The End? The gospel (of Sherlock) according to John

Good Friday: 'The End'
Easter Sunday: God adds a question mark

Of course, the two characters in the final scene would have to be called John and Mary, the first two believers in the resurrection. I'm sure it's coincidence...

Happy Easter! Christ is risen!

Defying 'Gravity'

(spoilers!)

Alone and facing almost certain death, astronaut Dr Ryan Stone reflects aloud  "No one will mourn for me. No one will pray for my soul... I’ve never prayed... Nobody has taught me how..."

Gravity is at the same time both spectacular and peculiar. It's a classic 'alone in space' thriller in the tradition of 2001, Solaris and Moon, a disaster movie with a cast of 2. You simply have to switch off the part of your brain going 'how on earth did they film that?' (the opening 17 minute spacewalk shot, Sandra Bullocks tears floating away weightless) and hold onto your seat. It will surely win a sackful of awards, but there are odd bits too. George Clooney's character - the experienced mentor to Stone's novice -  seems to be there solely to keep Bullocks character alive, and is oddly dispassionate about his own fate. 

And there's prayer. Here is a character who has a PhD, is an astronaut, can read Russian and Chinese, but can't pray because 'nobody has taught me how.' It's sad, strange, and out of character. This doesn't seem like someone who wouldn't attempt something just because nobody had taught her how. Does this line ring true? Is prayer something so peculiar that even the cleverest and most resourceful person needs teaching? Does it come naturally? Or are we now so disconnected as a culture from God that prayer is a foreign language? 

Yet there seems to be some mercy at work: as Stone is losing consciousness she hallucinates/dreams Clooneys character rejoining her and telling her how to get home - recovering consciousness to find he's not there, but that his advice in her 'dream' is spot on. Angel? 

Despite the nods to some kind of supernatural help, the film is a homage to human resourcefulness - Stone survives, and emerges from the sea onto solid ground - as she stands she almost becomes a giant, rising up to fill the entire frame, taking her first faltering steps into an untouched world. But..... as she lies on the beach, squeezing the sand between her fingers, she says 'thank you'. Who to? Maybe she's learnt to pray after all - Meister Eckhart, a medieval monk, is reputed to have said 'if the only prayer you say in life is 'thankyou', that would suffice.'

With shots of a St. Christopher icon in the Russian space station, and a buddha in the Chinese one, Gravity's bets are very well hedged. There's enough bones thrown to the large US Christian audience to keep them happy, and like lots of good stories Gravity raises questions without answering them. Parts of the movie flash REBIRTH in large letters, but doesn't resolve whether rebirth is something we achieve ourselves, or whether, as Jesus said, it's the gift of God.

Here's some other interesting reviews

The Catholic Thing

Huffington Post

The Gospel Coalition

Busted Halo

National Catholic Register

The Drum

Immortalised in Sand

That was the caption on this picture from this BBC story. Some idiots have vandalised a set of sand sculptures in Weymouth, including one of Andy Murray holding the Wimbledon trophy. Strangely, "Sculptures of ET, a smurf and the Gruffalo remained untouched."

And now the phrase is rolling round my head. Immortalised in sand. Sand which crumbles underneath you in a storm, sand which blows away on the wind (I watched Spiderman 3 last night, the powerful image of Spiderman saying 'I forgive you' to Sandman, who then, bit by bit, is released into a stream of sand and blows away). 

As Spiderman discovers, fame isn't all its cracked up to be, better to be loved than to be immortalised in sand, waiting for the next dousing of rain, or the next idiot to come and destroy you. What a blessing to be able to receive eternal life as a gift, one that nothing can erode.

The pursuit of happiness has overtaken everything else as the top value in the West. But is it the right sort? Interesting research here contrasting two types, 'hedonic' happiness, the 'immortalised in sand' stuff of fame and pleasure, and 'eudamonic' which comes from a 'deep sense of purpose and well being'. Turns out a sense of purpose and meaning is good for your health, licking the earth is bad for it. Tastes sandy too.

How Respectable is the Salvation Army?

A film has been made about riots in Eastbourne back in the early days of the Salvation Army. This is a bit of recent history I didn't know much about, though I had heard of the 'skeleton army' formed to disrupt Salvation Army rallies:

Music was initially used to drown out the voices of hecklers, but was soon seen as a more effective way of carrying the Christian message.

But by the early 1890s persecution of the Salvation Army in various towns had increased so much that a bylaw was passed in Eastbourne making it illegal for the army to march and perform its music.

The Salvationists defied the ban, much to the anger of locals who formed a "skeleton army" with the aim of attacking them and destroying their instruments.

Many people were injured and many Salvationists were jailed in Lewes Prison for their defiance.

From the article, it sounds like rioting was just as much a spectator sport then as it is now, except now we can let the media film them for us. Might be a good discussion starter on what constitutes persecution, when it's right to make a stand, and what we do to bring it on ourselves in the first place.

And how things have changed: this Christmas the Salvation Army Carols at our local Octagon Centre sold out, whilst only about 1/3 of the tickets were sold for Richard Dawkins visit. I wonder if the early Salvationists would be pleased that their successors are seen as respectable, with people flocking to hear the music, rather than to see the confrontation. Though we should be thankful the policing costs are lower.

Doctor Who Gets Religion: Or Does It?

The rebooted Doctor Who franchise has always drawn heavily on religious imagery and ideas, from a giant fiery devil figure in The Satan Pit to the climax of the David Tennant/Master showdown where the entire world prays for the Doctor (via the 'Archangel' satellite) and he's effectively resurrected and transfigured all in one go, and then bestows forgiveness on his mortal enemy.

The current series doesn't show any signs of letting off. The mid-series cliffhanger introduced the Headless Monks (bad) and the 'Clerics' - the church has become a military unit, though it's not quite clear who they answer to. 'Lets Kill Hitler' had several religious allusions too:
 - River Song poisons the Doctor with a kiss, the poison is revealed to come from the Judas Tree. No prizes for guessing where they got that one from.
 - The Silence is revealed to be a religious order, not merely a species.
 - River is cared for in a hospital run by nuns, the Sisters of the Infinite Schism. Great name. Think I know some of those.

With the religious thing thrown in about the Silence on top of the Headless Monks, the current impression is that this batch of Doctor Who writers lean towards the 'Religion is Bad and Dangerous' pole, which, to be fair, is probably the view of most people. The name given to the nuns suggests they are on the margins of religion - suggesting it's here that you find good, not at the centre.

Does Doctor Who get religion? It clearly gets the power of religion to command allegiance, but that's mostly portrayed in a negative way. Institutional religion is armed (the clerics) and dangerous. It'll be interesting to see where the whole Silence part of the story goes. Many of the good bits - e.g. elements of the life of Jesus, prayer, resurrection, life after death (e.g. Silence in the Library, which could have been written by N T Wright*) are all Doctored to retain their appeal but turn them into sci-fi.

I've written so much stuff on this blog that I can't remember if I've made this observation before, but it's remarkable to see the transformation in the sci-fi genre. From the thoroughly humanist Star Trek, sci-fi and fantasy have become the genre of choice for exploring spiritual issues. With the demise of the Biblical epic, and the blockbusting precedent of Star Wars, if soap operas are where our society holds up a mirror to its morality, sci fi and fantasy movies are where we hold up a mirror to our souls. Jesus figures abound, from Gandalf to Harry Potter to the Doctor himself, issues of destiny, prayer, life and death, character, the nature of evil, and the great rules/powers/persons that govern the universe, it's all there.

What's being said, well, that's debatable.........

*Silence in the Library has a 'resurrection to eternal life' based on using an advanced computer chip to store all the vital data about a person. After they die physically, this data is uploaded to a giant computer, where the dead enjoy a new virtual life, dressed in white (really? you don't say...) and reunited with their loved ones. This bears a striking similarity to an image used by Wright to describe how the resurrection works.

New Harry Potter Trailer

if it's half as good as the book, then it should be a cracker.

"I feel that you are closer to God when you are messed up"

Somehow I ended up with a copy of the Observer at the weekend, which carried a thought-provoking interview with actress Samantha Morton. Some of it is quite tough reading, and what Morton says about her faith is quite striking.

'Lucy' is a character in The Unloved, a film she co-wrote and directed, an 11 year old whose experience of abuse and childrens homes mirrors Morton's own childhood. Morton comments:

...there is an element of Lucy that is about the true nature of Catholicism. She prays for people, even the people who have harmed her. She forgives." Is she saying that she was like that as a child? "In a way, yes. Catholicism played such a huge part in my life, I would not have survived without my faith."

How did it manifest itself? "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I felt watched over as a kid." But did she never feel angry with God for letting these things happen to her? "No. Never. I was angry but not at God. I feel that you are closer to God when you are messed up. Definitely. That's when you most need God, and God cannot control what man does."

Does she still have her faith? Is she religious? "I'm not a Bible thumper, and I don't want to go on about this because it will always be misinterpreted, but I have a wonderful joy in my life and that is that I have always believed in God. I just have and I think I'm lucky. Some people question that faith but, when you are little, and you find something as powerful as that, you do not question it. It's what got me through it all."

Some people seem to endure horrific experiences and can't forgive God for not intervening. Others like Morton have those experiences but seem to end up with a stronger faith. I have no idea what makes the difference. To say that faith is simply a gift might be the answer, but it also sounds like a cop-out. Why do some get the gift and not others?

Other comment: the language of being 'watched over' is very common, in my limited experience it's one of the most frequent ways that people talk about God. I guess it comes out strongly with baptism families, the notion that a strong and protective God is watching over your small and vulnerable child. For weddings, very few couples believe they've come together by accident, the language of 'meant to be' hints at someone/thing having a hand in things.

Art and Christianity Meme

Phil Ritchie, and someone else (who I've already forgotten! it's been a busy few days) tagged me with the following challenge:

To list an artwork, drama, piece of music, novel, and poem that you think each express something of the essence of Christianity and for each one explain why. Then tag five other people. Original idea from Jonathan Evens.

This is going to test my cultural horizons, but here goes.

Art: Banksy's Bethlehem murals

Not just the image - which itself connects to the message and passion of Jesus - but the location, on probably the symbolic structure of human division in the world since the end of the Berlin Wall.

Drama: Difficult, as there are stacks of films and dramas with gospel imagery. I'll plump for the Shawshank Redemption, especially the final escape, where Andy Dufresne leaves the prison, is 'baptised' in the river and the rain, and goes on to a new life with a new identity and riches already against his name in the bank, sending back a message for his friend to come and join him.

Music: 'Restore My Soul' by The Choir. One of my favourite bands anyway, full of great imagery "I come to you with 10 fingers smoking/from turning the pages of sin/with my spirit choking/from earning the wages of sin". Talks of a God who, no matter how much of a mess we make, is ready and willing to restore us.

Novel: I'm tempted to say the Harry Potter series, but I'll plump for Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis, a retelling of the gospel through a 20th century peasant village and their passion play. Lord of the Flies by Golding also crossed my mind, but it's pretty low on redemption.

Poem: God's Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Incredibly concentrated, and bursting with imagery, it feels like the meaning is wanting to explode out of the limitations of mere words. The idea of a world charged with God's glory, like electricity, is a wonderful image.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil ;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod ?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod ;
And all is seared with trade ; bleared, smeared with toil ;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell : the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent ;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things ;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah ! bright wings.

I tag Steve Tilley, Phil Groom, Arun Arora, Gary McMurray, and PaxtonVic.

Nativity!

Review of this new film at Ship of Fools, and interviews/clips at Damaris.

If you're still struggling for some songs for that Christmas play, it might be worth popping along. Looks like fun.



Ship of Fools interviewed Martin Freeman, star of the movie:
I asked Martin Freeman if he saw a parallel between those pupils and the twelve disciples – hopeless-turned-heroes.

"I hadn't seen that," he admitted, "but the reason for me that any of that stuff – the religiosity – has validity is that there are some good things to give to people – like the idea of redemption; the idea that we can turn something around. If we are watching films, who do we get behind? The underdog. What the flip was Jesus if he wasn't an underdog, born in a bleedin' manger, you know what I mean?"

HT @davidmarriott

Store Wars

In case you missed it (suddenly lots of interest following the X Factor) here's my post on Robbie Williams latest offering 'Bodies', and all the religious stuff in the lyrics. Meanwhile...




"Search your peelings Cuke"

If this doesn't get your kids eating organic veg, nothing will. Love what they've done with Chewbacca and Yoda.

Review of Marcus Brigstocke's 'God Collar' show later today, saw him last night in Yeovil. V good and v provocative.

Ricky Gervais on God etc.

5 minute interview with Ricky Gervais here, connected to his film 'The Invention of Lying'. The film is about a society where no-one can lie (like Liar Liar in negative), and Gervais's character tells the first lie. He goes on to invent a Man in the Sky - the film is an atheist polemic as well as a comedy. Hoping to catch it next week - anyone seen it?

Interesting what he says about God, heaven etc. - "I wish there was a God" "Do you think there is a possibility that there is a God" "No." ....."I think there's a logical, a biological explanation for everything."

Back to Mass Sunday

Evangelism UK notes that the Roman Catholic church has developed it's own 'welcome back' intitiative. It's called Come Home, and is particularly targeted at those who 'no longer or rarely attend Mass'. There's a lot of good stuff on the website, it's nicely presented, though some of the 'video stories' weren't working, and it's slightly off putting to have the top welcome message next to a very pensive Cardinal O'Connor. He might be saying 'welcome' but he looks like he's thinking about something else. Find a pic of the man smiling or raising a pint.

Also for Advent (yes, I know it's only October), Get in the Picture is an interesting slant, encouraging people to create and photograph interactive nativity scenes in public spaces.

Back to the present: some Damaris resources on the new Creation film about Darwin. It has video discussions, meeting outlines, a list of who's showing the film etc. Sensible bunch, if you're looking for sensible discussion of the issues.

lots more good mission links on Evangelism UK, regularly updated, and much briefer descriptions than me!!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Review

After a break long enough that most of us have forgotten the plot of Book 6 of the Potter series, the delayed HBP is now upon us. But from the moment a giant slate-grey WB (Warner Brothers) emerges through storm clouds as the haunting minor key refrain begins, the memories start to return.

Despite a recession-busting opening, and positive reviews, life has changed since the days when life stood still for a new Potter book or film. This one is very much part 1 of a 2-parter, a scene setter for the monster that will be 2010/11's Deathly Hallows. That said, it's a very good film. Well over 2 hours long, but apart from regretting how much coke I'd just drunk in Pizza Hut, the time zipped by.

Wisely, the film has filletted Rowlings book down to three main plotlines. The first is Dumbledore and Harry's pursuit of the key to Lord Voldemort's downfall. This happens to be a memory possessed by Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent on great form, reminded me of a former philosophy tutor), who Harry has to spend most of the school year winning over. The second theme is a secret mission entrusted to Draco Malfoy by the evil Voldemort, which we discover at the end of the film, and the third is teenage romance, of which more later.

In a welcome bucking of Hollywood trends, HBP resists the urge to get 'darker'. Even the stunning opening sequence, as black-trailed Death Eaters swoop through London, has a tremendous visual gag as the Millennium Bridge gets zapped and we see it wobbling alarmingly as pedestrians cling on to the handrails. Yes the weather seems defiantly grey throughout, but there probably hasn't been a funnier film in the franchise since Kenneth Branagh's superb turn as the vain Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets. In early films, much of the laughs came from the magic, here it comes from the characters. The acting across the board has gone up a notch or two, none more so than the comic acting, especially Rupert Grints Ron (thankfully banned from the slapstick gurning of earlier films), and Daniel Radcliffe himself. At one point the Coen brothers almost take over, as a tearful Hagrid, a stoned Harry (he's been drinking potions again) and faux-sincere Slughorn give a eulogy for a dead giant spider.

The action sequences are few and short - the arresting opening shot through London, an attack on the Weasleys hideaway, and a short duel between Harry and Malfoy. The final battle from Rowlings book has been removed completely. This seemed to give the characters more room to breathe: from the tortured Malfoy as he wrestles with his moral dilemma, to the ever-excellent Alan Rickman as Professor Snape. Dumbledore's relationship with Harry is allowed to pose questions it never answers - is Dumbledore using Harry as bait? Is he, like Voldemort, another adult using his power and influence to coerce a student into doing his bidding?

Like the work of Philip Pullman, there is a deep moral and spiritual core. At the beginning of the school term Dumbledore's brief and sombre message to the students warns them that evil is trying to infiltrate the school, and that it's chief weapon is the students themselves. That put me in mind of a question recently asked in our church 'is evil just the absence of good, or does it have a real existence?'. The answer here is both/and - Voldemort is real, but he works in and through people, some more willing than others. So Draco Malfoy wrestles with his conscience - if he kills Dumbledore his family will be saved, but his half-hearted efforts and knotted brow show that, however little he rates Dumbledore, he can't bring himself to kill. In fact Harry himself comes closest to crossing that line when he uses a mystery spell on Malfoy during a fight and - unwittingly - nearly kills him. Is ignorance an excuse? Is coercion? Is evil? Is anything? Discuss...

There are various religious hints too*, with a Moses-like parting of the waves (waves of fire in this case) to cross a cursed lake, and language seemingly lifted from CS Lewis about the need for the blood of a willing victim. Harry is, in pseudo-Messianic terms, repeatedly called 'the Chosen One', though being chosen is both a privelige and a burden. His final quest is to find and destroy the 7 pieces of Lord Voldemort's soul - with a strong and very clever visual hint late in the film that one of those is actually Harry. The repeated theme of sacrificial death to overcome evil (Harry's mother, Dumbledore) will become even more pronounced in the finale, as it finally intersects with the Chosen One himself.

With plenty of stunning scenery, and the teen angst angle played with much more subtlety than before, there's plenty to enjoy. In fact, add in a few Orcs and horses and you've nearly got Lord of the Rings Part 1, with a band of young but faithful friends, a mystery quest, an elderly wizard, black-clad forces of death, and Gollum's extended family in a spooky cave. But there's less snogging in Tolkien.

This is a cross-post from Touching Base, a regular column at the Wardman Wire.

*There was some Latin with the word 'Deus' carved on the birdcage, but I didn't catch the rest of it. If you happen to see the movie, let me know!

Video for Fathers Day, from 'Blood Diamond'

I am your Father who loves you. And you will come home with me and be my son, again.

A bit early, I know, but it gives you time to suggest to your vicar that it gets used on Fathers Day. Or if folks are a bit squeamish about the gun, use Finding Nemo. Wingclips also have a selection of free 1-2 min clips from top movies on the Fatherhood theme.

The CofE has a prayer for Fathers Day and some resources for worship.

Rebels without a Commander

Tom Harris is the latest Labour MP to ask for Gordon Brown to go, along with Jane Kennedy, Frank Field, James Purnell, Caroline Flint, Stephen Byers, Charles Clarke, Siobhan McDonagh, Sally Keeble and Fiona McTaggart. There seem to be plenty of rebels, but many are acting alone.
Where is the leadership?

I'm reminded of a scene in Gladiator, where Russell Crowe (a former Roman army general, who is now a slave gladiator) gets the slaves to work together as a team. They're chained and on foot, faced by soldiers on chariots, but by locking shields and working together, they win. The one or two who try to go it alone are cut to pieces (literally).

Gordon Brown seems to have faced down the possibility of a leadership challenge precisely because of lack of leadership from his opponents. Various MP's have spoken out or stood down, all hoping that their actions would precipitate a leadership election. But without leadership and strategy, these have just been a series of damaging, but isolated, incidents. Hopi Sen says a bit more about this.

Maybe it's a tacit respect for Brown that none of them will openly stand against him. Maybe it's a lack of nerve among his potential rivals. If anyone outside the current cabinet goes on to stand in a future leadership contest, they need to be asked "why didn't you stand in June 2009?" If courage fails them now, then what other tests will they balk at?

The other quality on display is loyalty: from the Damascene convert Peter Mandelson through to Alan Johnson, senior figures have made a point of rallying round Brown and speaking up in his defence. She's not my favourite politician, but Harriet Harman has led from the front in this, putting herself through 2 election nights in the TV studios to defend Brown and his record.

Loyalty is vital to success as a leader. If you can't take people with you, and have those who will take a bullet for you, then you won't last very long under pressure. It's significant that in the Bible, several leaders who go it alone fall away (e.g. Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah), whilst others learn to build a team (Moses, Elisha, Paul) and are able to see things through to the end. It takes time to invest in others, and to win their loyalty and trust, but once that's been done "a cord of three strands is not easily broken" (Ecclesiastes)

Quantum of Solace

The latest Bond outing has already smashed box office records in its opening weekend. It's clear from the film's plot why it's opening in the UK first, but more of that later. This is very much Casino Royale 2, picking up in plot and feel on its 2006 predecessor, and again reminiscent of the Bourne Trilogy: a movie which stands on its own, but makes more sense if you've seen the one before it.

Critics have given it mixed reviews, and here's my take:

Plot: Bond is out to avenge the killers of Vesper Lynd, his love interest in Casino Royale. He claims he's not motivated by revenge, but he spends the entire film pursuing (and killing) a series of contacts around the world who lead him closer and closer to his quarry. On the way he encounters the main baddie - Dominic Greene - who is in cahoots with both the CIA and various South American dictators-in-waiting. He blocks off water supplies, destabilises governments, the dictators step in and take over, and Greene gets lots of land in return. And that's about it: no world destroying megalomaniacs here, but still a nasty piece of work.

Along the way Bond teams up with the obligatory beauty, who's family were destroyed by a Bolivian general who is in league with Greene, and who also wants revenge. He has to slip out of MI5 (or is it 6?) control in order to pursue his vendetta, and yet again we have a Bourne similarity: a spy working against his own people in order to pursue his own agenda.

Style: The film seemed to be almost 50% chase sequences: road by Italian lake going into a quarry, Siena rooftops (brilliantly staged), boats in a Caribbean harbour, car and bike chase, hotel chase, plane dogfight, and probably several others. The camera jumps around so much in many of these that it's hard to keep track of what's going on, but it certainly gives it a faster pace than Casino. It's also very low tech: scarcely a gadget on show (except some whizzy computer graphics at MI5), and some very physical stuntwork. Roger Moore this is not!

Substance: the plot is twofold - Greene's wheeling and dealing, and Bond's pursuit of revenge. Beneath that is there anything deeper? Casino Royale explored Bond's choices over what kind of person he would be, what kind of image of masculinity ('part monk, part killing machine'). Here he seems to have settled on a Clint Eastwood persona: steely and single minded pursuit of revenge.

If there is a moral heart to this film it is about motivation. Bond is motivated by revenge, Greene by greed, the CIA by power (having people they can influence and control in satellite states), the Foreign Secretary by expediency, Bond's companion Camille by revenge again. The CIA subplot probably won't go down very well in the USA, and many of the main characters talk about 'heroes and villains' (a nod to the title of the latest Heroes series? probably not), but refuse to draw moral lines between them. At times it's hard to know which side of the line Bond falls on, he has so few scruples about killing people. Is there, as one character suggests, no real distinction between heroes and villains? Does it matter which side you're on?

A couple of characters suggest that something deeper: Camille wants to 'free you from your prison', and Matthis (virtually his only other ally) encourages Bond to forgive, and to forgive himself. The suggestion that revenge takes you prisoner, and forgiveness sets you free might have carried the day in Spiderman 3, but it doesn't stand a chance in the hail of bullets, crashes and explosions that is Quantum of Solace.

All in all a good spy thriller, but the character development which took us all by surprise in Casino Royale is put on hold for 1 more chase sequence, and Bond is a less complex, less interesting character as a result. It's a good ride, it has the familiar Bond style (lots of dinner suits and cocktails) but is in danger of disappearing into a Bourne Identikit. This iron man needs a heart.

BBC's 'The Passion' DVD due out.

Evangelism UK reports that the BBC's production of The Passion (which was very good until the last 2 minutes) is available on DVD. Not strictly true - it comes out in October, but you can pre-order it now. Follow the this link for some episode reviews and links from earlier in the year.


Staying with the BBC, I will continue to stick up for Bonekickers even though everyone else seems to hate it. Ok it's all a load of cobblers, but so are most of the books in the summer bestsellers list. Since the 'Da Vinci Code', there has been a massive splurge of 'historical religious fiction' which all combine some modern day murder mystery with a secretive medieval/early Christian sect protecting a secret which will destroy the church if it comes out. Or variations thereon. Reading the appendix of The First Apostle is nearly enough to make Dan Brown come across as a scrupulous historian.



Where was I? Oh yes, next weeks Bonekickers finale is set in Glastonbury, just up the road from here. I like the way this is moving: Hot Fuzz was set in Wells (our nephew, visiting from Singapore, wanted to visit Wells not for the Cathedral, Bishops Palace or anything else, but just to see the place where the film was set. Cue anguished wailing from heritage types), Bonekickers is now moving down the A37 from Bath to Glastonbury, so it's only a matter of time before we get a major production set in Yeovil. Or not.

'Mamma Mia!'s Modern Morals

Went to see the Mamma Mia film the other night, the polar opposite of the last movie we saw (There Will Be Blood), and had fun evening out. It's the kind of film where you have to decide 90 seconds in (when the first character breaks into song), whether you're going to jump in and enjoy it, or find the whole thing completely cheesy.

It's a PG, which was pretty marginal, and I was struck by a note in the credits. During the film, one character is seen wielding a cigar, and so the credits had a disclaimer that any smoking in the film wasn't supposed to encourage people, and was very bad for you etc. etc.

We're all pretty used to the tobacco warnings now - the one in my local says something about a slow lingering death - but what struck me was the lack of warnings about anything else. One character looks vaguely alcoholic, another is a serial divorcee and sexual predator, and broken families seem to be the order of the day. The whole plot hinges around a girl who doesn't know who her father is, and invites the 3 potential candidates to her wedding. Her hope is to find out which one of the 3 men her mother slept with 20 years ago (in the space of a month) hit the jackpot.

Call me old fashioned, but most of this stuff is worse for your health than smoking, yet we never see health warnings advising us not to sleep around, encouraging us to have stable relationships before having children, etc. We seem to be straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel - or perhaps smoking a Camel - and kidding ourselves that we really are concerned about people's wellbeing because we're tough on smokers. Except that the cigar coincided with a gorgeous blue sea, sunshine, yachts and a Greek island, and the smoking disclaimer was tucked away at the end of the credits. So we're not that concerned, really.

It was a fun film, and lots of people will enjoy it. But it's significant that we don't bat an eyelid at a movie which has everything but a happily married couple, and treats this as normal. Even the couple who are supposed to get married think better of it and head off for the sunset together to explore the world. It seems bizarre to be basing any kind of serious social comment on a film like this, but it's a prime example of how we have normalised family breakdown. Sure it takes away the stigma of being a lone parent, but it's actually pretty desperate. Some fatherless kids can escape with a song or a dance, others suffer for it.

Fathers Day resources

Wingclips has a selection of video clips related to Fathers day. Or if you have grumpy dads, they've just put a few up from the new Hulk film.

My favourite clip on fatherhood is from The Incredibles - go to 6mins 18 secs of this excerpt:



Meanwhile the CofE has done a survey on how dad's see their role:
Nine out of every 10 fathers feel responsible for the souls of their children, research commissioned by the Church of England has revealed. More than eight out of 10 mothers feel the same responsibility. By age, those feeling most responsible were people aged from 25 to 34 years, according to the survey.

surprise, surprise (not), the survey in turn is tied in to a new publication, in this case a baptism prayer card aimed at dads. If anyone out there is working on baptism resources, what we really need is a new DVD resource - the only thing on the market is CPAS's 'First Steps', which is ok but quite dated and tells us what baptism 'is really all about' at least 5 times in as many minutes. It's probably ok if you're seeing it for the first time, but after a dozen baptism evenings it does start to get a bit wearing!!

New Prince Caspian Resources

A couple of weeks before the new Narnia film, Prince Caspian, Damaris have released a package of resources to go with the film, free for churches to use. Here's their communique:

We have tremendous news for you. Some weeks ago Walt Disney Studios asked us to create for them a set of school and church resources related to their forthcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and linked to downloadable clips from the film. These will be featured on the official film website and available free to download from www.damaris.org/narnia. There is even a FREE CD-ROM full of our resources that we can send to you as well.

Disney will soon announce this officially (this press release is currently being released), but has agreed that we can give Damaris members advance information in this newsletter. Here you will find links to resources including school assemblies and lessons, all-age church services, youth activities, childrens activities... and so the list goes on. And all using downloadable clips from the film.

Now a really important request : If you find these resources helpful, please email us at caspian@damaris.org telling us what you plan to do with them. We want to compile a report showing that they have been useful so that other film companies will ask us to work with them in this way in the future. Then we can create more free resources like this for you!