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1 - 10 of 600 total
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The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman, 2010)
BY: Denis Haack
Arthur’s cubicle used to be near the watercooler, but the bosses tired of having to chat with him each time they got thirsty. So the watercooler stayed and he was moved. Now his desk is in a distant corner, as far from the locus of power as possible but nearer the cupboard of pens, which is a consolation.
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When Musicians Raise Questions About Faith (IV)
BY: Justin Sembler
Enter Monsters of Folk. Their music doesn’t just grab your attention—it demands that you pay close attention. The music matches the message as well as any band I have ever listened to.
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Notes From Toad Hall Gift List 2011
BY: Margie Haack
Each year Margie makes a few suggestions you might consider giving to someone you know and love. True, you won’t find them equally appealing, and, yes, her tastes are probably questionable (although who doesn’t need Common Prayer?)
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The Conspirator (Robert Redford, 2010)
BY: R. Greg Grooms
The belief that there is one set of rules that apply equally to all our citizens, regardless of race, sex, or social standing, has never been as true in practice as we like to pretend it is.
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Friends With Benefits (Will Gluck, 2011)
BY: David John Seel, Jr.
The traditional romantic comedy is deconstructed—“Katherine Heigl is a liar,” Kunis exclaims making reference to Heigl’s film The Ugly Truth (2009). Here the nature of the relationship—friend with benefits—plays the role of protagonist. Willing cynicism, feigning cosmopolitan sophistication, lamenting one’s emotional brokenness… none of this changes the embodied fact that sex is always more than sex. Sex creates an emotional bond.
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A Beautiful Woman
BY: Denis Haack
The Hebrews pictured Wisdom and Folly as women (see, e.g., Proverbs 3-9), a metaphor sometimes assumed to be merely misogynist and so dismissed in an age that knows better. But the image must be sexually charged because whether hooking up with foolishness or faithfully embracing prudence, the transaction penetrates to the deepest recesses of the soul.
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The Cross and the Wide World
BY: Preston Jones
“If we prove ourselves good citizens of His here [on earth],” Polycarp wrote to the Philippians in the second century, “we shall reign with him hereafter, if we have faith.” Faith and works together.
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Discerning Life: God, Jehovah, and Allah
BY: Denis Haack
Some will object to the notion that Christians, Jews, and Muslims are members of the same household or family, while others will be comfortable with this language, insisting that semantics should not stand in the way of learning from one another. Praying with the Earth is written so as to be acceptable to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim believers.
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True Grit (Coen Brothers, 2011)
BY: Andrew H. Trotter, Jr.
True Grit is a classic western with all the elements of the journey story. Both Rooster and Mattie (and LaBouef to some degree) develop in the movie, not just in our eyes as revealing character they already contained, but as changing, learning to trust others, learning humility, learning friendship. Even as they persevere in the face of repeated challenges, they begin to trust each other, realizing they cannot do alone everything worth doing in life.
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The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
BY: R. Greg Grooms
“The medium is the message,” i.e., how the story in The Tree of Life is told is what the story is about. Life often seems beautiful, but is apparently random and disjointed. Rarely does it make sense to us as we’d like it to. In this regard Malick’s film is certainly honest, if not encouraging.
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Learn the discipline of being surprised not by suffering but by joy. As we grow old, there is suffering ahead of us, immense suffering, a suffering that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road. But don't be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.
- Henri Nouwen
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Tonight we ate soup, home-made bread, and a salad in the living room in order to enjoy the Christmas tree. And because the dining room table has been recruited as workspace for various creative projects that will result in hand crafted gifts for friends. Simple pleasures, simply enjoyed, with deep gratefulness and the realization that grace alone makes it possible. In Ransom we believe that it is in the ordinary things of life that true significance rests, because it is here that we are called to live out our lives before the face of God. If exploring this understanding of reality is of interest to you, we hope you will find the material on this website to be helpful.
Denis & Margie Haack
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