Movie Group in a Nutshell

Yesterday's daily quote included my comments about a movie group I do at a local assisted living facility. I was asked about what the "model" was which has proven so successful.

I actually have been meaning to do a blog to serve as a resource with lists and tips in case anyone else was interested in such a venture. I began one and then got distracted. I'll get busy with it again.

In a nutshell, it is providing activity for small groups, rather than large ones. I've been working with the facility's management but providing a way that those within the small group can help nurture it if they are interested.

The facility had most activities organized around large groups attending and this was their first view of how successfully a small group could turn into a vibrant community. And when I say small, let's be clear. I was thrilled Monday to hear that about 15 people watched the movie and to have 9 people come to lunch.

It has been hit and miss to get to where we are. I wanted to do something to volunteer and was asked to set up my own idea. All I really could think of was the sort of conversations Scott and I have at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

I began over a year ago with a book and movie club, which met in the afternoons. It turns out that very few wanted to read books or even listen to audiobooks, which the facility happily provided free.

So movies are the focus.

Afternoons were also a problem as people had other activities or wanted to nap after lunch.

So a couple of group members were inspired to move the meeting to lunch time. Because who doesn't want to have a good conversation with a meal? We all know the key to getting attendance is to provide food, no matter what time of day.

The current formula, which has been working well for some time, is that we meet twice a month. The movie is shown on Sunday evening by a group member, though the management is going to begin also showing it on Fridays (as we continue to tweak). On Monday there is a lunch for anyone who saw it to come and join a group discussion. I have trivia from Wikipedia/IMDB and insights just from reading various reviews, to try to foster conversation.

Well Said: What we are promised.

I happen to love our latest pope (and, really, who doesn’t?), but we were never promised loveable popes. We have plenty of saints to keep us company and give us heart, thank God, but we were never promised that the Church would be administered by them, nor even that the Church would be administered by minimally decent and reasonably competent people. We are not promised that Jesus will never again be denied, deserted and betrayed, nor are we promised that trusted teachers, priests, bishops and popes won’t do the denying, deserting and betraying. We are not promised that they (and we) won’t sin again and again and again, only that He will always forgive.

What we are promised is not that we possess the Truth but that He has a Church and that He will always be there, however we may deny, desert and betray Him. What we are promised is that the One who told Moses so frightfully “no one can look upon Me and live” now offers Himself to us as food. What we are promised is his presence in the Eucharist, his mercy in our sorrow, his welcome as we lie dying. What we are promised is that He loves us, and that, if we will only bring ourselves to ask, He will bless us with a ravenous hunger for intimacy with Himself. That He will save us, in other words.

Michael Garvey, Still Catholic

Yep. Wherever we go, there we are. All the more reason we need Christ and His Church ... and to remember His promises.

Well Said: Our Efforts and Jesus

We also may feel our efforts are inadequate. ... But Jesus accepts what we give, blesses it, breaks it open, and magnifies it. Often in ways that we don't see or cannot see.

Father James Martin, Jesus: A Pilgrimage

This seems facile to say but I actually saw that in action just this morning. The director of the assisted living facility where I do my bimonthly movie group said that it was one of the most successful programs they have. And that they are having more programs "follow your model."

My model?

I was slightly stunned. Mostly because I know the inspiration to try the group was due to a strange coming together of "pushes": Bilbo picking a troll's pocket, me reading to my mother-in-law, and stepping way out in faith (and fear) to try a new idea when it occurred to me. So, evidently a divine inspiration. (Nice to have that confirmed.)

A classic for our times: reviewing Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler

Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It by Jennifer Fulwiler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


SHORT VERSION: 
I can think of an awful lot of people who I'd give this book to:

Christians trying to understand atheists (like a pal of mine who said, "I just don't know how those people don't believe in God." I almost shoved my copy into her hands. Almost. Hey, I wasn't finished with it yet.)

Atheists trying to understand Christians.

Protestants trying to understand Catholic teachings.

Catholics trying to understand Church teachings.

Catholics who understand but struggle with following Church teachings.

Anyone wanting an inspirational story of change and redemption.

Yes, that really is an awful lot of people ...

LONG VERSION
Jennifer Fulwiler was raised by loving parents who didn't push their atheism on her or do more than tell her to think for herself. However, that in itself was enough to produce a dedicated atheist, especially when told to an intelligent youngster who applied herself with the passion that only youth can muster to facts and logical conclusions.

I looked at the ammonite settled in between my soggy sneakers and I understood for the first time that my fate was no different than its own.

I had always thought of these creatures as being fundamentally different from me. They were the dead things, I was the alive thing, and that's how it would be forever. Now I wondered what had kept me from understanding that to look at these long-dead life-forms was to look at a crystal ball of what lay in store for me—except that, unless I happened to die by falling into some soft mud, I wouldn't end up a fossil. Ten million years from now, there would be nothing left of me.

[...]

There was no solution to my problem, because it wasn't even a problem; it was just a new awareness of reality. But as I took one last glance at the pickup before it disappeared from view. I felt like there was some answer in that brief flash of happiness I'd experienced while driving the truck. The grim truth I'd uncovered hadn't gone away, but it was somehow rendered less significant when I'd been immersed in the distraction of having fun.

Her only encounters with Christians were, frankly, off-putting and tended to be with friends who were not at all equipped to discuss faith versus scientific truth and logic. So Fulwiler spent many years losing herself in fun to distract herself from the awareness of mortality.

When Fulwiler became a wife and mother, the life-altering love she experienced defied logic. It defied scientific explanations. It tipped the scales against atheism. With this realization, she began searching for the truth. That truth led her to a place she'd never have expected, conversion to Catholicism.

On the surface, this is Fulwiler's story of her  conversion. However, because she required so much reflection, connection, and research before relinquishing her old beliefs, it is also a primer on logical investigation and thought. Finally, it is a exploration of Catholic teachings and how they apply to modern life. It was key for Fulwiler to fully understand all the implications of what she was accepting so she takes care to make sure the reader also understands.

This isn't done in a dry or preachy way. Au contraire, I often found myself laughing, especially at the time she sat in a bathroom stall for hours, reading a Bible furiously searching for answers and just as furiously spinning the toilet paper roll to send away people who knocked on the door.  And there are moving and insightful moments such as when she is reading C. S. Lewis, listening to Tupac Shakur, and melding her thoughts about both into realizations about hell, heaven, and purgatory.

I recently read St. Augustine's Confessions, the first autobiography ever written. It is a moving and completely honest book about one man's search for ultimate truth. On many levels Fulwiler conveys the same passionate desire to know what is true, what can be trusted, as that young African seeker did 1,600 years ago.

Augustine's book is a classic because it spoke so directly to the people of his time and yet sounds its message through the ages. Other Christian classics do the same. Francis de Sales with his Introduction to the Devout Life, Teresa of Avila with her Interior Castle, and Thérèse of Lisieux with The Story of a Soul all addressed problems of their time with advice that is still applicable and invaluable today. They reach us now because the human soul always struggles with the same problems and they speak in a way that transcends their own particular eras.

Why do I bring them up? Only time will tell if this book is a classic that reaches beyond our time. I think it is nuanced, well written, and relatable enough that it could.

What I do know is that, as with those classics, this book was written to address a dire need in the author's own time. Right here, right now, our country and the Western world are crying out for a way to make the world make sense. Jennifer Fulwiler's book spells it out in a way that cannot be ignored by any honest truth seeker. She tells of the truth that transcends mere facts while speaking the language that our modern, science loving, atheistic world understands.

It is truly a classic for our times.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1889
via WikiPaintings

When I think of my sister's birthday, I always think of irises. When we were children in Kansas, irises bloomed thickly around the little pond near our house. We always had vases full of them at that time of year. I have since come to love them in a way that I didn't when I was young. Every different color of iris has a different fragrance and I love the scent of each and every one.

This brings me to my sister whose super-curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and light, fluttery personality must have made her like a vivid, exotic butterfly in our household. She's a bright, vivid spot in my life. An iris of unusual perfume and difference who makes me glad. Happy birthday, Lisa!

Vase With Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
also via WikiPaintings

"I am a Christian and I will remain a Christian"

The judge sentenced her to hang.

The Deacon's Bench has a good roundup of stories about this 26-year-old pregnant Christian doctor who has been sentenced to 100 lashes and death after refusing to deny her faith.

John Allen wrote The Global War on Christians for this very reason. We may face low-level cultural bias here, but there is real, horrible persecution going on around the world. Which the media usually ignores. This story is just the tip of the iceberg and unusual because it is getting coverage.

I can't deny that I've been a bit afraid of tackling that book. It sits on my review stack now. But this news story means I've got to read it soon.

These are our brothers and sisters, suffering for their faith in a way that we can't imagine coming to us personally. We must pray for them and not be silent about their persecution.

Well Said: Becoming New Men and a Pinch of Salt

To become new men means losing what we now call ‘ourselves’. Out of our selves, into Christ, we must go. His will is to become ours and we are to think His thoughts, to ‘have the mind of Christ’ as the Bible says. And if Christ is one, and if He is thus to be ‘in’ us all, shall we not be exactly the same? It certainly sounds like it; but in fact it is not so.

It is difficult here to get a good illustration; because, of course, no other two things are related to each other just as the Creator is related to one of His creatures. ... suppose a person who knew nothing about salt. You give him a pinch to taste and he experiences a particular strong, sharp taste. You then tell him that in your country people use salt in all their cookery. Might he not reply ‘In that case I suppose all your dishes taste exactly the same: because the taste of that stuff you have just given me is so strong that it will kill the taste of everything else.’ But you and I know that the real effect of salt is exactly the opposite. So far from killing the taste of the egg and the tripe and the cabbage, it actually brings it out. They do not show their real taste till you have added the salt.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

What a fantastic illustration, not only to use with others but to keep the idea clear in our own minds.

I must say, I am really enjoying this book A Year With C.S. Lewis. I got it on a whim in January and am really glad I have it on my Kindle for daily reading.

Scott watches in horror as Julie says, "um... excuse me, Lord..."

"... but he's been in there for three days, I don't think you want to go in there."

That's me. Bossy to the end. Meanwhile Scott and I discuss Jesus: A Pilgrimage by Father James Martin at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

The Lord Has Done Great Things For Me

I just wanted to get that out there.

I don't want to share the particular struggle I've been having, but I do want to say that it is one I've been having intermittently for years.

And the other night as I was once again mulling over the struggle, suddenly two sentences floated through my mind.

Simple sentences.

Sentences that completely reoriented me in a way I'd never considered.

And set me free.

It was like a 10-pound weight lifting off my shoulders.

I can't contain my joy and gladness. And gratitude and love. So I came here to share it with you.

The Lord has done great things for me.

Well Said: Best explanation of the Trinity I've ever seen

Of course, when I say "best explanation" I'm talking about helping me actually get a handle at all on what the Trinity is. Who better for that than C.S. Lewis? No one, right?

And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not a static thing—not even a person—but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang

Boxers & Saints Boxed Set by Gene Luen Yang

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jen Ambrose's discussion both introduced me to these books and got me interested. Then I saw that other much trusted readers (the Hodges) were all on board and that got me really, really interested. These are graphic novels which I would have sworn is a medium I do not enjoy, until I got these from the library and simply could not put them down.

Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. Boxers is about Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose family and village are abused by Westerners who are missionaries. Inspired by visions of the gods, he joins a grass roots uprising to cast out the foreigners. I never knew the history of the Boxer rebellion before and this was a fascinating way to learn it. The nuanced story does not give all good or bad attributes to one side but it does allow us to understand the motivations behind the rebellion in a fairly personal way.

Saints tells the story from the opposite side. It is about Four-Girl who is so unloved by her grandfather that he didn't allow her to be given a name. Visions of Joan of Arc lead her to Christian missionaries and ultimately her destiny as the Boxer Rebellion sweeps over everyone associated with the foreigners. I loved Gene Yang's clear vision of the girl's reasons for being attracted to the faith. They are hilarious and understandable, as are the reactions of the missionaries who take her in. No slack is cut to those who think they know what is going on but never ask questions.

These books impressed me because of Yang's honest insights into human nature, motivations, and the way we can get sidetracked when we don't understand our own motivations.

Highly recommended.

Well Said: Tunnel in the Sky

It seems obvious that Tunnel in the Sky is a direct response to William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Indeed, I imagine Heinlein putting down Golding's book and heading straight for the typewriter grinding his teeth and muttering "Revert to savagery my ass!"

Jo Walton, Beware of Stobor!

Heinlein and I would've agreed on a lot of basic issues just like this one. Granted, we wouldn't have agreed on everything, but nobody's perfect. Poor guy.

How thoughtful of my niece.

The Stanley Hotel in Feb, Estes Park, CO
via Wikipedia

She's getting married in Colorado next February and the wedding party hotel is The Stanley Hotel. Not only is it gorgeous but Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining while staying there. Reportedly he was very disappointed that the movie wasn't filmed there.

Icing on the cake. Cannot wait for this.

All I ask, and I know that I'm the only person who will be making this hilarious request, is that we not get the room with the dead lady in the bathtub. I imagine that room 217, where he stayed, has friendlier ghosts.

The Martian and SFFaudio

Two great things that go great together. I had a blast with the SFFaudio gang (as always) talking about this book.

The book's been getting a lot of buzz and deservedly so. If you missed my review, it is here.

Happy Birthday, Rose!

Yellow Rose Cake from Williams-Sonoma

This cake is because I was thinking of how much fun it would be to celebrate Rose's birthday with her in person.

Alas and alack, she is in the city of the angels and we are in Dallas. But it made me think of how she loves Texas. All the Texas cakes I found were rather uninspiring. Not that there is anything wrong with the Texas flag on a Texas shaped cake. In fact, that is the height of Texas love, but I couldn't find any photos that looked as if I wouldn't be ripping off a family cake photo.

So I naturally turned, for my Rose, to thinking of the yellow rose of Texas and it turns out that Williams-Sonoma has made the ultimate yellow rose cake. Ultimate.

Happy birthday my sweet Rose. 24 years old? How did that happen?

I hope you have a wonderful time and that someone makes you a fantastic cake. Or that you find yourself a delightful treat at our favorite L.A. bakery, Porto's.

Worth a Thousand Words: Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting
taken by Remo Savisaar

Yesterday we had bruising storms through here with pelting rain and high winds. Today all is sunshine and blue skies. Maybe that's why I like this golden image which looks so peaceful and sunny.

Person of Interest is simply fascinating these days.

Person of Interest is getting more and more interesting as it continues to weave ideas about national security, data handling, and solving mysteries into bigger questions of personal responsibility, love, the value of life over the "greater good", and father/creator issues.

This week's show especially left me pondering ideas after listening to Greer's conversations with Harold. They argued about whether it was better to hobble "the machine's" capabilities or to let it wander free to see what it could become. Harold has great apprehension about an "open system" because the machine isn't human and wouldn't be controllable.

I was waiting for Harold to say, "I saw the Terminator movies. Skynet is not going to be on me." Sadly, they never went there. They might have had to lighten up the dark, blue-tinted seriousness of the episode. I said it for him. I'm sure Tom appreciated it.

It also capitalizes on the feelings many have these days about the surveillance, the way Homeland Security feels dodgy on following constitutional rules, and suchlike. I know I came away last night saying, "And that's why no one likes you NSA. Get rid of those traffic cameras!"

We were cleaning the kitchen afterward when I realized that the ideas debated by Greer and Harold are the same questions that come up when thinking about God's decision to give us free will. Talk about an open system. Tom pointed out that, yes, He even had a fix for if things went off the rails. Again using the open system.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I love it when ideas come together.

I can only assume this high concept conversation means that Jonathan Nolan is keeping a close eye on the show he created. Some of these questions resonate from things like Batman, which I know he has loved since childhood and which movies he worked on with his brother Christopher. Some simply resonate from being a thinking, intelligent person who examines what matters in life.

Plus guns. And villains. And car chases. That just makes it more fun along the way.

This is a show I came to for Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson (the best thing about Lost). I'm simply so pleased to see it has turned into a place where the thought provoking issues raised are so often considered in a way that agrees with my underlying values.

This Just In: Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler

Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It by Jennifer Fulwiler


Snagged a review copy! This got here yesterday afternoon.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I have to say I flipped to the first page, where the camp counselor is going down the line publicly asking the little girls if they give their heart to Jesus, and realized already that Jennifer and I had common attitudes at similar ages. Not gonna join something we can't really believe in. As well we might since both of us grew up in atheist households and wound up converting to Catholicism.

However, her road is definitely different than mine and I'm looking forward to reading this.

UPDATE — page 111
Obviously from the fact that I got this yesterday, had a Skype video chat last night with my pal Sarah Reinhard, and still got to page 111 ... this is an enjoyable and interesting book thus far.

So what resonates with me is that Jennifer Fulwiler is just as hard-headed and stubborn as I am when it comes to wanting full-on, no holds barred truth and logic.

Watching her have to literally read and argue her way into belief in God makes me appreciate my own parents' atheism much more than I did already. (And the New Atheists have ensured that I will be thankful to my dying day for having old school atheists raise me, rather than the proselytizing sort.)

I had my own struggles to overcome but luckily not due to religion. For atheists my parents had a surprisingly tolerant "hands off" policy. They didn't bring up religion unless asked about it and, even then, would have pretty open-ended, vague answers about their own lack of belief. I mean to say, when I fell in with the local Church of the Nazarene for a couple of years, thanks to my best friend belonging, they never said a word to me about it. Even after the minister and his wife came to call. Even after I went crying to my mother about being afraid she'd go to hell. ("Oh Julie, thank you, but you don't need to worry about that. Just worry about yourself. I'll be ok." Conversation done.) Not a word. That must have taken tremendous forbearance. And like many youthful enthusiasms that phase soon passed, for reasons we won't go into here.

To be fair, this was also my parents' way of dealing with other big issues, such as politics. They might end up voting for different tickets than each other during trying political times but we never knew about it. It just didn't make for interesting conversation. So we all could go our own way, which brought its own set of problems but feels much freer than what I see Fulwiler having to struggle with, thanks to her unflinching belief in science as all that is true and good and honest.

It isn't that Fulwiler's parents seemed to do more than tell her to think for herself or to question anything that didn't add up. But that in itself was enough to produce a dedicated atheist, especially when told to an intelligent youngster who applied herself with the passion that only youth can muster to facts and logical conclusions.

So far it is really interesting watching the process of reluctant acceptance as one "fact" after another gets put into doubt. It occurs to me that this might be a good book for atheists who just don't understand how any sensible, logical, intelligent person could embrace the "lunacy" of Christianity. Fulwiler is a good spokesperson for that transformation.

More as I continue ... with updates at Goodreads as I go. Full review when I finish.

Worth a Thousand Words: Key West

Key West
taken by Scott Danielson

Scott, who I podcast with at A Good Story is Hard to Find, doesn't post much on his blog. But when he does, it's choice. Isn't this just a perfect moment? I can feel those breezes, smell that salt air ... I want to go to there!

Religion is about Reality — and so is the Black Mass

One of the striking features of Harvard’s planned Black Mass, being hosted by Satanists who don’t believe in Satan, is that the exhibitors don’t actually believe their own religion.  If Catholics are concerned about the event, it is because we do believe ours.

The Catholic faith is not a set of feelings or preferences.  It is a series of statements about reality.  About things that are true. Things that are real.  The occult is gravely dangerous not because it is pretend, but because it is not pretend.  The faith is worth explaining and defending and practicing not because we especially like it, or have found it helpful, but because, like all real things, it has consequences.

Jennifer Fitz at Sticking the Corners

I've gotta say that when I heard about the story the Satanists had already backed down over plans to desecrate a consecrated Host, saying that they didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I was confused. What kind of Satanists were these? 

"Be nice" is the sign of the times we live in and what it really means much of the time is a lack of deep understanding and commitment to one's beliefs.

Of course, this is an extremely brief commentary from me which doesn't cover the whole issue. But if you go read Jen's post then you'll have what I would have said if she hadn't saved me the trouble by writing it first.