Book Review: "What Good is God?

from the Lent 2011 newsletter

While searching through the books at my local library on religion and faith, I recently came across a newly published book by well-respected author, Philip Yancey, "What Good is God? - In Search of a Faith That Matters".

I enjoy Philip's books as I find that they are usually a fairly "easy" read and they attempt to answer questions that I often have about my own personal faith struggles.

To quote the book cover, "What good is a God in a world where terrorists attack tourist sites in Mumbai, where women and children are sold into slavery, where a gunman kills 32 students and staff on a college campus, an where six million people in South Africa alone suffer with HIV/AIDS." Each chapter of the book introduces this question in light of different situations and places around the world where Philip is visiting and then Philip includes the "speech" that he delivered while he was visiting in this area.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the church in China and in the Middle East. Consider reading this book, it will provide some answers to your questions and it will give you lots of "food for thought".

"'What good is God?' is an open question whole answer God has invested in us his followers. We are the ones called to demonstrate a faith that matters to a watching world." - Philip Yancey

Submitted by P.Y., our Film Ministry Librarian

UPDATE:
This book, given by donation, is now available to borrow from the Church Library

More updates! God at the Movies...

Catching up on this Holy Easter weekend to update the Church Library blog:
from the Lent 2011 newsletter

Acts 17: ²²So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. ²⁶And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸for 'In him we live and move and have our being';as even some of your own poets have said,'For we are indeed his offspring.'"

I was recently given an interesting article to read from "The Anglican Planet" on film and faith titled "Meeting God at the Movies."
http://www.anglicanplanet.net/canadian-news/2010/11/3/film-faith-meeting-god-at-the-movies.html
The authors, Steve Page and Julie Golding Page, (Priests-in-Charge of Mission of Hudson Bay and Arborfield in Saskatchewan), suggest that Paul's stirring evangelistic speech to the Athenians (Acts 17 - see quote above) reveals how their own culture, through the thoughts of their poets and their buildings to an unknown God actually anticipates a relationship with God. Paul also sensitively and clearly points our linkages with God's love and desire for these people to know Him. From this premise the authors propose that film is one way contemporary Christians can follow in Paul's footsteps. "To do so is not to accept the greater culture wholesale, nor to reject it wholesale". Instead they suggest a different approach. To look at film as a cultural artifact and evaluate the film for the following:

• Connection or disconnection with the Gospel
• Engaging with others, to communicate God's love and hope in non-threatening ways
• Remembering always that God has been and will continue to be there in the culture and in the people with whom we engage, working in the most surprising ways to transform his goo yet tarnished creation

UPDATE: The following films have recently been added to the collection. They are actually all fairly old films, but as the saying goes, "they are oldies but goldies".

Chocolat (2000) A woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop in a small French village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.

Chariots of Fire (1981) The story of two British track athletes, one a determined Jew, and the other a devout Christian who compete in the 1924 Olympics. This DVD includes a second DVD with some phenomenal special features.

Grand Canyon (1991) The story revolves around six residents from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in modern day Los Angeles.

Films of Faith

from the Advent 2010 newsletter

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 5:44

“To look at art by people of different experiences – whether cultural, religious, economic, or otherwise – is a way of stepping outside of what is comfortable and familiar in order to become more compassionate. It cultivates understanding, and thus sympathy, with people who are different than us. This is an especially powerful endeavor if we are willing to consider how our enemies experience the world – what a giant step it takes us toward loving them as Christ requires” [1]

One of the purposes of the Film Ministry at St Timothy’s is to do just this. To have films available to watch which allow us to enter into the experiences of people different then us, sometimes radically different then us. This is not easy. It is difficult, sometimes very difficult and often it is almost easier just to say, “I don’t want to know. I don’t need to know” but Jesus calls us to love them and to do this we need to try and understand where they are coming from and what they have experienced. Films can allow us this experience. Good films are authentic and enlightening and have a “Christlike perspective” which is concerned with more than justice. To love one’s enemy is to consider and care what happens to him.[2]

I have some new films in the Ministry.

The first one is titled, “Faith Like Potatoes”. This is a film produced by Affirm Films, a division of Sony this is a motion picture label launched in 2008 to release gospel and Christian films. Based on the novel Faith Like Potatoes, this inspiring film tells the story of Angus Buchan, a South African farmer who suffers a series of seemingly insurmountable losses, but through an unlikely friendship with his Zulu farmhand and divine interventions, discovers the key to healing himself and learning to accept others lies in his unwavering belief in the power of faith. This powerful DVD includes a gripping 54 minute documentary on the real life Angus Buchan, the making of Faith Like Potatoes, director and cast commentary, deleted scenes and more.

Another new film to the Ministry is “The Necessities of Life”. This film was Canada's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards. Set in the early 1950s, the movie tells the story of Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq), an Inuit in the Far North who is diagnosed with tuberculosis by a doctor on a visiting hospital ship and promptly sent south to a sanatorium in Quebec. Separated from his family and unable to communicate with the concerned but condescending staff or his chain-smoking fellow patients, he is devastated by the effects of his isolation. Yet tentative connections with a nurse (Éveline Gélinas) and an orphaned Inuit boy (Paul-André Brasseur) help reintroduce him to the real necessities. This film is in French with English subtitles.

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[1] Overstreet, Jeffrey, Through A Screen Darkly (California: Regal Books, 2007), 123.

[2] Overstreet, Jeffrey, Through A Screen Darkly (California: Regal Books, 2007), 175.

The Spirit of Wildness

From the March 2011 newsletter

One of my favourite reads during the past year has been Trevor Herriot's poetically written book: "Jacob's Wound: A Search for the Spirit of Wildness", so much so, that I have placed a copy of this wonderful book into our Church Library. I believe many who love spirituality and nature will enjoy reading it. I do hope to be able to be able to also acquire a copy of Trevor Herriot's first book, the multiple-award winning "River in a Dry Land: A Prairie Passage", for the library, as the book is clearly the forerunner to "Jacob's Wound."

Trevor Herriot's first book about the Qu'Appelle River Valley, "River in a Dry Land," was highly acclaimed by reviewers when it was first published in 2000 and went on to win four awards: the Writers' Trust Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the Libris Award for Best First-Time Author, the Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award, and the Regina Book Award. It was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Non-fiction.

Here is a short book review from Publishers Weekly on "Jacob's Wound" -
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-55591-616-9
In a series of meditations on nature and wildness, religion and spirituality, sojourning and home, Trevor Herriot demonstrates both the contemplative mysticism that returned him to his Catholic roots and the sharp eye of a naturalist distinctly aware of his physical surroundings. In the first half of the book, “Ascending Hakkarmel,” Herriot describes the intimate practice of living occasionally in a tipi on “the Land,” his family's retreat, in chapters alternating with meditations on the Bible, such as the conflict between Jacob and Esau, and religious or spiritual teachings and experiences, such as Teilhard de Chardin's.

In the book's second half, titled “From Mount Carmel,” the author continues, in writing that is lush and evocative, to toggle between personal anecdote and thoughts on scripture and religious tradition. The chapter titles of this half, such as “Wild Grace,” “Scapular 1” and “Into the Presence of God—1. Descend,” belie the author's poetic style. Herriot provides, rather than a sustained ecological or theological argument, an engaged reflection on nature and God.

"Jacob's Wound is an extended posture of supplication, a benediction voiced into the wind. Trevor Herriot stands, extends his arms toward heaven and earth, and draws the spirit toward its home in the heart." ~Ross A. Laird, "Globe & Mail, October 30, 2004"

Official New Library Opening!

From the Advent 2010 newsletter

The "new" St. Timothy's Library has officially opened -- with many thanks to the graciousness of Sutherland Church to offer us a large eight shelf book case that can be closed and locked when not in use. What seemed like "boxes of books" at one time suddenly became much smaller once placed on the new bookcase shelves!

There is room to Grow our Library! There is still quite a few more books and videos to catalogue and place on those shelves. But, for the first time in many years, there is a wide and varied selection of books for borrowing. The Library also has a small collection of Biblical-based VHS videos (does anybody watch those anymore?) and DVD's for children, youth, and adults. Check out your "new" library this Sunday...

"Make thy books thy companions. Let thy cases and shelves be thy pleasure grounds and gardens." ~Judah ibn-Tibbon (12th century)