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arts - movies, books, theatre ...
'Easy A'
Tuesday 9th November 2010 @ 12:00 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
Empire gave this movie 4 stars ... a friend of mine uses the Christian spotlight website to review films before he goes to see them ... it didn't like it so much.
As someone who enjoys a good narrative, excellent production, is probably a bit of a romantic, is not easily offended, and if I had my way would make every youth leader in Ireland take their youth group to see Easy A, I thought I'd compare the reviews:
Christian ...
As for whether or not I recommend this film, I wholeheartedly say to avoid it. Aside from its ...
amazing
Monday 26th October 2009 @ 12:00 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
Please go see VM's post on this ...
great novel
Friday 4th April 2008 @ 8:14 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
One of the nicest things about my Easter break this year was that I read a couple of books that were not about college, but were just about what I desired ...
Tony Parsons - Man & Wife.
You should read it - it's a marvellous novel outlining in an emotive and challenging way the place of marriage and family in our society. It's very warm, it's funny, it's wise, it's thought provoking and it hits the mark on questions the Christian church should be asking - but doesn't say a lot about.
Sometimes to me it seems ...
Emerging church X
Friday 7th March 2008 @ 10:35 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
… so here we are – the final analysis from the book on Emerging Church by Gibbs and Bolger … tomorrow I’ll do a quick post inviting some response which I’ll leave up for a few days … but today, here is the 9th of 9th practices of the Emerging church movement according to Gibbs and Bolger …
Merging ancient & contemporary spiritualities
... central to this is recognising where God already exists …
“It was easier to define spiritual when the sacred/secular split was intact and the kingdom was not a central pursuit.” Spiritual was done ...
Emerging church IX
Thursday 6th March 2008 @ 9:55 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 3 comments
Just two more to go – if you have stuck with them, then good on ye … remember I’m really interested in what you think …
The seventh mark of emerging churches …
Leading as a body
EC’s relate faith life by aiming to live the life of the Kingdom – radical alternate living under the gospel for the redemption of the world. Full participation and creativity are required, so that these communities are both a foretaste and a servant of the reign of God … the task of Leadership is to help create ...
Emerging church VIII
Tuesday 4th March 2008 @ 7:49 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 1 comment
The next mark of the emerging church as described by Gibbs and Bolger in their research book called ‘The Emerging church’
Creating as created beings
“Part of the redemptive activity (of initiating the new into the old) involves participating with the Creator in seeing entire realms of reality come to life. When Christians participate in this way, they share in the creativity of the Creator. Emerging churches participate with the Creator, utilizing all of creation, sacred and secular, as their canvas… Creativity forms in the context of the emerging church’s emphasis on the gospel and the end of ...
Emerging church VII
Tuesday 4th March 2008 @ 7:31 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 1 comment
Emerging church reality number six … Participating as producers:
“In regard to Christian worship full worship participation means brining all that we have to God. We bring our world, our context, our material reality to God as an offering.”
The church has changed: The EC draws attention to the dysfunction of churches shaped by modernity and are drawing fresh inspiration from the early church – Paul’s call to the early church that each had their gift is important. The Consumerist nature of Modernity showed self-interest rise in churches … worship became privatised and ...
Emerging church VI
Monday 3rd March 2008 @ 7:16 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 1 comment
… and the hits keep on coming … here we go with the fifth mark of the emerging church …
Serving with Generosity
“On one occasion our community was getting kicked out of a park because of our interaction with the homeless. ‘You can’t feed the homeless here; you need a permit’ the policeman said. I replied, ‘we’re not feeding the homeless we’re having a picnic. We’re eating with them.”
Generosity is very essence of the Kingdom EC’s strive after … this lives in contrast to the self-indulgent consumer culture we live in ...
Emerging church V
Friday 29th February 2008 @ 9:14 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 4 comments
Emerging church mark number four … and one which I think is most important – it sounds the easiest and most simple, but actually, I think it might be the most difficult to do well …
Welcoming the stranger …
At the heart of this is the inclusion of the stranger demonstrated in the life of Jesus.
“Postmodernity … represents a time when plurality is accepted and order and control are relinquished… Jesus faced the exclusion of the first century Palestine and confronted it with an inclusive community. The exclusivity of modernity with its pursuit ...
Emerging church IV
Wednesday 27th February 2008 @ 4:05 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 2 comments
So here we are – signpost number three to the Emerging church, according to Gibbs and Bolger …
Living as community:
The central question for EC’s is ‘what form of community life must exist in order to practice the life of Christ in every sphere of society?
First and foremost this means identifying with the life of Christ … and secondly, it means that church is ‘peoplehood’ … i.e. church is a people, not a place. Church therefore becomes a life, a 24-7 identification; “The church lives as a committed community in this world ...
Emerging church II
Saturday 23rd February 2008 @ 11:11 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 9 comments
Signpost number one to the Emerging church …
Identifying With Jesus:
“In concrete terms, emerging church leaders look to Jesus as the one who initiated the work of the kingdom in Israel, and their hope is to point to the Kingdom through their communal practices in postmodern culture today.”
This is a way of understanding the gospel more completely, moving away from the epistles as central to understanding the Gospel to the life of Jesus in the gospels as central.
“Jesus provides a model for emerging churches through the way of life he formed ...
Emerging church I
Wednesday 20th February 2008 @ 10:58 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 4 comments
The question of Emerging churches – and what exactly they might be – is a question that the established church is finally coming to with open hands. At the minute in the post-Christian West there is general recognition that something different has to arrive. Religion seems a little tired, and certainly most established churches have been experiencing decline, heartache and serious questions of existence for over a decade now. Many people in churches are asking genuine questions regarding the future, the affect they have on society and whether or not their days are truly numbered.
And so just ...
Charlie Wilson's war
Tuesday 29th January 2008 @ 2:14 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
Charlie wilson’s war.
This is another movie you should go and see if you can .. it’s well worth it.
It’s a fascinating take on the actions of congressman Charlie Wilson during the 1980’s when America sold weapons and helped train rebel forces in Afghanistan in order ot defeat the invading Russian Army. He is hailed as a womanising national hero.
Except that he’s not hailed that way.
It’s a brilliantly understated film.
It is brialliantly acted by three oscar winners. Tom Hanks gives a great performance – one that ...
Animal Man.
Thursday 17th January 2008 @ 6:43 pm / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 2 comments
On the way home in the plane I read Micheal Crichton's latest novel, NEXT. it revolves around issues surrounding the human genome - and more particularly the ethics, practice and future of human and animal genes being brought together. The novel itself is at times brilliant, at times funny, at times disturbing and at times it smacks you in the face.
I was disturbed, and impressed, by the intelligence and provocation of Crichton in the this novel - and I am struck in particular by the research he carried out. Most of this is listed at the ...
Philip Pulman ...
Saturday 8th December 2007 @ 10:13 am / arts - movies, books, theatre ... / 0 comments
When Christians were burning Harry Potter books and condemning JK Rowling as a witch, I was sitting reading Pulman's Dark Materials Trilogy ...
I was, at the time, shocked that the Christian Church was going nuts over Harry, while Pulman sat on the shelf unchallenged.
And now that the first of his three books has been made into a film, I'm really glad to say that I think the Christian public has learnt a few lessons ... the venom of Potter has seemed the escape Pulman.
Strange in some ways ... after all, in Rowling v Pulman, we place a Christian ...
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