RT, movie critic

On Saturday I saw Indiana Jones #4. It was, for the most part, enjoyable. Some parts terrific, some parts off-putting, some just good. At the very least it was remarkably consistent with the first three with style, plot, character personas...and of course, snakes. Still, it left me a bit uneasy. The phrase "mindless entertainment" kept coming to...um...mind- and that bothered me.

Is "mere entertainment" enough? Simply put, No. There is far too much to do in this world to justify mere entertainment. Why settle, when there is so much else that is every bit as enjoyable, but also infused with enough meaning--or enough open questions--to be inherently worthwhile, and subsequently satisfying.

And yet here I am, writing something (of whatever worth) in response to that of which I am critical. The movie has become a medium. So should that "No" be a conditional no?

Here's the catch: I went to the movie with friends. I saw it in community. We went together, laughed together, talked about it afterwards, together. And that just makes sense. Kingdom living demands such community. Not that I'm never supposed to do anything on "my own"- read a book, or listen to music, or work out- but that it is in the kingdom community that I learn to do such things well, and to pass on the good to others. How else could it be for broken and redeemed servants of a triune king?

So the 'No' isn't conditional (neither is this no). Time with friends can obviously be well spent even if the context isn't itself particularly worthwhile. So then, how much more will that time be well spent if both the company and the context are good!

Movies are stories. And Story is a medium that unites all humanity as a method to learn and to teach, regardless of time, age or place. Indiana Jones is fun, and I'm glad I went, and I'm especially glad of how I went. Spending a saturday afternoon with friends watching a childhood hero saving the world while escaping poison darts, atom bombs, cate blanchett, and REALLY big ants, then talking about it afterwards, is definitely worthwhile.

Sola Gratia

Amazing Grace 

How sweet the sound 

Amazing Love 

Now flowing down 

From hands and feet 

That were nailed to the tree 

As Grace flows down and covers me 

It covers me 

It covers me 

It covers me 

And covers me

Glimpses.

Last night I watched Saving Private Ryan, and I saw and felt something of the brokenness of this world.

This morning people were baptized at RH, and I saw a true renaissance.

This afternoon, I read the end of The Last Battle, and caught a small glimpse of Aslan's country.

And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God is good.

Commencing

On Saturday I graduated, and it was a strange thing indeed.

Everything went well. I drove to SB with my parents, met up with old friends, followed the bagpipers through the formal gardens, listened to speeches and award presentations and the choir, moved the tassel to the left side, made my way across stage, shook hands, smiled for the camera, and it was done. A blurred moment set a sharp boundary between three magical years and all that lies ahead. Leaving college is an awful lot faster than getting there.

How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back?

For all that, I'm still an undergraduate. I (unofficially) have my BA from Westmont, but have a year and a bit left at UCI. I have classes and finals and homework and labs and research. And I don't have chapel, or the DC, or the prayer chapel, or Stan the Man, or all my friends within a five minutes walk, or vespers, or early morning runs on Butterfly Beach, or PW, or potter's clay. 

But- and it's a big but- I do have access to all that filled those things with goodness. If Westmont was a training ground, and was that full of Goodness, how much more joy will there be from here on out? Those kinds of good things--Stan's wisdom, and the prayer in the chapel, and pure joy in worship, and so much more--may not always come so easily. But they are worth fighting for.

And I will fight, through to the end of the race at the Great Commencement.

Fundraising.

If anyone has £270,000 they don't need, please let me know. I have found my boat.