in the open space: God & culture

Mel Gibson's Apocolypto (a film this blog’s been following ) has finally come out with a one-sheet poster (see right). ComingSoon reports that Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix has begun shooting in England. ComingSoon also reports that Helena Bonham Carter is Bellatrix Lestrange, Oldman is returning as Sirius Black, Professor Grubbly Plank is Apple Brook and the final installment in book form is due out in 2007. Why is this film on a God-talk blog? Check out Redeeming Harry Potter or this book for starters. Superman Returns has come out with a new trailer attached to X3: The Last Stand (see this blog’s thoughts on that one here ), some new TV spots and the news that it is opening June 28 instead of June 30 (to gain extra few days before the July 7 release of the second installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga). Evan Almighty ( Bruce Almighty sequel that’s gone the way of Noah and the Ark) news is scattered, but here’s a picture of the ark Evan bui

ComingSoon recently announced that this Robin Williams film-this-blog-has-been-following has begun production and the article reveals a bit more detail about the plot: The film follows newly engaged Ben Murphy (John Krasinski) and his fiancée Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore), who's always dreamed of getting married in a traditional wedding at her family church. The problem is, St. Augustine's only has one wedding slot available in the next two years, and its charismatic pastor Reverend Frank (Robin Williams) won't bless Ben and Sadie's union until they pass his patented, foolproof, marriage-prep course. Through outrageous classes, outlandish homework assignments and some pious manipulation, Ben and Sadie are about to find out if they really have what it takes to make it to the altar... and live happily ever after. License To Wed also stars Eric Christian Olsen ( Cellular ) as Sadie's best friend and confidant, Carlisle; Christine Taylor ( Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

At least two films coming out in the next year illustrate that you just can’t win when you enter into business with the Devil or his ilk. First, there are the more subtle deals that don’t pay off. Nestled in MoviesOnline’s in-depth look at the updated remake of The Omen (a movie this blog has been following) is this paragraph: "These are complex people, real people," adds [Director] John Moore. "By making the characters more accessible, the audience must consider, ‘If a man this strong and relatable can fall, then it could happen to anyone.’" Early in the story, Robert makes a decision, purely out of love for his wife, which proves to be ruinous. John Moore says: "The film asks the questions: What would you do if you truly loved somebody? What would you do to make them happy? And what Thorn does – protect his wife from the devastation of a child lost at birth – is seemingly benign. People adopt children; it happens all the time. But from this ‘innocent’ lie a

This blog loves comic-book movies and the God-talk they generate. While the third installment in the X-Men trilogy didn’t live up to my expectations (few films do, ack), I think it still delivers. Reviews and analysis of X3:The Last Stand are plentiful . Heh, the NY Times took an interesting tack I hadn’t seen coming with "Phoenix’s Unresolved Daddy Thing and Other X-Men issues." From the Christian angle, several publications have also weighed in. Over at BeliefNet , they interviewed the producer, who’s a Christian. Crosswalk offers a positive review and Hollywood Jesus throws several more into the pot. The best I’ve read so far is from Christianity Today , who introduces the film this way: Suppose an antidote was invented that "cured" something significant in your life. Not a disease like cancer or diabetes, but a trait that is part of who you are, for better or worse—like your body type or a personality defect. If you had the opportunity to change the way you

Last Sunday, my church ( Frazer UMC ) began a six-week contemporary worship series on the Da Vinci Code —and our first service in the series acted as a kind of intro. (Why do I blog about contemporary worship? See Doing worship in the Heart of Dixie .) Why are we doing this series to begin with? How can we not?! Our worship leader (Rob) and pastor (John) both reiterated that the novel and film carry serious allegations wrapped up in a clever story. Both the novel and film generate many questions, and through this series we want to answer as many of them as we can. Supporting elements As I’ve said before , we try to gear every element in each service to support and enhance the main theme of both the series and the message for the day. As people walked in they were handed the sermon outline and a ticket-sized paper with artwork from the series and a map to Frazer on the back (designed to give to friends and co-workers to invite them to the series). I thought the set was spectacular: th

In the summer of 2001, my husband and I left the West Coast (where we’d spent most of our lives) and moved to Montgomery, Alabama (in the heart of the Heart of Dixie). It was (to say the least) a culture shock, but one we’ve both enjoyed and embraced. We brought many things with us (like our “Yankee” accents and California lifestyle) and left others behind (like Indian food restaurants and any hope of getting things done quickly). Another thing we left behind was Greenhaven Neighborhood Church , then a 150+ member church. I really liked that church, its informal style and how we worshiped (our worship band was made up of guys from a local rock band—I saw them perform once and loved it). I lived a few blocks from it, I was familiar with the denomination ( Mennonite Brethren , for which I was then editor of their magazine ), and it was the church in which I came to embrace being a servant rather than warming a pew. In other words, it was where I started becoming the church rather than j

The networks are coming out with their Fall schedules, and here’s an early look at some possible contenders for your Fall TiVo lineup. Six Degrees. A new one-hour ABC drama from J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias (and producer/writer of the 11th upcoming Star Trek film, which fills us Trekkies with hope that the film won’t be botched—again), that will run on Thursday nights. Sci-Fi Wire reports the one-hour drama “will tell the story of six very different New Yorkers who go about their lives without realizing the effect they're having on one another. Yet. A mysterious web of coincidences will gradually draw the strangers closer, changing the course of their lives forever. Is it happenstance? Fate? Is there a greater force at work in our world, guiding us along and connecting our lives?” The Washington Post calls it “the latest is-there-a-greater-force-at-work-here series from the church of J.J. Abrams, the Lost and Alias exec producer. ‘They say that anyone on the planet

I’m way late on this TiVo post—but, for what it’s worth, here’s what’s coming up in the next week and a half (I missed the first half of this week, sorry). Most series have wound down, so the pickings are beginning to thin, but there’s still some good stuff out there: Frontline: The Age of AIDS (PBS May 30 & 31). TV Guide calls the “far-reaching two-night report . . . . an epic account of social upheaval, politics and prejudice in the wake of a killer virus that mystified scientists and continues to resist a cure . . . . Frontline lays out the sobering history in lucid, absorbing detail . . . .” Why is this of interest to a God-talk blog? How can it not be? Millions are suffering, both here and abroad. Suffering—and how we respond to it—is God-talk. It must be. Happy Days (6am May 31 WGN). This has absolutely nothing to do with God-talk, but if you ever wanted to know where the term “jump the shark” came from, watch this episode. If you’d prefer to skip it, read here how TV

Heh, my movie-watching fare has changed somewhat over the last half-decade or so. With a seven-year-old daughter, there are many more family and children films going through our DVD player. This afternoon, on their first day of summer vacation , my daughter and her little friend watched Because of Winn Dixie (which my kid’s teacher just read to her class). I worked at my computer, but kept an eye on the film—and I’m glad I did, because I enjoyed the movie (and it’s WELL worth the addition to your own Netflix queue). And one scene in particular cracked me up—and left me more than a bit thoughtful. Ten-year-old Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) lives in Naomi, a small Florida town which is still suffering from the closure of a candy factory years before. Her father, whom we know as Preacher (Jeff Daniels), is the new minister in the town’s church, whose parishioners sit on rows of lawn chairs and folding chairs in the local convenience store. She befriends a dog one day in a Winn Dixie (a grocery

If you drop in on this blog every so often, you know Darfur and northern Uganda are of concern. It is my firm belief that God’s ancient call for his people to speak up for those suffering injustice and unable to speak for themselves urgently applies to us today. We must not only cry out for justice but also act for the people trying to survive this very day in these two regions of Africa. Thankfully, the media has picked up on these humanitarian crises and is running articles about them often (including several well-done, moving pieces ). Recently, the NY Times ran Truce is talk, agony is real in Darfur war , which reports that attacks in Darfur continue even though a cease fire between the Sudan government and at least one major rebel group went into affect a couple of weeks ago. Last Sunday, the NY Times ran an op-ed that underscores this reality, pointing out that we have a small window of opportunity to bring peace to that region—and that window is shrinking. I’m not savvy enoug

UMPortal has added this blog to their short list of what they consider noteworthy bloggers, by which I am humbly honored. UMR is affiliated with the United Methodists and provides communication resources and services to the Christian community. (Also, a big thank-you to Rob for recommending this blog in the first place.) This blog is also listed with Leaving Munster's Anabaptist Aggregator , the Evanglical Aggregator (with Bloglines ), Coalition for Darfur and a small host of online blog directories. (Image: klynslis at flikr.com )

Here's a sample of the plethora of stuff out there: 1. Superman Returns (a movie that this blog has been following) has come out with a new trailer (which is once again laced with messianic language—and, btw, it’s GOOD), a new poster (see right) and a new (though now several weeks old) TV spot . Why is a comic book movie on a God-talk blog? Because there’s a slew of us Christians that think comic book movies are more than relevant to Christians and our culture. This one opens June 30. 2. Looks like Da Vinci Code did well this weekend . The question is, can it keep it up? By the way, our church is using the film to spring-board onto a six-week apologetics series, which I’ll blog about in the next day or two. 3. A new cast member for Nativity (the Mary-Joseph-Jesus film this blog is following). FilmForce reports: “According to SidCity.net, the official fansite for actor Alexander Siddig, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine veteran has been added to the cast of New Line's Bibl

I’m ready for summer vacation. As I drove to pick up my daughter from school yesterday afternoon, I thought: Only a few more days of this. Then, Can I make it? Not “make it” in the sense of will I actually get there, but “make it” in the sense of making it without letting too many things fall through the ever-widening cracks before I get there. I’m feeling a bit like I did when I hiked Camelback Mountain in my much younger years in Phoenix. The Valley of the Sun has two mountains smack dab in the middle of endless suburbs and freeways. Camelback—so named because it looks like a camel resting on the ground—is the highest and steepest. I liked going up those steep, gravelly paths. My legs felt strong and solid beneath me. I liked the warm, hard feel of the boulders under my hands as I pulled myself up the steeper parts. But going down was another matter. By then, my legs were rubber. I’d start out slow, pain-stakingly placing one foot in front of the other, slowing down to baby-steps

Scot McKnight is walking through Romans—one of my favorite NT books—this summer. He begins his stroll with an intro of sorts, Apostle of Grace , and then moves onto Gospel of Grace , which has this nifty bit at the end: Now, if I’m asked what Paul means by gospel in Romans there are two words that sum it up the best: Jesus Christ . (And you can explain term each at length.) But, this must be learned by all of us: the only thing the Church has to offer to anyone, anywhere, and at any time is Jesus Christ . When I’m asked how I “evangelize,” especially in light of my book Embracing Grace , I simply say what for me is the only thing that needs to be known: talk about Jesus and try to get people to consider following Jesus. [emphasis McKnight's] There are two more entries, Paul’s prayers for Rome (which mentions Paul’s use of the spiritual discipline of “prayer of the hours”) and The Gospel that makes things right (where, to my delight, he mentions he’s friends with and quotes from w

Here's my Daily Bread loaf-sliver for the day (which fits neatly with a challenge to my own living-out-the-faith I experienced lately). I don't take this to mean that talking about our faith doesn’t matter—it does. But, as James put it (albeit in Eugene Peterson’s rendition): “Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?” (2:17)

I’ve been following emerging dialogue for a relatively short time (I hope to delve into and blog it more deeply this summer, once the kids are out of school and my activity level plummets—it’s a paradox: we moms pray for school to end in the spring but then we’re praying for it begin by the time we’re half-way through summer, go figure), and here’s one sample of dialogue between Andrew Jones ( TallSkinnyKiwi ) and some folks who commented at Slice of Laodicea (a blog of “news and commentary on the contemporary church”). Ouch. I see now what emerging folk mean when they grieve some encounters with those who hold to more traditional (which is much different than orthodox, if Scot McKnight is any example) theology. From my limited experience (I'm not even an arm-chair theologian--I'm sitting on the floor beside the chair), it seems a lot of the stereotypes, misrepresentations and misunderstandings about the emerging movement crop up in this discussion. If there’s one thing I’

A recent review of child development studies published in Child Development revealed among its findings an interesting observation about how children learn about God and science. According to LiveScience (also run on FoxNews ), researchers discovered among other things that “children seem to be more confident in the information they get about invisible scientific objects than about things in the spiritual realm.” LiveScience reports that children were asked whether various entities exist and how sure they were about their answers. “With respects to germs children typically said that they do exist and they were very sure of their existence,” said one of the study’s researchers. “That pattern was less frequent for God and other special beings.” As the researchers speculated on why that is the case, one pointed out that “when we talk about things like germs or body organs, we talk in a very matter-of-fact fashion. We don’t say, ‘I believe in germs,’ we simply take it for granted that t

June 1 marks the beginning of the 2006 hurricane season. Before moving to Alabama, hurricanes were an occasional blip on the news. But after living first-hand through five of these seasons (Ivan having the greatest physical impact on our community and Katrina having the greatest impact on our community’s ministry and service efforts), these mega-storms have come to dominate much of my TV-watching and web-surfing patterns during the six months beginning with the first day of June and ending with the last one in November (although that wasn’t the case last year, ack). That means you’ll be seeing more posts about weather on this blog. Why? Well, as I’ve blogged before , weather is one of those natural wonders that leads me to utter and complete awe of God in more ways than one. Its various and awe-inspiring manifestations naturally spur us to reflect on God’s power, creativity and majesty. (Coincidently, just today I got an e-mail from a friend—I’m really sorry you are moving, Kelli—with

Okay, folks, this really has nothing to do with God-talk, but the first time I saw this sign I guffawed out loud (much to the puzzlement of my toddler son, 7-year-old daughter and her little friend in the backseat). It made me groan and laugh at the same time. I must say, however, AUM has a clever advertising team that plays on what's become--for better or worse--a cultural touchstone.

I’m on a panel for a monthly, locally televised book club that discusses books (mostly novels) from a Christian perspective. Most of the books we review are from Christian publishers, though we do branch out to others (like Peace Like a River , Da Vinci Code , the Harry Potter novels and, later this month, Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt ). It is one of the more stress-free and fun things I do all month, if only because I get to sit with two dear friends (and sometimes an additional guest panelist) and talk books and faith for eight to twelve minutes. (Those eight to twelve minutes then run near the end of a show on a station run as a ministry at my church, Frazer Memorial UMC .) Last month, we read and discussed David Gregory’s pseudo-novel, Dinner with a Perfect Stranger . Essentially, we panelists (which, besides me, includes a journalist and a TV producer/editor—who hosts the segment) agreed the book was an easy-to-read dose of simple apologetics packaged as a quick-read

In his speech Monday evening (see text here ), President Bush announced the allocation of 6,000 National Guard troops to aid the Border Patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border and called for a guest-worker program and some sort of road towards citizenship for the over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in America. The NY Times , Washington Post , Washington Times and LA Times —as well as countless other media outlets —reported on the speech. The speech’s ripples were felt in the Senate—as, the AP reports, senators “ wrangle over ” the issue—as well as on countless editorial pages (sorry, you’ll have to seek those out on your own as there’s too many for this blogger to read much less blog, but you can start here ). What’s this mean in the long run? Well, your best bet is to sift through the editorial pages, but I’m hopeful this at least spurs on our representatives to resolve this issue and help these 11 million people find a path to a better—and legal—life. But my deeper prayer, perha

I'm a bit late, but here's your TiVo alerts for this week. The season finales are in major full swing, which leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, this makes for great TV fare. On the other, it just reminds me of the dry months ahead. Plus, the summer months are usually when I end up getting hooked on other shows I didn’t watch before—which is a bad thing as I can’t even keep up with what’s on my TiVo now (those two episodes of ER I alerted you to earlier are still unwatched). Sigh. Anyway, onto this week’s God-talk TiVo alerts: Lost Wednesday, May 17 (ABC 9/8c). This episode continues the story already started (see this blog’s thoughts on last week’s episode here ). The writers are promising that whole faith thing will play prominently in the season’s final episodes. (By the way, multiples sources are reporting that J.J. Abrams ( Lost’s creator) is producing the next Star Trek film.) 10.5 Apocalypse Sunday and Monday, May 21 and 23 (NBC 9/8c). Another TV disas