in the open space: God & culture

This is a picture of Hurricane Earl from space taken and posted on his twitter feed by Astronaut Douglas Wheeler. At this point, Earl is currently a Category 4 and looks to just miss the East Coast (where I reside). These storms are some of the most amazing on our planet. The power and complexity of these storms is mind-boggling. No wonder psalmists invoked images of storms when writing about God.

The White Witch has come to reclaim Edmund, who was recently rescued from the Witch with whom he had been colluding and to whom he was then enslaved. She references the Deep Magic of Narnia which gives her the right to reclaim Edmund: Aslan (with a growl): Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written. White Witch: Then you’ll remember well that every traitor belongs to me. His blood is my property. Recently, my family watched again the recent film adaptation of the classic Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I was struck anew by this scene because it gets at something about God’s atoning work in history and in Jesus that gets obscured by the way God and Jesus can be sometimes presented. There’s a segment of us who grew up with the impression of an angry God full of wrath aimed directly at us and that Jesus’ life and death and resurrection was about appeasing that anger so he could love us once more. God is angry, but he’s n

As the result of one of those constant technological mishaps common in Eureka, in "The Ex-Files" several members of the community are seeing hallucinations of people from their past. Carter is seeing Stark, Allison is seeing Tess, and Grant is seeing a colleague from his past--who is encouraging Grant to work against his current colleagues. When Allison asks Grant who he is seeing, he conjures up a cover: Allison Blake: You never said who you were seeing. Charles Grant: Tall, leggy blond, slinky red dress. Of course, Battlestar Galactica fans geeked out at this as it is the perfect description of the Cylon model Six that only Gaius Baltar could see--Baltar being James Callis' role on BSG . BSG is also a SyFy series and references aren't unusual on Eureka , but this by far is one of the best. Must admit, I almost missed it--it was my husband who caught it first. Heh. (Images: Syfy)

We spent yesterday cleaning out the garage, and in a box of old electronic/computer stuff we found one of our first cell phones, a 1993 Motorola flip phone. The only way I could figure out exactly what it is was to search it out on eBay . Anyway, next to it? My first generation iPhone. Gads, what a difference 17 years makes.

If you follow me on Twitter , you may have seen most of these already, but that assumes you actually read my tweets, heh. For what it’s worth, here’s a list of links and blogs I found particularly worth reading in the last week or so—and most of which brought God-talk into open spaces. 1. New Testament prof and scholar Daniel Kirk uses Gladiator and Revelation as launch points to examine the concept of “What we do echoes in eternity!” and asks “Does that idea scare the poop out of you?” 2. AMC released a trailer for its The Walking Dead , an adaptation of a graphic novel by the same name chronicling the lives a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse. The series looks to have the makings of a good story. Wait , you say. How can zombie flicks be good stories ? Read film critic Peter Chattaway’s Why even consider a horror movie? at Christianity Today , an interview with self-confessed Christian director Scot Derrickson ( Hellraiser, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth St

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." But I do want. "He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul." But they killed my dog. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil--" But I am afraid. "--for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." But we need a miracle. "Thy loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." If you exist. "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." But I'd like to get more out of this life first. If you don't help us we're all going to die. Please? Just one miracle? Amen. ~Megan Wheeler's prayer in Pale Rider after a group of thugs killed her dog when they terrorized the mining camp in which she lives with her mother Recently I watched again Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider and I was struck by how Megan’s prayer at the beginning of the film—using the form of Psalm 23—is not only an excellen

The other day, I was watching with my kids Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban and that got me thinking about all the things I'd love to do from the universes, lands and stories I've read and seen over the years. So, here's a Bucket List of 10 things I would like to do--if they were real, heh: 1. Ride a hippogriff 2. Go through a stargate 3. Learn to golf from Bagger Vance 4. Feast in Rivendell 5. Fly a viper 6. Learn to use a light saber—and the Force 7. Take a nap on a totoro 8. Own a sonic screwdriver (which, of course, would entail meeting the Doctor ) 9. Live in Eureka 10. Go through the wardrobe How about you? (Image: Buckbeak from HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban, Warner Bros. via Harry Potter Wiki )

Occasionally I have smaller epiphanies or moments of realization that aren't fully developed but significant enough that they begin to change how I look at or understand the world, reality, others or God. They are a bit like that moment when you turn a kaleidoscope ever so slightly and the pattern suddenly shifts. This is one of those. Recently, I heard someone suggest that our default as human beings is selfishness. A few years ago I wouldn’t have given that a second thought and accepted it as a given, but these days comments like that start to fill in the patterns on my rotating kaleidoscope. This one in particular reminds me that how we view our default state has a lot to do with where we begin in our Story—and that, too often, we don’t realize we are starting in the wrong place. A few years back, I read “ What is the Gospel ?” by Scot McKnight in which he posits that our understanding of the Gospel is affected by (among other things) where we begin the gospel story. Do we begin

"If there was more love in the world, there'd probably be a lot less dying." ~Preacher, Pale Rider (Image: screencapture from the trailer, Malpaso Company/Warner Bros, via IMDb )

This summer, I finally watched The Book of Eli , a post-apocalyptic film centering on a mysterious sword-wielding stranger who is on a mission to protect an ancient book. The film garnered a rather negative reception when it released, which slipped it onto our wait-until-it-comes-out-on-DVD viewing list. But to be honest, I liked the film. I get where critics are coming from, but I appreciated its Western genre elements and themes, and plot-wise, I enjoyed how all the clues for the twists are there (and there was one twist I didn’t expect). And I also thought some of the God-talk in the film is worth contemplating. (Caution: Spoilers ahead.) First, I appreciated the moments portraying the power and beauty of the Bible (the Book that Eli is protecting). I especially loved the scenes where Solara and her mother Claudia encountered the text. In their world, there are so few copies of the Bible that most people don’t even know it ever existed. They live in a violent, dangerous and desola

There are a handful of days in everyone’s life that they can point to and say, “That day changed me. That day helped make me who I am.” They usually happen on big event days, the day you get married, the day you have your first kid, the day you land on Venus. But they can also happen on regular days, in unlikely moments, with events that may seem like nothing at the time . . . or they’re so huge that they literally take your breath away. ~Maddox Donnor’s voiceover in “Venus,” the next to last episode of Defying Gravity . I’ve long been fascinated by the idea that the choices we make each day are individual footsteps down a path, be it one towards life and light or another towards darkness and destruction. Donner’s voiceover gets at those times we remember and can point to where something happened and the choices we made were significant steps on those paths. But many of those more significant choices, events or circumstances come on the heels of a sea of ordinary days filled with sma

"The English have Shakespeare, the French have Moliere, the Russians have Chekhov. The Western is ours.” ~ Robert Duval A few weeks ago I volunteered to come up with a list of good cowboy/Western films for someone who enjoys the serialized Westerns like Gunsmoke and Have Gun—Will Travel . So far, I’ve come up with the list below—let me know what I've missed or should add. ~ Open Range ~ The Searchers ~ True Grit and Rooster Cogburn ~ Lonesome Dove ~High Noon ~Shane ~Magnificent Seven ~ Classic John Wayne films like The Sons of Katie Elder, Big Jake, El Dorado, Rio Bravo, and McLintok! Below are films I personally appreciate, but would recommend with reservations due to the violence and adult content. ~Tombstone ~Unforgiven ~ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ~Fist Full of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ~Pale Rider As I’ve said before, I think Westerns are a wonderful genre, with themes and motifs that make for

In bed above, we're deep asleep While greater love lies further deep. This dream must end, this world must know: We all depend on the beast below. ~Amy Pond reciting a rhyme in “ The Beast Below ” episode of the Eleventh Doctor Who In the second episode of the most reason season of Doctor Who , the Doctor takes Amy thousands of years into the future to an immense British city sailing through space many years after the earth has suffered an environmental disaster. Initially just intending to drop in for a bit, our good Doctor sees a small girl crying and plunges in to find out what’s gone wrong in the colony. After much adventure, the Doctor discovers a horrible truth: the city is resting on the back of an ancient and sentient star whale that is continually tortured to force it to paddle the city through space. Way back, when the whale showed up at earth in the midst of its disaster, and the British powers that be enslaved it in order to save their slice of humanity. But the gener

Finally updated the look of the blog. Not sure I like it yet, but I'll leave it alone for a bit. If you're so inclined, let me know what you think! (Image: mine)

"Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." ~Paul in his letter to Colossian believers (3:14 NRSV) "...Love is the answer, At least for most of the questions in my heart Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard? It's not always easy and Sometimes life can be deceiving I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together..." ~from Jack Johnson's song, "Better Together" (Image: mine)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 I am weary of summer, grown heavy simmering in its humid and languid decadence. Even the trees are drooping with its weight, languishing in the din of the cicadas. It is time for fall to trim summer’s excess and free the horizon once more. (Image: mine)

A new series on my radar is the upcoming BBC sci-fi series Outcasts , set in 2040 on a nearby planet settled by a group of “social misfits and criminals” as “the pioneers of a large new settlement” after some sort of nuclear event on earth. It’s been noted by TV Guide's Matt Roush as a sci-fi/Western hybrid which (as Rob Owen at Pittsburg Post-Gazzette suggests ) brings back memories of beloved-by-this-blog Firefly as well as elements of the shortlived Earth-2 (I loved the premise of this series) and the recent (and also beloved of this blog) Battlestar Galactica . But beside the fact that it’s sci-fi (and I love my sci-fi), what intrigues me about this series is the questions the creators (the makers of favs-of-this-blog Life on Mars and Hustle ) are exploring : … will the new people bring the problems of Earth with them? Will the mistakes that destroyed Earth be repeated? Will the arrival of a new, would-be leader, rock the fragile and precarious equilibrium of the fresh

This was Blastr's Image of the Day today.