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Clash of Cultures
The release of Prince Caspian in theaters, as with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe before it, has once again presented the opportunity of using modern film to teach elements of the Christian faith. It is a tactic that seems to have value within the entertainment driven cultural context in which churches minister today. Oddly, one of the best films that I have seen in recent years, a film which really gets at the heart of the challenge facing contemporary Christianity, is not a “Christian film” at all...
Meanings of Music
What sort of meanings can music have or convey? Are there inherent, even fixed meanings in the grammar or structure of a musical composition, the ordering of sounds apart from anything extra-musical? Does music acquire meanings (for those who hear or make it) through the extra-musical associations of its functioning in a given culture? Text, time and place, timbre, velocity, volume, virtuoso performer: can such things determine an understanding of what music means or what music can do? ...
Clergy Shirts and Misinterpreted Symbols
Symbols are a very big thing to people on opposite ends of the theological spectrum. To one end they are sort of like anchors to truth and orthodoxy. As long as you keep proffering the symbol in a theologically well-thought-out way, all will be well, and no amount of contemporary futzing around will undercut its crystal clarity. At the other end the symbol is a lovely replacement for the irritating hard edge of doctrine, allowing lots of bitterly disagreeing people to pretend that they actually are united on something, and suggesting that because truth is bigger than us we don’t have to be accountable...
Sleepless Nights
There are few things more ominous for a pastor than being awoken after midnight to the sound of the phone ringing. Invariably it is bound to lead to a sleepless night. It was no different last night when the phone rang, and yet this time everything was different. For the phone call was not from a hospital or a grieving loved one, it was from someone who was dealing with the demonic...
Ministry: Face to Facebook
The past month or two I've been addicted to Facebook. I joined Facebook some time around Christmas, after realizing virtually everyone younger than me used this tool and "Friended" each other on Facebook in order to stay connected. Facebook defines itself as "a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them." It really is an incredibly useful tool...