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.