Trash: Review

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Trash: Review

Christian Today report- At its core Trash is a film that redefines what it means to be family. Think a cross between Slumdog Millionaire, National Treasure and Homeward Bound. This movie is an adventure centered around three boys who live and work at a garbage dump in Rio de Janeiro. While picking through the trash Rafael (Rickson Tevez) finds a wallet with some cash and seemingly ordinary objects. When the police come searching for it the boys realize they have something of real value. The excitement begins as the police try to catch them before they discover what it leads to.

Amid a plethora of films being pumped out of Hollywood with flat, predictable characters, director Stephen Daldry truly brings a breath of fresh air. Each character goes through their own journey and no one is left the same in the end. The themes running through this movie are primal to the human experience. You will find yourself feeling more connected to these characters from a garbage dump in Brazil than you do your own neighbor.

Characters/Acting: 9/10

Rooney Mara instantly steals our heart from the moment she appears on screen in her brief yet captivating performance.

Martin Sheen plays the not-so-perfect Father Juilliard. His character hits the right amount of having human flaws while still being a man of God and loving his community.

Rickson Tevez, our main star, is absolutely dynamic as Raphael. His character shows purity of heart and a willingness to sacrifice everything just “because it is right.” Raphael reminds us all that the greatest act of love is to lay down one’s life for a friend.

The other two boys Rato (Gabriel Weinstein) and Gardo (Eduardo Luis) give the film so much more depth with their radiant performances. The characters throughout will not leave you wanting for authenticity.

Story: 7/10

Trash is a brilliant adventure film. It will grip teens and adults alike. That said, there are moments when you absolutely want to cry but at that threshold of tears, the story takes its foot off the gas and leaves you wishing they had taken it a bit further. It was funny, suspenseful, sad, hopeful, depressing, and encouraging.

Cinematography/Editing: 7/10

We start the film seeing breathtaking shots of Rio then are taken right down into the trash. Shot almost entirely from ground level, the cinematography helps us feel what it is like as a kid running around the streets. The editing was nicely done and allowed the audience to focus on the story and characters without being distracted by over use of effects.

Overall: 7/10

Trash a film I encourage all to see. The message is one that needs to told over and over again, although it eventually begins to feel a bit preachy. Instead of letting the audience discover what that message was, that work was done for them by a voice over at the end. Not knowing when to simply allow the characters’ journey to show the message, nor when to push moments to their full emotional capacity are the only negative aspects to this otherwise tremendously inspiring film.

Source: Christian Today

BBC to cut the post of its Head of Religion

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BBC to cut the post of its Head of Religion

Christian Today report- The BBC is to axe the post of its head of religion as part of a move to streamline commissioning and cut costs.

The commissioning role of Aaqil Ahmed is one of four jobs that will go under a restructuring that will also see three new jobs created, including the post of head of science, business, history and religion.

Mr Ahmed, who is also head of religion and ethics which includes in-house programmes such as Songs of Praise and which he will continue to do, has been invited to apply for the new commissioning post.

The BBC in-house journal Ariel reported that Ahmed – the man behind The Ottomans – splits his time between commissioning and his role as head of religion and ethics.

Emma Swain, the controller of factual commissioning, said the changes were necessary because of savings targets in television and the fact that there will be fewer hours commissioned overall.

In an email to staff, she said: “I want to shape a factual commissioning team with fewer leaders, clearer distinction between roles, greater alignment with channels and external stakeholders and greater flexibility.”

Bishop of Bradford Nick Baines said on his blog that the restructuring is aimed both at saving money and to prepare for the closure of BBC3.

He writes: “This might all make perfect sense and be a rational and productive structural change within the BBC. But, in the absence of more detail, it also raises important questions.”

He asks who will take overall responsibility in the BBC for the range, quantity and quality of the religious coverage, and warns it could be left as a sort of “fill in” content. He asks: “Why is there no BBC news religion editor to complement the science, economics, business, political, financial, arts and sports editors?”

Bishop Baines argues that it is impossible to understand politics, economics, military and humanitarian events without understanding religion so it should be prioritised as needing expert interpretation in the public and broadcast sphere.

The cuts are expected to save about £700 million by 2017.

Father Christopher Jamison, former Abbot of Worth who was involved in BBC television’s The Monastery, welcomed the move. He told The Tablet that it could mean a wider variety of voices being heard.

Mr Ahmed has been an outspoken critic of religious illiteracy in modern Britain. He believes programmes such as Songs of Praise should remain exclusively Christian and opposes moves for atheists to do Thought For the Day. He has a record of broadening the corporation’s coverage to do more on other faiths besides Christianity and recently commissioned a three-part series for BBC4 on the teachings of Buddha, Confucius and Socrates.

Source: Christian Today

Newly Appointed Archbishops will no longer receive Pallinum in Rome, says Pope Francis

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Newly Appointed Archbishops will no longer receive Pallinum in Rome, says Pope Francis

Catholic Herald report- Metropolitan archbishops will no longer receive the pallium at a formal ceremony in Rome following a decision by Pope Francis.

The Pope has decided that each newly-appointed metropolitan archbishops should be formally vested at a cermony held in their own archdiocese, by the Apostolic Nuncio, replacing the tradition of the pontiff presenting the pallium on the Feast of St Peter and St Paul in Rome.

Mgr Guido Marini, the master of liturgical cermonies, wrote in a letter to new archbishops that Pope Francis thought this new initiative would “greatly favour the participation of the local Church.”

Despite this change, Pope Francis has still invited each new archbishop to join him in Rome on June 29 this year to concelebrate at Mass on the Feast of St Peter and St Paul.

The Pope will also bless each pallium, and present the vestment to the archbishops who are present, privately after the Mass.

The wearing of the pallium dates back to the fourth century predating the miter and the crosier as episcopal symbols. The pallium is a white woolen strip, worn around the neck, which symbolises the bond between an archbishop and his Pope.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool said the Vatican’s decision to stop hosting the pallium ceremony “makes sense”.

Archbishop McMahon, who received the pallium at the Vatican in June 2014, said: “Pope Francis has said that he doesn’t want ‘airport bishops’; he places a great emphasis on the local church. It makes sense to have a celebration in the Archdiocese with the people, rather than a selected few flying to the ceremony in Rome.”

Source: Catholic Herald

 

Vatican Document says Plastic Surgery can be an ‘aggression’ against Women

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Vatican Document says Plastic Surgery can be an ‘aggression’ against Women

Catholic Herald report- Cosmetic surgery “can be aggressive toward the feminine identity”, a Vatican discussion document has said.

The text, published by the Pontifical Council for Culture, also addresses violence against women, cultural pressures regarding women’s physical appearance, attitudes that subjugate women or that ignore male-female differences, and the growing alienation of women from the Church in some parts of the world.

The council has chosen to discuss the theme “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference” during its plenary assembly on February 4-7 at the Vatican. A news conference was scheduled for February 2, but the council issued its discussion document on the topic in late January.

The document, drafted by a group of women appointed by the council, looked at the continuing quest to find balance in promoting women’s equality while valuing the differences between women and men, the concrete and symbolic aspects of women’s potential for motherhood, cultural attitudes toward women’s bodies, and women and religion, including questions about their participation in Church decision-making.

The council said the theme was chosen “to identify possible pastoral paths, which will allow Christian communities to listen and dialogue with the world today in this sphere”, while recognising that in different cultures and for individual women the situation will be different.

While cautioning against generalisations, the document rejects the notion that there are no differences between men and women, and that each person “chooses and builds his-her identity; owns him-herself and answers primarily to him-herself”.

In preparing the document and the plenary discussions, the council sought input from women around the world. But the process attracted criticism, particularly for the English version of a video featuring an Italian actress, Nanci Brilli, asking women to send in their experiences. Many women felt the use of a heavily made-up actress ran counter to the point of seeking input about the real lives of most women. The council quickly took the English version off YouTube.

In the section on women and the Church, the document described “multifaceted discomfort” with images of women that are no longer relevant and with a Christian community that seems to value their input even less than the world of business and commerce does.

Many women, it said, “have reached places of prestige within society and the workplace, but have no corresponding decisional role nor responsibility within ecclesial communities”.

Council members are not proposing a discussion of ordaining women priests, the document said and, in fact, statistics show ordination “is not something that women want”. But it said: “If, as Pope Francis says, women have a central role in Christianity, this role must find a counterpart also in the ordinary life of the Church.”

The vast majority of Catholic women today do not want a bishop’s “purple biretta”, it said, but would like to see church doors open “to women so that they can offer their contribution in terms of skills and also sensitivity, intuition, passion, dedication, in full collaboration and integration” with men in the Church.

The preparatory document looked at how much pressure women face regarding their body image and the way women’s bodies are exploited in the media, even to the point of provoking eating disorders or recourse to unnecessary surgery.

“Plastic surgery that is not medico-therapeutic can be aggressive toward the feminine identity, showing a refusal of the body in as much as it is a refusal of the ‘season’ that is being lived out,” it said.

“‘Plastic surgery is like a burka made of flesh.’ One woman gave us this harsh and incisive description,” the document said. “Having been given freedom of choice for all, are we not under a new cultural yoke of a singular feminine model?”

The document also denounced violence inflicted on women: “Selective abortion, infanticide, genital mutilation, crimes of honour, forced marriages, trafficking of women, sexual molestation, rape – which in some parts of the world are inflicted on a massive level and along ethnic lines – are some of the deepest injuries inflicted daily on the soul of the world, on the bodies of women and of girls, who become silent and invisible victims.”

Source: Catholic Herald

Justin Welby Speaks on Modern Preaching

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Justin Welby Speaks on Modern Preaching

Christian Today report- The Archbishop of Canterbury thinks there’s too much ‘moral claptrap’ in sermons these days. Justin Welby drew praise and fire in equal measure this week with his comments – made during an address in New York – about modern preaching. But while some were stung by his comments, they undoubtedly had a ring of truth about them.

Speaking at Trinity Wall Street, he said: “[Jesus doesn’t] permit us to turn religion into morality. The old sermons that we have heard so often in England, which I grew up with, which if you boiled them down all they effectively said was: ‘Wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if we were all a bit nicer?’ That is the kind of moral claptrap that Jesus does not permit us to accept.”

Anyone who actually listens during sermons knows exactly what the Archbishop is talking about, and precisely why the practice he describes is so attractive. As a preacher, it’s hard to resist the desire to be liked, and tied up with that, the temptation to be inoffensive. A gospel of ‘niceness’, explained with some witty stories and a bit of lightly-challenging personal application, is almost guaranteed to leave the punters smiling, nodding, and remarking to one another about how marvellous your preaching is. An intoxicating proposition indeed.

At the other extreme are those sermons which leave no-one smiling. Preachers who seem so angry about sin and those who purvey it that you’re worried he’s going to step down into the congregation and begin punching people at random. Joyless, graceless homilies which suggest God demands instant, total change from us, or else. No hint of personal connection, no stories, and absolutely no humour in any circumstances; just an unswerving focus on The Cross and why it should make us feel terrible about ourselves. Many of us have sat through a few of those too, and we’ve probably needed a stiff drink afterwards. I certainly don’t think this is the route Welby is proposing.

In the middle of the two however, there’s a formula for great preaching to be found, drawing the personal connection and application from the first example, and maybe just a little dose of gravitas from the second. In his New York talk, Welby suggested that preachers should prompt congregants to “a revolution of expectation and implementation”. In other words, fill people with hope, draw them closer to Jesus, and help them to act like him. Those are great directions for any preacher, and help us to formulate a few ideas about what good preaching looks like…

Preach hope

Welby said Christians should be looking at each other with ‘bursting and boundless hope for our future as a society’. Whatever might be going on in our lives when we hear it, good preaching helps us to stop for a moment and see a vision of how things could change and be made better.

Preach Jesus

The Jesus which Welby describes is compelling – the foot-washing revolutionary who dies all for love. When we’re presented with a random passage from Leviticus and asked to unlock its meaning, it’s easy to become lost in trying to make a strange and archaic-sounding section of the Bible seem relevant to modern culture. I’ve certainly prepared and preached sermons which forgot that Jesus is the very epicentre of our faith, and didn’t return ultimately to him. Good preaching never does that; it always puts Jesus front and centre, and leaves the congregation wanting to draw a little closer to him.

Preach action

If we had to boil the Archbishop’s point down even further, it might simply be stated as: quit moralising, compel people to love. This is the ‘implementation’ of which he speaks: we take the grace that we have received in being loved and accepted by God, and we let it loose on the world around us. Good preaching gives people something to ‘do’ as a result of what they’ve heard; it applies the passage to their everyday world and asks them to get involved in making it a better place.

Alongside Welby’s guidance, I’m offering a couple of other points of my own – definitely not drawn from years of personal preaching disasters…

Don’t make jokes for the sake of it

I think the desire to be liked by our congregations, whether we’re aware of it or not, can have a damaging effect on our preparation. It’s great to be witty and engaging as a speaker, but when we start throwing in amusing stories in order to placate our audience or keep them awake, then we’re probably both wasting their time and using up a section of the preach in which scripture could have been speaking to them. The old ‘open with a joke’ rule feels a bit tired now, and we’ve grown to expect it. Humour is great. Jesus used it lots, but he always had a reason for doing so.

It’s not all about meee…

Some preachers give nothing away about themselves. At the end of the sermon, you don’t know if they’re married, where they live, or even what they like to do on a weekend. This style makes it very difficult for congregants to connect with. By contrast, some of us talk rather too much about these things; every sermon point becomes an illustration about the last time we went to the vet.

Always come back to the cross

The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus isn’t just the centre of the Christian message – it is the Christian message. When we confuse that with a moral call to be nicer and change the world a bit, we fall into exactly the (clap)trap which Welby describes. So I believe all sermons should not just refer to that, but take people directly to it, and offer an opportunity to accept Jesus and his call for the first time. We should always assume that there are people listening to us who haven’t taken that step of committing.

Should the Archbishop of Canterbury be criticising the imagined ‘average sermon’? Some people were unhappy that he did. Personally, I’m glad that he’s challenging all preachers to communicate the person and the message of Jesus more faithfully. ‘Claptrap’ might describe some of the things we jot down in the rush of last-minute sermon-prep, but it certainly doesn’t describe the true message of Christ.

Source: Christian Today

Boris Johnson far from a “serious praticising Christian”

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Boris Johnson far from a “serious praticising Christian”

Christian Today report- Boris Johnson “thinks about religion a lot” but does not actively practise any faith, he has revealed.

The Telegraph quotes Johnson as saying he is not a “serious practising Christian” and it would be “pretentious” to suggest otherwise.

The Mayor of London, and likely future candidate for leader of the Conservative Party, has in the past indicated that his faith wavers – like the reception for Magic FM in the Chilterns.

David Cameron has used the same line, describing himself as “a sort of typical member of the Church of England… We are racked with doubts, but sort of fundamentally believe, but don’t sort of wear it on our sleeves or make too much of it. I think that is sort of where I am.”

However, Cameron has also described Britain as a “Christian country”, and told a group of church leaders last year that he finds his “moments of greatest peace” when he attends the sung Eucharist at St Mary Abbots in Kensington every other Thursday. He has also suggested that politicians should be inspired by Christianity.

“Greater confidence in our Christianity can also inspire a stronger belief in our work as politicians to get out there and make a difference to people’s lives – and it should inspire our support for churches and faith organisations in the vital work they do in our society and around the world,” he wrote in the foreword to the programme for the National Parliamentary Breakfast last year.

“Whatever our political parties and whatever our disagreements these are values we share.”

Johnson has faced criticism today for describing British jihadis as “literally w***ers” who “are not making it with girls and so they turn to other forms of spiritual comfort”.

In an interview with the Sun, Johnson said those who join groups such as ISIS “are just young men in desperate need of self-esteem who do not have a particular mission in life, who feel that they are losers and this thing makes them feel strong – like winners.”

They are “very badly adjusted in their relations with women” he added, but was later forced to defend the comments.

“The crucial thing is that these are young men, principally young men who are growing up without much sense of success in their lives, without a feeling that the world holds much for them and…their problems need addressing in all sorts of ways,” he told Sky News.

Source: Christian Today

Japan and Jordan hostage negotiations with militants remain ‘deadlocked’

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Japan and Jordan hostage negotiations with militants remain ‘deadlocked’

Christian Today report- Efforts by Japan and Jordan to secure the release of two of their nationals held captive by Islamic State militants remain “deadlocked” and the situation remains highly unpredictable, Japanese officials said.

Militants had threatened to kill Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh unless a would-be suicide bomber being held on death row in Amman was handed over by sunset on Thursday.

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was also being held by the militants.

“The situation is deadlocked,” Japan’s deputy foreign minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, said in Jordon late on Friday according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in Tokyo on Saturday that the situation was unpredictable and that anything could happen, NHK reported.

“Anything could happen,” he said. “We can’t predict it at all. While preparing for every situation, I want to make every effort for Mr Goto’s release.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga arrived at the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office on Saturday afternoon, and the prime minister is on standby to receive regular updates on the situation, NHK said.

Jordan’s army said on Friday state agencies were “working round the clock”.

An audio message purportedly from Goto said the pilot would be killed if Jordan did not free Sajida al-Rishawi, jailed for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in Amman.

The message extended a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which Goto said he would be killed within 24 hours if al-Rishawi was not freed.

The hostage crisis comes as Islamic State, which has already released videos showing the beheadings of five Western hostages, is coming under increased military pressure from US-led air strikes and by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to reverse the Islamist group’s territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.

Abe has repeatedly said Japan would not give in to terrorism and would keep cooperating with the international community.

The hostage crisis erupted after Abe announced in Cairo $200 million in non-military aid for countries opposing Islamic State, but his government has rejected suggestions it acted rashly and stressed the assistance was humanitarian.

Goto went to Syria in late October. According to friends and business associates, he was attempting to secure the release of Haruna Yukawa, his friend and fellow Japanese citizen who was captured by Islamic State in August.

In the first video purportedly of Goto, released just over a week ago, a black-clad masked figure with a knife said Goto and Yukawa would be killed within 72 hours if Japandid not pay Islamic State $200 million.

A video last Saturday appeared to show Goto with a picture of a decapitated Yukawa, saying his captors’ demands had switched to the release of al-Rishawi. Tuesday’s video featured an audio track over a still picture that appeared to show Goto holding a picture of Kasaesbeh.

Source: Christian Today

Mexico: Baby Survivors after Gas Blast underwent DNA Tests in order to be Identified

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Mexico: Baby Survivors after Gas Blast underwent DNA Tests in order to be Identified

Christian Today report- Plunged into chaos just hours after entering this world, nine babies found alive after a gas blast in a Mexican maternity hospital underwent DNA tests on Friday in a bid to reunite them with their parents.

Thursday’s blast devastated the hospital on the western edge of Mexico City, sending a fireball into the air and killing a nurse and two infants. But dozens of people, including mothers and newborns, who were inside at the time survived, many cut by broken glass.

“We have nine DNA tests pending,” Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said. “There are parents who have identified their children, but as the babies did not have bracelets on, we have to follow a protocol to identify them.”

Mancera said several babies survived because their mothers sheltered them with their own bodies during the blast.

Several babies were found under the rubble. Scores of rescue workers dug through the concrete and twisted metal for survivors.

People seeking information on family members gathered around police lines that were set up to keep bystanders away from the chaotic scene earlier in the day. Some of the injured were evacuated by helicopter, and aerial footage showed firefighters scrambling over the skeletal wreckage of the building.

Ambulances were at the scene to treat survivors. Around 100 people were in the hospital at the time of the explosion, according to a city official.

A leak in a hose from the truck, which was fueling the hospital’s tanks, was believed to have triggered the explosion, officials said.

“They tried to stop the leak, but it was not possible,” Mancera said.

Many areas of Mexico City have no mains gas supply, and rely on deliveries from gas trucks. Mancera said the gas truck company involved had been working in Mexico City since 2007.

President Enrique Pena Nieto gave his condolences on Twitter, while Pope Francis urged his Twitter followers to pray for the victims and their families.

Source: Christian Today

Saddleback Church to open new Campus

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Saddleback Church to open new Campus

Christian Today report- Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback church extends its reach to Costa Mesa as it launches a new campus in the community of Newport Mesa.

According to the Orange County Register, the new Saddleback campus will be headed by Pastor Moses Camacho. Camacho has served in the ministry at the Ocean View High School in 2011, where the church had formerly set up weekly campus congregations.

The church, which is Saddleback’s ninth campus in Southern California, will open on Super Bowl Sunday.

Camacho expressed his excitement to the Register. “I am excited about being a church that will be able to provide phenomenal family programs to make them stronger,” he said. “Saddleback does an amazing job with being the premier place for families.”

Camacho also said that he has encountered people who said that they’ve been positively influenced by Saddleback’s weekly services and programs.

In addition, the pastor told the Register that having a beach city-oriented church like the Saddleback Church opens several opportunities for networking for the people around it. He also said that the church will not only focus on providing regular church services but also to provide support to help people maintain healthy relationships.

“[Saddleback] also focuses on helping people to be relationally healthy – in marriage, parenting, family and friendships,” he said, adding that the church will help people to be “physically healthy [by] using God’s design for physical health” and to be “emotionally healthy [and] understanding the design behind our heart,” as well as to be “financially healthy [and] learning how to live without financial stress.”

“Having a church like Saddleback nearby has been so helpful to those who are looking to get further ahead,” Camacho claimed.

Finally, Camacho promised a great vibe for the community of Newport Mesa from the newest Saddleback campus.

“The congregation is a family community,” he said. “When you come on Sunday you can expect to find children of all ages, junior high and high school students, young adults and young families who are raising children.”

Source: Christian Today

Methodist Church massive benefits on the way

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Methodist Church massive benefits on the way

Christian Today report- The Methodist Church could benefit from a massive injection of funds if its annual Conference agrees to resolutions put forward by its Council this week.

A report from a working party with the title “Releasing Money for God’s Mission” says that huge sums of money are held in small trusts associated with individual churches or circuits – groups of local churches – which are either not available to the wider Church because of restrictive conditions or which are being kept rather than spent.

The report says that £172 million is held on behalf of churches and circuits in 7,022 separate trusts, of which 4,269 (58 per cent) have balances of less than £10,000. Now, though, the working party is recommending that the Church moves to free up all such money so as to remove restrictive conditions and put it to work.

It recognises that the move might meet resistance, saying: “Despite the connexional nature of the Methodist Church, resistance to releasing money may be voiced by churches/circuits that do not think that other parts of the Connexion should interfere in how they spend ‘their’ funds.”

However, it suggests mechanisms to channel funds back to local causes where they can be used for mission.

Ian White, chair of the working party that produced the report, told Christian Today: “The potential that lies in the Church’s many restricted funds is enormous, but for legislative and constitutional reasons, releasing that money will be no simple matter.”

He said that funding would be needed to enable the necessary work to be done, but added: “We are optimistic that this money, once released and if wisely used, could make a huge impact on the mission of the church on a local and national scale.”

Figures released last year showed that during the last 10 years both Methodist membership and attendance have fallen by a third. Membership fell from 304,971 in 2003 to only 208,738 in 2013, while attendance fell from 326,400 in October 2003 to only 224,500 in October 2013.

Numbers on community rolls, which include the church “fringe”, have fallen even further, by 48 per cent; the number of children has fallen by 58 per cent.

Of those who are left, 18 per cent are aged over 81 and 51 per cent are between 66 and 80, meaning that the next 10 years are likely to see even more dramatic falls.

The current general secretary of the Methodist Church, Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, has encouraged Methodists to see themselves as “a discipleship movement shaped for mission”. The denomination provides generous funding for Fresh Expressions initiatives for non-standard church plants and a “Venture FX” programme for innovative evangelistic initiatives.

Source: Christian Today

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