Archive for October, 2007
Born Into Brothels
Don’t let the title of this amazing documentary film confuse you. This is not a movie about prostitution. It is a movie about real children. Amazing children.
Originally planning to reveal the plight of women in Calcutta, India, documentarian Zana Briski found herself unexpectedly charmed by the children of prostitutes who were literally [...]
Encouragement for Pastor’s Wives
But What about Me?Help and Hope for Women Whose Husbands are Considering the Pastoral MinistryBy Julie Stiegemeyer
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. …So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went [...]
Chapel Sermon
Kramer ChapelOctober 8, 2007Text: Mark 11:12-14, 20-24
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then [...]
The Value of Shock Value
Can horror films serve a useful purpose? Jeffrey Overstreet thinks so. And I agree. Oh most horror films are probably, at best, merely entertainments for adrenaline junkies. Rather, most of them are harmful gore-fests that desensitize the viewer to human suffering and feed a broken sadistic appetite to see people cut [...]
Laughing at Ourselves: Through a Screen Darkly 2
As part of my preparation for a youth retreat I’m speaking at this weekend in Marshall, Michigan, I’ve been studying a new book by Jeffrey Overstreet called Through a Screen Darkly. I’ve long been a reader of his blog.
Yesterday, I read his comments on a film I actually have not seen. It’s called [...]
Reviving Private Confession
There’s a neat article in the Wall Street Journal about the renewed emphasis on Confession in both Roman Catholic and non-Roman circles. Here it is.
Sometimes when you talk about going to private confession, otherwise conservative Lutherans look at you like you’ve grown a second nose on your face. It’s like they’ve never heard [...]
Through a Screen Darkly 1
Even though I started to read Jeffrey Overstreet’s Through a Screen Darkly this summer, I had to set it aside for a while. But now I’m enjoying it full speed once again. Right now, I’m about half way through it. I’ve read a lot of books on movies and religion, but this [...]
