so much. On the plus side, it's got Jim Carrey in fine form, crackling with better-than-average lines and excellent timing. I'm not a fan of Scary Carrey, although some viewers prefer the hypermanic vicious Jim of earlier films.
[Our Sunday Visitor, May 19, 2003]
The Matrix Reloaded
George Lucas, watch your back: the Wachowski brothers have gone and made a Star Wars movie. The writing-directing team that gave us “The Matrix” (1999) is back with “The Matrix Reloaded.” It’s got a multi-level industrial hideout for the good guys. It’s got giant walking robot thingies. It’s got grandiose background music. It’s got gray-haired councilors saying grim and ponderous things. It’s got bold crews on ships—not a space ships, but ones that travel inside the earth, so I guess they’re dirt ships.
