Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Looking back, I realize that I haven't posted a Thanksgiving sermon since the sermonette in 2011, and though I preached on this year's Thanksgiving Day lectionary on November 24th, I must confess that I didn't feel as confident in that sermon's worth.

So, in case anyone's interested, here instead is an off-lectionary sermon from Thanksgiving of 1992:

( I CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION )

I preached at both the English- and Spanish-language worship services again today, and I think the translation issues went a bit smoother this time.

( more about the bilingual worship experience )

And since they weren't celebrating communion today the service only lasted 90 minutes, which left me just enough time to drive back across town and catch the 1:30 matinee of "X-Men: First Class", which I LOVED (even though it didn't necessarily match up exactly with all the back-story details from the previous films).

The close relationships that developed between young Charles Xavier/Professor X, Raven/Mystique, and Erik Lensherr/Magneto were beautifully and poignantly portrayed in this film, and if Charles/Erik slash-fic isn't being written and read in huge quantities at this very moment, I'd be hugely surprised ( possible minor spoiler )

Hopefully I'll have deeper thoughts to share in future, but for now I'm just delighted that I was able to see this film today and have many weeks ahead in which to see it again. And again.

After sitting through the entire closing credits sequence in expectation of there being bonus scenes at the end (as there have been in most of the Marvel movies I've seen in recent years, but NOT in this film, so if you've yet to see it, please feel free to leave as soon as the closing credits start and be assured that you won't miss anything), I found I was just in time to catch the 3:50 matinee of "Super 8" playing at he same multiplex.

I can't say I loved "Super 8" as much as I loved "X-Men: First Class", but I'd still give it two strong 'thumbs up!' for being much more charming and believable and complex and moving than I'd had any reason to expect.

I don't usually get a lot of enjoyment out of movies with middle-school kids as the central figures/heroes, or films that open with a tragic loss in a child's life and a not-too-sympathetic remaining parent figure, but I was won over as soon as the kids started talking about their Super 8 movie-making project (for those of you too young to remember, "Super 8mm" film was what we used to use for home-made movies back in the late 1970's, when a Walkman was a big break-through in personal audio technology and 'digital' was a word that we really only applied to wristwatches).

The young actor playing Joe, the deputy sheriff's son, was extremely good, and the rest of the kids were completely convincing as kids, as well. J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg have come out with a very good movie, even if it's not one that I feel a need to go see again any time soon.

All in all, I had a very good Pentecost Sunday!

In case anyone with a Kindle is looking for a new, more easily readable version of the New Testament (the Old Testament part of this translation is still being worked on, from what I hear), I just got an email about the availability of the new Common English Bible New Testament for a FREE Kindle download on Amazon until the Friday after next.

( pointless 'brag' about actually knowing someone who worked on this project . . . I think )

I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow on the actual 25th anniversary of the airing of the first "MacGyver" episode in the U.S., so I figured I'd better lay my annual (and increasingly seedy-looking) tribute on the altar of my TV religion today.

So here it is (again), slightly revised (again): my "Ode on the Feast Day of St. MacGyver".( Read more... )

I got this email announcement -- which doesn't do anything for me since I'm still clinging desperately to paper books and refusing to do the e-books thing as yet -- and figured I'd pass it along to anyone who does happen to have a Kindle:

Adam Hamilton's new book When Christians Get it Wrong is available on Kindle for $.99 this week only.

I'm envious of the cheap prices people can get on Kindles, but as long as my eyes hold out for the reading of standard print on paper that's what I'll do.

For me, reading is more than eyes going over print -- it's about the smell of old paper and wood bookshelves, the sound of rustling paper, and the tactile sense of hardcovers and paperbacks, as well as always having the option (on books that I own, instead of having borrowed) to write in the margins literally as well as figuratively. The only sense not involved is taste, since I gave up sucking on books sometime around my third birthday!

If anyone read the first 8 pages of Adam Hamilton's new book When Christians Get it Wrong, which are posted on-line as a sample, here's how that introductory chapter ends (pp. 16-18):


( Read more... )


As I read the rest of this chapter this morning, I was reminded again of some of the more moving scenes in the film "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers", including one focused on washing the hair of homeless men and women in what seemed to be an almost sacramental act of care and respect.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing what the next chapter, on Christians, science, and politics, has to say.

I got an email last week informing me that DVD's of "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers" -- the very funny and very moving documentary I reviewed last September, but which had a far too limited theatrical release for most folks to even get a chance to see it -- are now available for sale:

( Read more... )

In case you missed my review (both times I posted it), I highly recommend this film, primarily for the examples it gives (in the latter half, especially) of Christians getting it right in a number of ways that I found moving and encouraging.

Adam Hamilton, one of the best-selling and most sensible (I think) authors writing for Abingdon Press, is coming out with a new book today, When Christians Get It Wrong.

Here's a small piece of the 8-page excerpt of the book that's available online, explaining some of how Hamilton came to write on this particular topic:( Read more... )

Hamilton is a pastor/preacher/writer who doesn't shy away from addressing the 'hot topics' (see for example his 2008 book attempting to de-polarize the abortion debate among both 'left'- and 'right'-leaning persons of conscience, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White), so his newest might be worth a look, if you're interested in and/or frustrated by what passes for 'Christian' behavior and values in too much of our public discourse today.

Just in case anyone missed it first time around, here's a revised version of my very positive review of the documentary "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers", now playing in limited release:( Read more... )

No news yet on whether I'll be one of the 'lucky ones' to get to keep my low-paying job (with health insurance!) -- in case I forgot to mention it earlier, the company has decided to eliminate two out of six positions at my level, and to do it 'fairly' by making all six of us jump through an apparently endless number of hoops, in order to justify our continued underemployment through test-taking, essay-writing, interviews, etc..

( more on my employer's version of Thunderdome )

So much for my paranoia (justified, or not).

However, I saw a great free preview of a movie this afternoon (thanks to my job -- the invitation was forwarded to my unit, since we work in religious publishing, and I was feeling grumpy enough to RSVP and be willing to work extra hours tomorrow in order to do something different today), the documentary Lord, Save Us From Your Followers: Why is the Gospel of Love dividing America? -- a thought-provoking, CIVIL, and ultimately mutually loving and respectful discussion of faith and values among people who believe in various religions and people who call themselves agnostics or atheists.

To some extent, it's focused mainly on helping Evangelical Christians (the group with which the film's creator and presenter identifies) understand how others may see them (the 'Body of Christ' which has become "Frankenjesus", rampaging around the countryside and stomping on the villagers) and remember that acting like Christ (healing the sick, helping the poor, etc.) and loving people through charitable ACTIONS is far more important than raucous, mean-spirited arguments over 'culture wars' -- a lot of WORDS whose only purpose seems to be to say 'we're right, and you're wrong, so there!'

Any movie made by an intelligent, honest, and very witty Evangelical which lifts up Tony Campolo, Jon Stewart, and Bono as 'prophets' of a more honest and constructive dialogue comes as a delightful and inspiring surprise . . . to me, at least. If you can keep a dry eye -- whatever your beliefs -- while watching the 'confessional' scenes towards the end, then you should probably consult an eye doctor soon, 'cause that can't be healthy.

( Read more... )"The Conversation Starts Now" is a good tag-line for this documentary, which opens in theaters 9/25/09 (it'll only be playing on one screen here in my city for the first week, at least, so anyone who wants to see it may have to look for it).