in the open space: God & culture

ComingSoon reports that SciFi has greenlit another season of one of this blogger's favorite series, Eureka . A kind of "dramady," the series follows a community of genius scientists that live in a secreted community in the Pacific Northwest called Eureka (hence, the title). It's well-written, funny and engaging--plus it's dealt with a number of themes of interest to this blog, including what makes and goes into community and why it is so important to us. But recently, I've particularly enjoyed the second season (which is just concluding) because one of the characters, Allison Blake , is walking down a road that she knows is wrong for all the "right reasons." She wants to protect her son, who has somehow connected with and is being changed by an ancient or alien artifact. But in doing so, she's started to lie, decieve and make decisions she never would have a year before--and her actions are begining to hurt other people. Contrast that with ano...

Man, I gotta say if this season of Smallville is anything like its premiere, well, Wow . It was full of revelations and movements forward (maybe even a few too many) and, to the delight of this blogger, laced with God-talk. But if you're a reader of this blog, you know that's not unusual for this series which chronicles the years before Clark Kent becomes the Superman we know he's destined to be. (Stop reading now if you haven't seen "Bizarro" yet because there be spoilers below.) What I love about this series (one of my top 10 last year) is its constant exploration of what it means to be human--and that theme was one of this episode's main thrusts. The young Clark Kent faces one of his worst nemeses, Phantom, who takes on a form exactly like Clark (aka "Bizarro-Clark") and has all Clark's powers (and then some), but is his opposite in almost every way: Phantom/Bizarro is evil with skin on (if you can call it that). Yet as Clark faces Phant...

Like David , my thoughts and prayers often wander to Burma. I can't watch it or read about it without my heart scrunching. (Image: via AsiaNews , which says its public domain; let me know if otherwise)

Hat tip to Peter Chattaway for picking up on Variety's news that there's a new movie ( The Aquarian Gospel ) in the works that will focus on the "silent years" of Jesus, ages 13 to 30. Interestingly, the article notes that the source material is based on two books: The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (1908) and The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ (1898). Curious about these books, I Wiki'd them and came up with some, uh, interesting stuff. First, the Aquarian Gospel (according to Wikipedia ) "claims to be the true story of the life of Jesus, including 'the ‘lost’' eighteen years silent in the New Testament.' The book, first published in 1908, was written by Levi H. Dowling (aka Levi) during the late nineteenth century. Dowling claimed to have transcribed it from the Akashic Records." The basic points? Again, according to Wikipedia : Jesus was distinct from Christ, or "The Christ." By making himself, through effort and prayer,...

Comingsoon links to the MTV report that AnnaSophia Robb ( Bridge to Terabithia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) is slated to step into the role of one of the alien siblings in the Escape to Witch Mountain remake . MTV also reveals director Andy Fickman's approach to the new version (and his reasoning behind going with the Rock in Eddie Albert's original role): Not remake,” Fickman corrected. “We didn’t want to come in and just simply do a remake of a movie that we all really liked growing-up. It’s a new chapter within the world of Witch Mountain. I think that for people who have seen the original, they’re going to be very happy with the direction were going. And with people who’ve never seen it, I think it’ll be an exciting ride for them [as well].” According to Fickman, the biggest difference may be one of tone. “The original book is a very cool dark thriller. We’re pulling elements from that,” he revealed. “It’s a much darker movie than in the 70s when they did ‘ Esca...

Yesterday, I took my folks up to D.C. for the morning. I was struck by how the architecture and buildings were so solid and somewhat ageless. In black and white, the same frames could have been pictures taken 25, 50 or 100 years ago. While I get you European folks may be rolling your eyes, for a girl who grew up in America's West, it's somewhat amazing. Heh.

From the introduction in an early manuscript of Wolfgang Simson's upcoming The Starfish Manifesto . (Heh, most are waiting to blog this book until the final copy is released, but, sheesh, I couldn't help myself on this one. Hat tip to Lynn at Beyond the Four Walls ): Most of us have been educated far beyond our obedience. What has been extremely important for many was simply a possession of the ultimate truth, or, a much more passive and religious attitude, to make sure that we are "in the right church." And I am the first one to admit my guilt in this regard. There was a time when I felt very strongly convinced about things, about concepts, about truth. Now as I am getting older, I am not so sure anymore. I have come to the realization that it is not we who possess truth, truth wants to own us . Truth is a person--Jesus himself. This makes us an appendix to him, not him an appendix of us. And in exactly this human weakness, I found profound liberation and freedom. A...

My folks are visiting from out of town and that has made for a sparcity of posts on this blog. That doesn't mean I haven't been reading other blogs, heh. Here's a sampling of what I found worth reading (or, at the very least, made me chuckle): " Origin Entertainment has just launched an official web site for our feature project of A Severe Mercy . It has lots of neat pictures of Van and Davy, and also the settings of the story that give a sense of the what the look of the movie will be. . . ." Barbara Nicolosi at Church of the Masses "I don't expect I'll be doing much blogging until the snot/brain cell ratio inside my skull goes back to normal." Elliot at Claw of the Conciliator " 'I begin to suspect that the most common transactions of life are the most sacred channels for the spread of the heavenly leaven.' " David at Emerging in Ludlow quoting George McDonald "Surely a 'pan-offensive' movie could be a littl...

Hat tip FilmChat .

Angered by the filing of frivilous law suites, the AP reports that Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers filed a suit against God last week: The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere. State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody. Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." Chambers says "he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody." However, as the AP article hints, Chambers suit may not be completely without personal...

"There are some games you can’t play alone." --the Astronaut, Zathura About a week ago, I watched Jumanji and Zathura back-to-back with my kids and thoroughly enjoyed them both once more (though Jumanji is my favorite of the two, I must admit). After we were done, I couldn’t help but reflect that they both shared some similar ideas (in addition to the obvious similarity in plots revolving around mystical board games)—and these ideas speak to Kingdom life. Both films required that most of the main characters to participate in the game—one of great physical risk—in order to finish it and return things to normal. In Jumangi , the game was started by Alan Parish and his friend Sarah but postponed for 26 years after Alan was sucked into the game (and Sarah was left with years of therapy as a result). Two other children (whose parents recently died) discover the game and join in—which pulls Alan out of the game and brings a reluctant Sarah back to play it. The game wouldn’t adv...

Last night I watched Arthur and the Invisibles with my kids, and I was pleasantly surprised. Critics panned it , but my kids liked it—and I thought it had some interesting aspects that bring God-talk into open spaces. The film is about 10-year-old Arthur who (in order to help his grandmother keep her house and property from being bought out by a greedy building developer) goes on a quest to find the rubies buried in his grandmother’s yard by his adventurer/explorer/inventor grandfather who disappeared some years back. He seeks out the help of the Minimoys—a clan of tiny, fairy-like creatures whom he discovers now live underground in his grandmother’s yard after his grandfather brought them back from Africa (along, it seems, with a tall African tribe which lived in and found their community with the tiny creatures). Through a special telescope (and with the help of the Africans), he shrinks in size and enters the world of the Minimoys who—in particular, the young princess Selenia and h...

In an attempt to find out if the crystal was pure crystalline quartz and not glass or another mineral, Hewlett-Packard submerged the crystal in Benzyl alcohol , which has almost the same refraction index as quartz [ citation needed ]. The skull became invisible inside the tank, showing that it was indeed pure crystalline quartz. While this Wikipedia statement about the crystal skulls is not yet verified by a source (hence the "citation needed"), I'd bet money that this phenomenon somehow makes it into Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . I can just see it, heh: Marion and Jones walk into the [insert bad guy's name]'s library, sunbeams filtering through large windows framed by heavy drapes. Jones' eyes roam over the immense room, taking in the wall-to-ceiling shelves full of books lining the walls. Expensive oriental rugs cover the floor, and overstuffed leather chairs and tables are arranged across the great expanse. A suit of shined armo...

On the heels of Felix's record-breaking rise from tropical depression to cat 5 hurricane comes another record event : Humberto didn't exist until late Wednesday afternoon, and wasn't even a tropical storm until almost midday, strengthening from a tropical depression with 35-mph winds to a hurricane with 85-mph winds in just 18 hours, senior hurricane specialist James Franklin said at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "To put this development in perspective, no tropical cyclone in the historical record has ever reached this intensity at a faster rate near landfall. It would be nice to know, someday, why this happened,'' Franklin said. And hurricane season is only half over. Yikes. (Image: NOAA)

Awhile back, I mentioned a book that was on its way to the big screen-- The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs . Well, Jacobs read my post and graciously offered to send me an advanced copy of the book --and, true to his word, it arrived in my mailbox this afternoon. I cracked it open for a bit in between helping my daughter with her homework and making sure my other kid didn't run off and get lost in the forest behind our house. And I'm intrigued. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

I don't point to the Questing Parson near enough. The guy is one of my favorite bloggers. He's like Wendell Berry and a southern Garrison Keillor wrapped into one--but his voice is definately his own. Recently, I really enjoyed Profits or a Glass of Tea , and To Attend or Not Attend made me snicker. Anyway, if you like parables, tales or stories, give him a visit .

Well, it's pretty well known by now that the fourth Indy film has a title: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . With the title, comes a huge hint as to what the highly secret plot will revolve around (though I've run across some interesting articles and speculation online, or if you are into spoilers, you can check out IESB's latest ). I vaguely remember running across the crystal skull phenomenon in the past, but I had to actually do some online research to find out exactly what they are. Essentially, they are human skulls carved in crystal of unknown origins with an abundance of speculation attached to them. The most famous of the skulls seems to be the Mitchell-Hedges skull, first claimed to have been discovered in 1927 inside an ancient temple in Belize by the 17 year old adopted daughter of English explorer/adventurer/writer F. Mitchell-Hedges . While that story seems to have been fabricated, it doesn't stop legends and myths to abound--everythin...

From a Reuters report via Coalition for Darfur: Any attack on Ugandan rebels based in eastern Congo will be an invitation for the group to resume its war in northern Uganda, the fugitive Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) said on Wednesday. The LRA, whose leaders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, terrorised the north for 20 years. But they are now based in northeastern Congo and their representatives are in peace talks with the government. On Tuesday, Uganda began closing camps for the 1.7 million people uprooted by the conflict. But an agreement this week between Uganda and Congo to stamp out militias plaguing eastern Congo, including the LRA, has infuriated the rebels. "Any attack on our military positions ... shall be strictly treated as a declaration of war, resumption of war and above all an invitation to bring war back to Uganda," LRA spokesman Godfrey Ayoo told a news conference in Nairobi. Not sure what this is all about? You ...

ComingSoon reports on a visit they made to the set of fav-tv-show-of-this-blog Jericho . Last spring, the series was cancelled at the end of its first season (and, frankly, I was so mad that they killed off my favorite character that I was almost glad; I've since cooled off, heh), but fan response was so strong (and unigue--they mailed to CBS lots of nuts to commemorate a line spoken in the season finale) that it was renewed for a seven-episode-arch this season. Here are some highlights on the upcoming storyline: --The opening ep picks up right where the season finale left off (battle scene); the second ep skips ahead three weeks. --The Cheyenne military (whom we saw at the tail end of last season) and mega-company Jennings and Rall (a new element in the series) move into Jericho. --As to the bombs, will more go off? "'Maybe,' was everyone's response." Read the details and more here . ComingSoon will dish out more as the series premiere approaches so stay ...

For some reason I've yet to adequately articulate, the Mummy films are some of my favorites . As such, I can't help but be interested in the upcoming third film in the franchise--and here are a couple of tidbits from ComingSoon. First up , director Rob Cohen started a blog chronicling the production of the film. I'm not sure if it's really his or more of a publicity piece (or perhaps both), but I think it's interesting how Hollywood's picking up on the power and influence of blogging. The second tidbit concerns the character of Evelyn; according to Maria Bello (whose taking over the role played by Rachel Weisz in the first two films) Evelyn "has the same name, but she's a very different character than Rachel played. She's a bad-ass action chick. I had to train a lot. I had to do wushu, a martial-art form, some kick-boxing, swordfighting, rifle training for a couple of months before we even started shooting." Um. Hrm. One of the things I loved...

September 11 is a dark valley in my memory. It is covered in the immense sorrow and pain, anger and rage, ash and death of others. It is a place laced with my own blindness and poverty of spirit. It is where I fall to my knees with a burden so great, where I weep still for a world that longs desperately for a love that restores and makes new and brings life. But it is a valley where I am not alone. Even there, Jesus is. Even now. (Image: U.S. Navy, public domain via Wikipedia Commons )

To the world of literature she may be a writer who happens to be a mother, but to three children she is Mother, a warm, exciting woman who happens to be a writer. And to her husband, even after seventeen years, she is still the most fascinating, most exasperating, most stimulating, most outrageous, the most understanding and the most fantastic wife he has ever had. From a 1963 article in Horn book Magazine written by Hugh Franklin (who died in 1986) about his wife Madeleine L'Engle ( who died Saturday ). Read the rest here . (Big hat tip to Susan .) (Image: Copyright © 2007 Crosswicks, Ltd. (Madeleine L'Engle, President) via http://www.madeleinelengle.com/ )

Author Madeleine L'Engle died Saturday at the age of 88. A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books growing up--it still is. I didn't know she was a Christian until I was much older, and that only deepened my love of her stories. About 10 years ago, I had the luck to go with my uber-talented friend Susan to a writing conference at Seattle Pacific where L'Engle was the main speaker. I remember being surprised at how tall she was. She was formidable both in stature and voice, large and strong, gifted and frank. After her last address, I waited in an aisle to meet her. Eventually, she made her way through clusters of people and walked towards me. I looked up at her and said something completely idiotic, but she shook my hand and smiled. Her grip was strong, just like her. Today, the world seems a bit grayer without this storyteller. (Thank you to Elliot for the news.) (Image: Random House publicity photo)

From Scot McKnight's A Community Called Atonement : This generation is tired of an old-fashioned atonement theology that does not make a difference, of an old-fashioned atonement theology that is for individual spiritual formation but not for ecclesial re-formation, and of an old-fashioned atonement theology that does not reconcile humans with humans. This generation of students doesn't think the "I'm not perfect, just forgiven" bumper sticker is either funny or something to be proud of. They believe atonement ought to make a difference in the here and now. Christians, they say, aren't perfect but they ought to be different--at least they ought to be if the atonement works. They think it ought to work. So do I. (Image: mine)

Over in England, David again posted on thin places after he visited St Giles, Pipe Aston near Ludlow, a small Norman Church. “I find myself being drawn to places where people have prayed and cried and worshiped got married or been buried for centuries,” he muses. Read the rest here . I really like David’s posts because they often get me thinking—and this one’s no different. This time, it brought to mind a conversation I had recently with a friend who grew up on a farm in one of the northern Midwestern states. She mused on the difference between the church her folks attend (and the one she grew up in) and the ones that exist in much of the suburbs and cities across America. In particular, she ruminated on the deep, underlying community present there that isn't at hand in most churches today. Our conversation reminded me a lot of similar talks I’ve had with my mom, who also grew up in a rural farm area. Why the difference? In my own head, I attribute some of this difference to the ...

From a new report from ENOUGH via Coalition for Darfur : A recent opinion piece in The Washington Post stated as “fact” that genocide has “concluded” in Darfur. However, the notion that there has been a definable transition “from genocide to anarchy,” as Alex de Waal and Julie Flint titled their piece, misses the broader context of the process that is underway in Darfur. The Darfur these authors melodramatically describe—a “murky world of tribes-in-arms and warlords who serve the highest bidder” —is precisely what the architects of genocide in Khartoum had in mind when, beginning in mid-2003, Sudan’s government set forth to destroy and displace the civilian support base for Darfur’s rebel groups. The promotion of anarchy and inter-communal (or, popularly, “inter-tribal”) fighting is part and parcel of Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency campaign. The conditions in Darfur and eastern Chad today are not evidence of an end to genocide and the onset of an entirely new and different w...

The low off the coast of the Carolinas has organized itself enough to be named Subtropical Storm Gabrielle. This storm has a track in our direction (Virginia), but it'll probably turn back out to sea before it gets here. In an embarrassing show of my geek-dom, everytime I hear this storm's name I can't help thinking of the Gabrielle of Xena fame, a 1990s campy television series which desconstructed everything from Greek and Roman myths to fairy tales to Bible stories--and brought into the mainstream names like producer/director Sam Raimi (who directed the recent Spiderman films) and Bruce Campbell (who already had a geek following of fans of Raimi's cult-favorite Army of Darkness ). Heh, I talked about the show so much that the pastor of the church I was attending at the time got me a Xena poster signed by Lucy Lawless from one of his friends who did sound for the show. Not your typical pastor. Who'd have thunk there'd be a connection between tropical storm...

That's my daughter's hand against a giant leaf that seems to be awfully common in the area in which we live. It startles me everytime I see one. One of those other-world things . Yet in that brief unsettled moment, there inkles a rather pleasant notion that perhaps I've finally become a Borrower . Man, I loved those stories.

God is love. The music of God is love – and the music of God creates a dance within the Trinity that was going on well before creation and is the music of creation now and will establish endless perfect motion in eternity. God’s dance of love is the only dance there is. Anyone who loves God and loves others is dancing, whether he or she knows it or not, to the divine dance. To love is to walk onto the divine dance floor. This is from Scot McKnight's yet-to-be-edited-and-published 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed . And another reason I just love to read this guy. Read the rest here . (Image: Frnaz von Stuck: Ringelreihen; Public Domain)

Fred Thompson officially joined the U.S. presidential race last night on Jay Leno . No matter what your political affiliation, you gotta admit things just got a bit more interesting . (Image: by Fred Thompson at flickr.com; some rights reserved )

Years ago I watched Luciano Pavarotti perform on a PBS special, and I fell in love with opera. I'm still a complete neophyte, but there's nothing like those Saturday afternoons, windows wide open, with Pavarotti's tenor cutting through the breeze. Luciano Pavarotti died this morning at the age of 71. He was a true master with his gift. Would that I be as faithful and masterful with mine. (Image: from LucianoPavarotti.com )

Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) posted a basic outline of a talk he gave about blogging being a spiritual discipline . Heh, I like it. What are spiritual disciplines? According to Richard Foster/Dallas Willard et. al. in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible , spiritual disciplines are: . . . the God-ordained means by which each of us in enabled to place the little, individualized power pack we all possess--the human body--before God as 'a living sacrifice' (Rom. 12:1). It is the way we go about training in the spiritual life. By means of this process we become, through time and experience, the kind of persons who naturally and freely express 'love, joy, pleace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control' (Gal. 5:22-23). . . . A Spiritual Discipline is an intentionally directed action by which we do what we can do in order to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot do by direct effort . . . . The Spiritual Disci...