A movie, A book, A deadline

First, a movie review:  I watched "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith this weekend - once Saturday night and once Sunday afternoon.  I highly recommend this movie.  I do suspect I might have felt pretty frustrated if I hadn't read the blurb from Netflix before watching. (There are lots of quick scenes and flashbacks that aren't explained until the very end of the movie.)  On the other hand, I felt a bit cheated by having read the blurb because I didn't get the experience intended by the director of putting together the puzzle pieces for myself.  In any case, the current-time narrative draws you in, even without understanding how everything else fits into it.  My guys all thought it was a very sad movie, but I wasn't so much saddened by it as inspired to think.  Think about what?  Love/loyalty/friendship, guilt/blame/forgiveness - especially of self, giving/receiving, autonomy/community.  SPOILER ALERT:  How far do we go in respecting a loved one's wishes when their wishes will destroy them - if those same wishes save others?
 SPOILER ALERT OVER

Next, a book review:  The Book of God, The Bible as a Novel by Walter Wangerin.  What a great idea!  I'm completely engaged in reading the Old Testament with exactly the same feeling I get when reading a novel.  I've done a few comparisons with the actual Bible while reading, and all the essential details included in Wangerin's novel seem to come directly from the Bible.  You can't expect too scholarly a comparison from someone who's never had the hutzpah to read the entire Bible - I'm exactly the reader Wangerin had in mind with this novelization.  I'm currently in the Kings section, and I confess I'm disturbed by the repeated instances of God's retribution against Israel's enemies, not to mention the subordination of women, and the apparent containment of God to the tabernacle/arc.  While trying to be mindful of the Anabaptist practice of reading the Old Testament with "New Testament lenses,"  I've also kept in mind the counsel of a spiritual advisor I met last summer to bring such issues/questions to God in prayer.  I'm also really looking forward to getting to the New Testament.

And, finally ...  the deadline.  I shouldn't be writing this because I have a deadline on April 15th for my National Board certification project!!!!!!  Okay, so, ...

Till next time,
Your Neighbor