While we should enjoy God’s good creation, and while we should make the most of our time here, this is not our final destination. The new heavens and the new earth are our destination, where we will live with God forever in face-to-face and heart-to-heart encounter with God through Jesus in the Spirit. Jesus’ first followers’ hopes were set fully and firmly on his promises of enduring presence in their lives through the Spirit, and then later in face-to-face encounter with Jesus in the Father’s house. Certainly, the security of Jesus’ presence in this world and the next would give them hope and assurance in the face opposition and persecution. . . . Jesus’ presence and promises, including the promise that they would live with him in the Father’s house, meant the world to Thomas and Philip and the rest of the disciples. And Jesus’ presence and these promises should mean the world to us today. – Paul Louis Metzger, The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town (Intervarsity Press, 2010), 180.
story
Book Response: Hollywood Worldviews, by Brian Godawa
As part of his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Ministry to Emerging Generations (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), Tom’s written a number of book responses and given several short presentations (personal and group). In this series he not only “shares the wealth,” but also looks forward to your feedback as he refines his project: An argument for vocational discernment for graduate studies in the context of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (Stay tuned to learn more!). Earlier posts on the program: Ministry to Emerging Generations and The Big Picture of Ministry to Emerging Generations.
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment
Honestly I picked up Brian Godawa’s Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002) with reluctance. After skimming Hollywood Worldviews over a decade ago, it sat on my bookshelf largely unread*. What does another “Movie Appreciation 101†(20) have to offer? But I received hope as Godawa opened his Preface, “I am a screenwriter. . . . If you don’t have a good story, you won’t have a good movie, no matter who is acting in it or lighting it or directing it or producing it. If the story doesn’t work, the movie doesn’t work†(9). Yes, the writer creates and “the story is king†(10).
[Read more…] about Book Response: Hollywood Worldviews, by Brian Godawa
Scholar’s Compass: Stories for Life
Quotation
Mark 4:2 (ICB):Â Jesus used many stories to teach them. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Compass: Stories for Life
Scholar’s Call: Every Christian is a Journalist
As part of our Scholar’s Call collection, Jeff Neely describes how being a believer and a journalist intersect in his experience, and points to some windows journalism gives us into practicing Christian faith, whatever our vocations. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Call: Every Christian is a Journalist
Movies: They All Begin and End the Same
We love stories, tell stories, and read stories, knowing that stories can only be told because the story exists. [Read more…] about Movies: They All Begin and End the Same