Summertime is movie time for me; it’s a good time to weed down the Netflix list and spend time in air-conditioning while telling yourself that Twizzlers really are good for you. Our clergy study group caught “The Happening” on Friday, and ummm, don’t go see it, unless you have a really good excuse.
I almost dumped on this movie during Sunday’s announcements, it was so bad. Scott Gunn posted the following science link for further explanation of the finer points of the movie. What I would like to know is if you know that there’s a toxin that makes you want to kill yourself, why wouldn’t you go to a place where killing yourself would be really hard? Avoid lawnmowers, ropes, sharp objects, windows, etc. That’s supposing you were thinking clearly, which I would not be. If this stuff was going down in my neighborhood, I would lose it quickly.
And I caught the first twenty minutes of “First Blood” on Spike (the anti-Lifetime channel) last night. If you think that Rambo is just a roided-up American gunslinger, do yourself a favor and re-watch the first in the franchise. John J. Rambo was just another Vietnam vet, disillusioned upon finding himself back in the US after his hellish tours. He wanders into Hope, a small, “boring” town run by Sheriff Will Teasle, and is kicked out just for how he looks and smells. I wonder how many of our churches are run this way. In smaller churches (ASA 150 and down), there are people who act as “gate-keepers”. These are the insiders who either keep others out or let others in. Pastors should know who their gate-keepers are, and introduce them to Sheriff Teasle
. Make sure they let Rambo into their town. Otherwise it gets out of hand.
