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Journal — February, 2004 |
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| AN ONGOING
SPIRITUAL WEBLOG |
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February 27, 2004
The majority of movie talk surrounds the just released Mel Gibson movie, The
Passion of the Christ – a subject we’ve naturally commented on quite a lot. But there
is also the buzz from Hollywood’s upcoming award and recognition night.
This Sunday is Oscar night, the annual presentation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. Aside from all the hoopla over celebrity dress and demeanor there are some
movies worth seeing and receiving accolades. I’ve yet
to view all the nominated films, but I do think the final
installment of the LOTR trilogy, Return of the King, was
magnificent and epic. The dark, disturbing, but powerful
drama of Mystic River deals with personal moral choices and
confronting your past. Seabiscuit was also a triumphant piece
of film making that deals with overcoming great odds and
how fellowship and friendship makes us all better. Lost
in Translation was a quirky, slow-paced movie, but I found it thought provoking.
And one of the best family films of the year was the animated hit, Finding
Nemo (our review).
If you are a regular visitor here then you know I’m
a movie fan. You might want to visit the article I wrote
a while back, Movies Move Me. Plus, a great book that looks
at spiritual insight from cinema is How Movies Helped
Save My Soul by Gareth Higgins (Relevant Books).
Tom Gilbert
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February 26, 2004
Now that The Passion of the Christ has opened in theaters people are viewing it, media is commenting
on it, and it has truly become an event of significant magnitude. Each
person will respond to it in their own way. The frame of reference you bring to the movie
(how much you know about the Gospels and the Jesus story and what you think about
it) will add to your perception, but the movie is very much “in your face”.
I hope that everyone who sees it will discuss it with others. Don’t hold your feelings inside, but listen to what
others have to say and let this be a way to go deeper with the Paschal Mystery. You can read what I thought of
the film – go here.
Tom Gilbert
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February 25, 2004
Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season. It is a time for Christians to reflect
on the Paschal mystery – the death and resurrection of Christ and what that means for
us. The journey should include times of quiet solitude, but also participation in community,
helping others, especially those less fortunate. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are traditional.
This Lent I’m beginning by asking God to show me how to just be me. And from the acceptance
that I am a beloved child of God I hope to live in that truth and according to
it be the loving person God wants me to be.
What about you? What is your journey to be this Lent? Here’s
an article I just posted that might help you live in those questions.
Today The Passion of the Christ opens in theaters nationwide. I’ll be seeing it this afternoon and I’ll
be writing and posting a review in the next day or so. If you are planning to see it, or already have,
you can share your comments about the film and read those of others who have
seen it at the ShareTheLife web site.
Tom Gilbert
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February 24, 2004
Every day many prayer requests are submitted through our
site. As I read and pray over each of them I’m struck
by how similar our troubles are. We are striving for healing – physically
and in relationships. We look for help financially, for discernment
of God’s will in our lives and for peace in our world.
What is so magnificent about the Gospel Good News is how Jesus teaches us that God’s love
is infinite, but the way we must travel is to surrender all, deny ourselves, and
help others. Consider the messages of being like a child, and that the greatest will be the
servant of all ().
These teachings are counter-intuitive to our human nature.
Yet, God, through Jesus Christ, reveals to us how we can
be human and still be transformed from this (sinful) nature
by embracing the Way of the Cross. It’s not about achieving
first. It’s about letting go - releasing our ego desires
- and putting others first. Then God will raise us up to the new life.
Tom Gilbert
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February 20, 2004
As we get closer to the release day of
The
Passion of the Christ there is understandably
more and more media coverage. And lots of comments about
the media coverage – just
see blogs4God.
I think the potential to get more people interested in investigating
the Gospels and Jesus is great. I just wish
so many Christians, many with good motives, wouldn’t
turn this movie into such a circus.
Anyway, go see the movie, but don’t shove it down
the throat of anyone else. And when people you encounter
who saw it want to talk use it as a great opportunity to
talk about what Jesus means to you, what they thought and
what it means for all of us in our daily lives and responsibilities
to Christ’ primary commandment to “love each
other” ().
Tom Gilbert
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February 19, 2004
"Faith is the only way of knowing that is also patient with
not knowing."
— Richard Rohr from Everything Belongs.
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February 17, 2004
I watched the ABC “Primetime” special on The
Passion of the Christ last night. Diane Sawyer interviewed
Mel Gibson during the hour long broadcast and asked some
of the same questions already asked (“Is this movie
anti-Semitic? Are you anti-Semitic?”).
More revealing were the questions about Gibson’s own
faith and what led him to make the movie. Mel Gibson said
he went through the lifestyle excesses that often crash wealthy
celebrities. He found himself looking for help and turned
to God. His choice of worship might raise eyebrows. He’s
a conservative Catholic that prefers the Latin mass and apparently
doesn’t go along with the reforms of Vatican II. He
clearly did state that he is “a believer”.
The questions I have about the movie still remain. Is it going to be just an emotional rollercoaster
ride while we watch in extreme movie-realism the brutal torture and death
of Jesus Christ? Or will there be enough in the movie to
get people to truly want to know the full story? It is essential
for anyone to recognize that God’s love is so great
that He chose to have the Son of God become the Son of Man
and die on a cross to redeem us. We must learn from the teachings
of Jesus and that the Way of the Cross is built on real love.
I still plan to see the movie, but I hope that each of us that go will evaluate it without preconceived
endorsements or criticisms. In the end the questions we should take away
are “Who is Jesus Christ?”, “Who am I?” and “What
am I going to do as a result?”
Tom Gilbert
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February 16, 2004
Here in the United States we officially observe a holiday today known as “Presidents Day”.
Both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were born in February, thus
prompting the time period for this holiday, but we need to
really pray for all our leaders, especially the president
of the USA. I don’t know about you, but my prayer is
that our leaders get to know themselves better through that
inner journey where they can discover the God of love and
then act out of good conscience.
It’s an election year, so the spotlight shines even
brighter on the presidency. It’s important to register
to vote and to be informed on issues. A good place to do
that is at the Sojourner’s website. You can get more
information also at the Presidential
Prayer Team site. You
might perceive one as more liberal and the other as more
conservative. Let your conscience – and your faith – be
your guide.
Tom Gilbert
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February 13, 2004
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. It can be either a saccharine and commercialized ode to romance
or another day in the life where we can get real about the only reality.
The only thing truly real is love. Unfortunately we may veil this truth with our disillusionment.
When relationships aren’t what we want them to be, or we can’t even
seem to find the “right” person to spend our
life with then we can become despondent, depressed or cynical.
We can also do the flip-flop and believe a current infatuation or true love must always make us
feel good and keep us on an emotional high. That’s dangerous.
I still find the best definition of what love is – and isn’t – comes from the
timeless passage in . Paul must surely have been filled with the
Holy Spirit when he wrote that passage. It’s real and true today, just like when he wrote it. And before he wrote
it and forever and ever.
A gift from this is that we can learn to love others just as they are. What needs to be changed
in them is not up to us – that’s God’s department (although
He may choose to work through you). And we can also learn to love ourselves.
Tom Gilbert
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February 12, 2004
You can read an interesting inteview here from
MSNBC with Jim
Caviezel, the actor portraying Jesus in the Mel
Gibson movie,
The Passion of the Christ (in theaters
February 25). In the interview he describes what it was like
working with Mel Gibson, the actual pain he went through in some
of the filming, confirms that he was struck by lightning and
what it has meant to him to be in the movie.
If you haven't already, I invite you to read our new article,
A Really Rugged Cross.
Tom Gilbert
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February 11, 2004
"If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing
would appear to man as it is, infinite." -William Blake
“It is easier to belong to a group than it is to belong
to God.” – Richard Rohr
How easy it is for us to think that we have it all figured out. Of course, the opposite is just
as true – sometimes we feel completely lost. The danger for us as Christians
is to take our faith and turn it into a club (either to join or to hit over the head with).
Then we become righteous, arrogant and superior. This can happen even when our motives are good.
God is at work everywhere. How can we live in such a way as to demonstrate that the Truth revealed
to us through Jesus Christ is a window to the bigger picture? Jesus as the Way
presents the missing parts of the equation. Many people are
searching for “the Way”. As John Fischer discusses
in his latest book, Finding God Where You Least Expect
Him, God is not restricting divine activity to the lives
of Christians.
Tom Gilbert
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February 10, 2004
Keep it simple.
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February 9, 2004
It seems pretty typical that when we are hurting or needing
consolation and praying for help we can get impatient and
worried that our prayers are not being answered. This comes
from our ongoing
obsession with self. What will help? Try thinking about how
God is orchestrating the outcome of your prayers to benefit
more than you.
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February 6, 2004
I was reading in the Gospel of Mark this morning about the beheading of John the Baptist (Mark
6:14-29).
The part that stuck with me was that King Herod respected John because
he knew he was a man of God, but still “Herod was disturbed
whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.”
Are you ever like that? I know that God speaks to me through
others and sometimes I like to listen to them even though
it can disturb me. Often when we hear what we need to hear
it can bother us. Sometimes that is a good thing.
Tom Gilbert
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February 5, 2004
The Internet community can be a great source of fellowship and sharing of helpful information
(yes, I agree there’s a lot of undesirable stuff out there, but let’s focus
on the positive).
This past week the Internet for Christians site (part of
Gospelcom.net) featured Living the Solution on their web
site and in their newsletter. We are very grateful for that
and to all who have visited us a result.
Spend a little time at Internet for Christians (http://ifc.gospelcom.net). There’s plenty of good
to be found there.
Tom Gilbert
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February 4, 2004
In America the political season is in full swing. The presidential primaries and caucuses continue,
including several yesterday. With this is mind I offer up a quote on government and public
service from William Penn’s Some Fruits
of Solitude, written in the 1600’s.
“Governments can never be administered well, except when those entrusted make it a matter of conscience
to discharge their positions well.”
*Updated entry: speaking of governments and administrations,
two
of the nominees for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize have spent
a great deal of their time with the war in Iraq.
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February 2, 2004
It’s “Groundhog Day”, annually celebrated
in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania as the day when Punxsutawney
Phil – resident celebrity groundhog – emerges
from his burrow to give a prediction on how much winter is
left. If he sees his shadow (he did today) it supposedly
means six more weeks of winter.
Perhaps we can take our cue and ask today if we are casting shadows or projecting light. Like all
of life’s mysteries we will spend time in both shadow and light, but if we let
God shine through us we can cast about a light that shines through the darkness.
Tom Gilbert
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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved.
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PSALM
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"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
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