Monthly Archives: July 2005

way, word, joy and peace

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this week in worship i plan to use the following alternate old testament reading instead of the passage in Genesis about Jacob and Esau (I am saving the Jacob readings for a one-week extravaganza on the old liar, thief and scoundrel). what strikes me about this reading is its optimism, especially since i tend toward being a cynical person myself.

Isaiah 55:6-13

Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD,
that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
(NRSV)

war of the worlds

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the capsule review of the movie from the Christian Science Monitor has this say:

War of the Worlds (PG-13)
Director: Steven Spielberg. With Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Justin Chatwin. (117 min.)

Earthlings battle alien invaders who wreak deadly havoc until they’re stymied by … you know what, if you’ve read H.G. Wells’s influential 1898 novel. Spielberg gives the story his full high-tech treatment, building great scariness with help from first-class music and camera work. The picture gets repetitive, though, since its terrors are pretty much the same from start to finish. Cruise is in good form and Fanning is still the best child actress around.

i certainly agree with most everything the reviewer says with the exception of the repetitive part. this was a very intense film, and though i have taken my daughter to other pg-13 films, i feel that this one is way too intense for her at this time. the special effects are incredible and the scene where the alien tripod ascends from under the ground is simply amazing.

My only complaint about the film is not about Tom Cruise (even given how irritating as he has been in public recently) but about the ending. Like the novel and the old black and white film version, the movie simply peters out with a whimper. i don’t know what Speilberg could have done differently, but after almost two hours of thrills, the ending is a dud.  I give it 7 out of 10 stars.