The Dark Knight
Most incredible movie… wow!! This was SO worth the wait – if you haven’t seen it yet, go see it!
U23D
Last night I went to see U23D with some friends here in DC, and wow, was it incredible! You need to go see it now!
No joke, but watching/experiencing a U2 concert is a deeply spiritual event for me. I connect with God so much through their music and lyrics, more than I do in many church services to be honest.
I watched this massive crowd of people being caught up in something that is so much bigger than any of their individual experiences.
They connected with each other, with the music, with the message. It makes me question what we as a church can do to draw people towards Jesus. Why do we not make better use of the techniques used in experiences like a U2 concert and redeem them?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the theology of music. I think I’ll do a separate post on it, but over the last month especially I have been connecting with God so much through “secular” artists than through “Christian” artists. U2 are the modern-day theologians for many Irish people, and probably many other nationalities. It was a strange experience to be sitting in a room full of Americans listening to Bono sing Sunday Bloody Sunday (Bloody Sunday wikipedia), knowing that it probably has an entirely different effect on you than on anyone else in the room. When you come from a country where your entire land has been torn in two because of religion, where the only differential is whether you go to church or chapel at the weekend, to hear a fellow Irishman sing, “No more…” is a powerful experience.
And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart.Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, how long?
‘Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.
I may not agree with everything Bono says or does, but in a country where church is irrelevant for many people (check out this video from the Republic of Ireland for an idea), to be getting your theology from U2 is not a bad starting place I reckon…
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kissYahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahewh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn…
Thoughts Sparked By Freedom Writers
It’s not a conveyor belt! Education isn’t always found in classrooms and textbooks. It is found in each other. It is not about getting kids to the end of a conveyor belt process after 14 years, but it is about helping them – whatever that takes, however that looks – to find out who they are and what they want to do with their lives.
[ Sparked from watching Freedom Writers ]
Related posts: Freedom Writers
Freedom Writers
A few nights ago I watched a great film, Freedom Writers.
Freedom Writers is inspired by a true story and the diaries of real Long Beach teenagers after the LA riots, during the worst outbreak of interracial gang warfare. Hilary Swank plays Erin Gruwell, whose passion to become a teachers is soon challenged by a group of Black, Latino, and Asian gangbangers who hate her even more than each other. When Erin begins to listen to them in a way no adult has ever done, she begins to understand that for these kids, getting through the day alive is enough – they are not delinquents but teenagers fighting “a war of the streets” that began long before they were born. Erin gives them something they never had from a teacher before – respect. For the first time, these teens experience a hope that maybe, they might show the world that their lives matter and they have something to say.
There were so many scenes throughout this film when I was literally blown away by things that were said. It addresses some fantastic issues. It’s also one of only four films thats made me cry!
In one scene, Miss G and her husband Scott are talking, when he says… “I think what you are doing is noble, and it’s good, and I’m proud of you. I am. I just want to live my life and not feel bad about it.” I think this quote is representative of a lot of what is wrong today. People believe in the ideals, but they aren’t really willing to pay the price to pursue them.
Another scene shows the kids in Erin’s class listening to Miep Gies (the woman who hid Anne Frank) speak about her experiences. One of the teenagers calls her a hero, and she responds…
“I did what I had to do because it was the right thing to do. That is all. We are all ordinary people, but even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can within their own small ways turn on a small light in a dark room… You are the heroes. You are heroes everyday.”
To find out more visit the movie website, or visit the Freedom Writers Foundation.
The Motorcycle Diaries
A few nights ago I finally got to see the Motorcycle Diaries, a film I’ve wanted to see for a long time. It was brilliant…
“The Motorcycle Diaries” is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.
There were a few notable quotes that stuck in my head…
“We travel just to travel.”
This really struck me because of how much we in the West insist on things have an objective, a purpose. We are purpose-driven, efficient, and so on. Why must we be? It’s not always wrong, I admit, but why can’t we do things anymore simpy for the love of them? Simply because they are life-giving and bring us great joy? Traveling is one of my favourite things in the world. I rarely feel more alive than I do when I travel – meeting new people, seeing new places, new ways of experiencing life and culture and JOY.
“We could feel the world changing… or maybe it was us?”
Think that says it all… everything is changing…
Into The Wild
Last weekend while in Dublin, Jill and I went to see “Into The Wild”. Wow.
IMDB describe it as follows:
INTO THE WILD is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
I knew before I went to see it that it would be fairly appropriate for me at the minute, but it resonated with me on so many levels it was scary. There is an entire section of dialogue that I could lift straight out and apply it directly to my life right now – I laughed at that – Jill just looked at me while it was playing out on screen with that knowing look!
It put words on a lot of stuff I’ve been feeling this term, such as who says I should have a degree? Who says I’m supposed to have security, settle down, have a career? I guess it helped me to put words on emotions. Perhaps that will help me to process and work through some of the issues.
“Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don’t want one.”
[Christopher McCandless]
This film really is unlike anything I have ever seen before. I highly recommend you go see it. You can find the trailer on the official website.
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