Or, more correctly, I don't trust them...
Last night Beth and I watched End Game (don't bother, unless you are a huge Cuba Gooding Jr. fan; it's slow, confusing, overacted by Burt Reynolds - as if that's a surprise - confusing, underacted by Angie Harmon - which was disappointing - and, did I mention, confusing!).
Now, often, in Canadian video rentals, there is both the Provincial Rating (or the rating from some other province) and the US's MPAA rating. And sometimes not. Sometimes there is just the provincial rating, sometimes the MPAA and, often, no indication of which it is. Because in this wonderful nation of ours, films are rated by each province - sometimes.
So, for instance, End Game doesn't currently have a rating in Alberta - I checked. But the rating granted by some other unknown province, which was prominently displayed on the case, was PG. In fact, both the display case and the Blockbuster case, said PG. The MPAA's rating, however, was R. I know this because it was printed on the DVD itself, and because Blockbuster, to their credit, had printed on the back of the rental case, "MPAA rating R." (Blockbuster - good on yah!)
Now, I know that there are differences between Canadian and US sensibilities, but PG and R?? Good grief.
So we watched the movie (as disappointing, and did I mention, confusing, as it was). There was one "f-bomb" uttered by Cuba's character, a few other minor obscentities, and LOTS OF VIOLENCE. Shootings, beatings, and one guy hit by an SUV, which was shown with all of it's shocking impact (pun intended). Now, given the state of movie ratings in Canada, I doubt this would have warranted an R rating - but at least a 14A (That's about equivalent to a PG13 in the US) would have made sense.
What's most troubling is that it makes movie watching with my kids a real tricky proposition. My Mom rented the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and wanted to show it to my kids. Beth and I said we wanted to pre-view it first, because it was rated PG. We didn't know why, what the language was like, etc. We watched it, and my kids watched it. It was a pretty decent family movie.
Now, maybe the point of a rating system is to encourage parents to preview movies by being as vague as possible. But it that's the case, I think it has exactly the opposite effect. I think that parents get tired of trying to guess which PG movies should be PG, which should be G, which really should be 14A (or higher) and just give in. "Oh, yeah, it's PG, it should be fine." And the whole "Parental Guidance" gets chucked out the window.
I can't blame the government for lazy parents - but I can blame them for making my job harder with things that are supposed to be making it a little easier, like movie rating systems. If they don't want to be helpful, then don't rate them at all, and let me do the work. But for heaven's sake, stop making me guess as to what you mean; and stop being so bloody inconsistent!
There, I'm glad I got that off my chest... anybody know a good movie I can watch this weekend?
7.26.2006
Quotable...
I read this today, and it made me stop and go "hmmm."
It comes from an article on Time's website.
I'm not sure of the application, yet, but I'm pretty sure of this: I want to strive to inspire. Striving to never disappoint seems too attainable, and too dull.
But now I understood Applebee's, which doesn't strive to inspire — it strives never to disappoint.
It comes from an article on Time's website.
I'm not sure of the application, yet, but I'm pretty sure of this: I want to strive to inspire. Striving to never disappoint seems too attainable, and too dull.
7.21.2006
When a song touches your soul
The song "Faith" by Jason Upton, (from the album Faith) has come to mean an awful lot to me on difficult days.
Here are the lyrics:
They may not rhyme - and they may not seem all that profound, but there is something about this song that touches my spirit every time I listen to it. (In fact, it just played in my iTunes party shuffle - which is what prompted this post...)
Here are the lyrics:
Faith
(inspired by the Holy Spirit and sung by Jason Upton)
Let faith arise, oh Lord, let faith arise
In the deepest parts of my being, oh Lord
In the most broken parts of me, oh Lord
When friends have failed me Lord, let my faith arise
When loved ones have failed me Lord, let my faith arise
When heroes have failed me Lord, let my faith arise
Let my faith arise
Let my faith arise
Let my faith arise
Let my faith arise
I say NO to the discouragement that keeps me down
I say NO to the things that keep me back from You
And this broken heart inside of me
Broken in so many pieces
By so many circumstances
I say NO to just letting it stay that way
Because I’m learning to trust that it’s not You that hurt me
I’m learning to believe that it’s not You that deserted me
I’m believing that You still love me
Brokenness and all
I’m believing that You’ve got a plan for me
I’m believing that You will restore me
I believe that You will awaken my soul
And let, let faith arise again, I believe
I believe like a little child again
I’m gonna dance in my trust in You, oh Lord
I’m gonna dance in my love for You, oh Lord
I’m gonna laugh again
I’m gonna cry again
I’m gonna have joy, joy on the inside
Circumstances around me try to pull me down
I’m going to believe in that faith again
‘Cause You’re my Creator
You’re my Comfort
You’re the One that will never desert me
So Daddy, I raise my hands up to You Lord
I raise my hands up to You, oh Lord
And I dance with my feet, I dance with my feet
And I say, come and, come and hold me Lord
‘Cause I’m learning to trust You with the faith of a child
Trust You with the faith of a child
I can have joy again like a child
I’m not going to let it come down
I’m not going to let those bullets come down
Come down and hurt me no more
‘Cause I’m raising up the Shield of Faith
And the Sword of the Lord
I’m believing on your Word Lord
I’m trusting in the Word that You said
And I’m waiting on You
Waiting on You
And I’m rejoicing in the fact that the Bible says
That You are my Victorious Warrior
You’re the one that fights for me
I don’t have to fight anymore
You’re the one that fights for me, oh Lord
My faith is rising, my faith is rising, my faith is rising
I can see You again Lord.
I can see You on the horizon of my life, oh Lord
I can see Your sun, it’s rising up, it’s rising up, it’s rising up
And I don’t have to be discouraged anymore
And I don’t have to fight this loneliness anymore
‘Cause You’re in my life, You’re in my life more than anyone can ever be
Father we’re building a relationship again, just me and You
We’re building a relationship again, just me and You
It’s not about the job I have
It’s not about the friends I have
Its’ not about the house I have or the social status I have
It’s about me and You
We’re building a relationship again, just me and You
You’re building my faith up again
Let faith arise, oh Lord!
They may not rhyme - and they may not seem all that profound, but there is something about this song that touches my spirit every time I listen to it. (In fact, it just played in my iTunes party shuffle - which is what prompted this post...)
7.18.2006
Some thoughts on Function over Form
A recent post and subsequent discussion on Jesus Outside the Box has started me thinking about the church – and the difference between function and form.
It seems to me that form, while important, is largely an issue of pragmatism, whereas function is biblically mandated. That is to say, the way we do church has, in the eyes of God, the ability to flex and change to suit the circumstances, but why we do church is an issue settled in the mind of God.
And, as is often the case, we tend to get it backwards and act like the form is prescribed and the function is a matter of personal need or preference. Church wars and denominational fractures are abundant over issues of who has the authority, what kind, how long and in what format we worship, whether or not we pay the pastor, who can be the pastor, who can be become a member, whether or not there should be members and why there are members, who can take communion, and how we do communion and baptism… the list goes on. And these are all matters of form. They are the how of church.
Whereas the why of church is up to me: I need the fellowship, I require time to heal, I like these people and we get along so well, we all see eye-to-eye, I like the kind of music they (oh, that’s a killer word in the church: “they”) offer (another killer word!), the preacher is so good… so I think I’ll go here. And, yes, I’m well aware that I’ve just over-lapped my two lists; that I’ve put similar things in the how and why columns. I’ve done so because it’s what we do. We confuse and interchange the how and the why of church. We pick and choose why we go (or don't go) somewhere and we fight over how our church does church. All the time missing the fact that church isn't somewhere we go but is who we are!
And a major reason why we fight and quibble and refuse to agree on these issues is because the Bible is: a) silent, b) ambivalent or c) ambiguous on them. So we draw our lines, pull out our favourite proof-texts and interpretations of those texts and hammer away at one another, or (in my humble opinion) even worse, refuse to discuss it any further, and then go our separate ways.
Does the Bible have anything to say about form? Absolutely – sometimes. As you read through Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon) and the other portions here and there in the New Testament that address the structure of the earliest church gatherings (bits in Romans, Corinthians, and even hints in the Gospels), you seem to get a hodgepodge of pictures: house churches, large gatherings, bishop led groups, autonomous congregations, pastor/deacon/elder/bishop combinations, lay-led, professional clergy, apostle-driven, spontaneously-started, spirit-led, liturgical… churches. There seems to be a little of everything and nothing specific mandated. In fact, most of the texts seem to assume that there is some sort of structure in place, and then proceed to provide correctives or bring advice on how to continue in a healthy way. I can’t think of any text that says flat-out “You’re doing it the wrong way,” or “You’re missing this or that vital piece.”
But when it comes to function – why does the church exist – the Bible says some pretty pointed, direct things. There are at least two complimentary pictures presented in the Gospels and Epistles that spell out the function of the church. And something that we have mostly missed in the west (or at least, in the US and Canada) is that both pictures are profoundly corporate and only secondarily address the individual believer. Church is who we are as friends and followers of Jesus, not where I go as a believer.
One of the main paradigms articulated over and over is that the believers gathered constitute the Body of Jesus Christ on the earth, in his physical absence. You are not the incarnation of Jesus, nor am I. But we are. This thought first came to me one time I was reading Ephesians 1:22-23. Paul says that the church is the fullness of him who fills everything. It's the same kind of language Paul uses to describe the relationship between Jesus and his Father in Colossians 1:19-20. It's incarnation language. Paul is saying that the church, you and I together as friends of Jesus, embody him on the earth.
When the world outside of Jesus looks at the friends of Jesus together, they are supposed to see Jesus! I don't incarnate the Son of Man by myself. I'm too sin-stained, too self-centred, too not-divine to accurately portray Jesus to the world. But the redeemed of God together, we're supposed to do just that.
We're supposed to be bearers of the Presence. We're supposed to be ministers of compassion and mercy. We're supposed to walk in unity and love of one another. We're supposed to spur one another on, support, exhort, encourage, bear with, lean on, strengthen, care for one another. All of the things our natural bodies do. Corporate unity and identity shouldn't be such a foreign idea to us: we live it every day in our fleshly bodies. Many parts, one body. It's what we are. And, for the most part, my body's many parts function in inter-dependent unity with each other.
The Body of Christ is why the church exists. It is what calls us to be agents of justice and compassion, just as Jesus embodied the justice and compassion of Father God. It invites us to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, just as Jesus walked in complete agreement with the Spirit of our Father. It obliges us to live in unity with one another, and with Jesus, just as Jesus lived in absolute unity with his Father. It is in this context that we receive and function in our spiritual gifts. It is in this context that we celebrate the Lord's Supper and it is to this end that we are baptized.
The Body of Christ is the paradigm that calls the church to everything incarnational in her ministry.
The other major paradigm given in the New Testament is that of the Bride. The clear train of thought in the New Testament, brought to it's conclusion in Revelation, is that the Father is creating a worthy Bride for his Son from every nation on the earth. A corporate Bride, and Royal gathered community of the Redeemed that is worthy of her Redeemer.
It is a picture that stretches our understanding of corporate identity. And I think that is why we first get such a clear picture of the corporate Body in scripture. Like I already said, the Body is an image we can at least get our heads around - after all, it's what we are in our fleshly existence.
But we are so much more than that. Corporately we are becoming the spotless Bride. Corporately are called to the ministry of intimacy. The Bride is about worship, about adoration, about holiness and purity. She is why we treat one another with tenderness and gentleness. She is why we pray, and study, why we question and learn, and sing, and dance, and weep and celebrate. Our gatherings are but a shadow of a feast that is coming (sometimes a pretty dim shadow, sometimes almost a reflection).
And, I believe, the Bride is why we evangelize. In Jesus' earthly ministry his Kingdom work was about the incarnation. But his redemptive work, his purchasing men and women for God and his building of an inheritance, was about securing a Bride. It was about capturing the hearts of men and women in the place of intimacy.
So it is with the church.
Our kingdom work is incarnational; we advance the Kingdom of God because we are the Body of Christ. Our redemptive work, our bringing men and women to Jesus and being made holy with them, is about intimacy. It is about filling hearts with passion for Jesus.
There are other pictures used in scripture as well. And some of them do address the individual more specifically. In fact, there are aspects of both the Body and Bride paradigms that speak to us as individual parts of the corporate whole. But the church's function is to be the holy people, the royal priesthood, and it's not a function we can play alone.
How we express that, how we do church, has a lot of latitude. And we would do well to remember that when we are tempted to pick on this expression or that structure; you may do church in a completely different way than I do: your traditions, style, and structure may not look at all like mine. But together we are the church: Jesus' Body on the earth and his beautiful Bride for the age to come.
Any thoughts... ?
It seems to me that form, while important, is largely an issue of pragmatism, whereas function is biblically mandated. That is to say, the way we do church has, in the eyes of God, the ability to flex and change to suit the circumstances, but why we do church is an issue settled in the mind of God.
And, as is often the case, we tend to get it backwards and act like the form is prescribed and the function is a matter of personal need or preference. Church wars and denominational fractures are abundant over issues of who has the authority, what kind, how long and in what format we worship, whether or not we pay the pastor, who can be the pastor, who can be become a member, whether or not there should be members and why there are members, who can take communion, and how we do communion and baptism… the list goes on. And these are all matters of form. They are the how of church.
Whereas the why of church is up to me: I need the fellowship, I require time to heal, I like these people and we get along so well, we all see eye-to-eye, I like the kind of music they (oh, that’s a killer word in the church: “they”) offer (another killer word!), the preacher is so good… so I think I’ll go here. And, yes, I’m well aware that I’ve just over-lapped my two lists; that I’ve put similar things in the how and why columns. I’ve done so because it’s what we do. We confuse and interchange the how and the why of church. We pick and choose why we go (or don't go) somewhere and we fight over how our church does church. All the time missing the fact that church isn't somewhere we go but is who we are!
And a major reason why we fight and quibble and refuse to agree on these issues is because the Bible is: a) silent, b) ambivalent or c) ambiguous on them. So we draw our lines, pull out our favourite proof-texts and interpretations of those texts and hammer away at one another, or (in my humble opinion) even worse, refuse to discuss it any further, and then go our separate ways.
Does the Bible have anything to say about form? Absolutely – sometimes. As you read through Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon) and the other portions here and there in the New Testament that address the structure of the earliest church gatherings (bits in Romans, Corinthians, and even hints in the Gospels), you seem to get a hodgepodge of pictures: house churches, large gatherings, bishop led groups, autonomous congregations, pastor/deacon/elder/bishop combinations, lay-led, professional clergy, apostle-driven, spontaneously-started, spirit-led, liturgical… churches. There seems to be a little of everything and nothing specific mandated. In fact, most of the texts seem to assume that there is some sort of structure in place, and then proceed to provide correctives or bring advice on how to continue in a healthy way. I can’t think of any text that says flat-out “You’re doing it the wrong way,” or “You’re missing this or that vital piece.”
But when it comes to function – why does the church exist – the Bible says some pretty pointed, direct things. There are at least two complimentary pictures presented in the Gospels and Epistles that spell out the function of the church. And something that we have mostly missed in the west (or at least, in the US and Canada) is that both pictures are profoundly corporate and only secondarily address the individual believer. Church is who we are as friends and followers of Jesus, not where I go as a believer.
The Church is the Body of Jesus
One of the main paradigms articulated over and over is that the believers gathered constitute the Body of Jesus Christ on the earth, in his physical absence. You are not the incarnation of Jesus, nor am I. But we are. This thought first came to me one time I was reading Ephesians 1:22-23. Paul says that the church is the fullness of him who fills everything. It's the same kind of language Paul uses to describe the relationship between Jesus and his Father in Colossians 1:19-20. It's incarnation language. Paul is saying that the church, you and I together as friends of Jesus, embody him on the earth.
When the world outside of Jesus looks at the friends of Jesus together, they are supposed to see Jesus! I don't incarnate the Son of Man by myself. I'm too sin-stained, too self-centred, too not-divine to accurately portray Jesus to the world. But the redeemed of God together, we're supposed to do just that.
We're supposed to be bearers of the Presence. We're supposed to be ministers of compassion and mercy. We're supposed to walk in unity and love of one another. We're supposed to spur one another on, support, exhort, encourage, bear with, lean on, strengthen, care for one another. All of the things our natural bodies do. Corporate unity and identity shouldn't be such a foreign idea to us: we live it every day in our fleshly bodies. Many parts, one body. It's what we are. And, for the most part, my body's many parts function in inter-dependent unity with each other.
The Body of Christ is why the church exists. It is what calls us to be agents of justice and compassion, just as Jesus embodied the justice and compassion of Father God. It invites us to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, just as Jesus walked in complete agreement with the Spirit of our Father. It obliges us to live in unity with one another, and with Jesus, just as Jesus lived in absolute unity with his Father. It is in this context that we receive and function in our spiritual gifts. It is in this context that we celebrate the Lord's Supper and it is to this end that we are baptized.
The Body of Christ is the paradigm that calls the church to everything incarnational in her ministry.
The Church is the Bride of Jesus
The other major paradigm given in the New Testament is that of the Bride. The clear train of thought in the New Testament, brought to it's conclusion in Revelation, is that the Father is creating a worthy Bride for his Son from every nation on the earth. A corporate Bride, and Royal gathered community of the Redeemed that is worthy of her Redeemer.
It is a picture that stretches our understanding of corporate identity. And I think that is why we first get such a clear picture of the corporate Body in scripture. Like I already said, the Body is an image we can at least get our heads around - after all, it's what we are in our fleshly existence.
But we are so much more than that. Corporately we are becoming the spotless Bride. Corporately are called to the ministry of intimacy. The Bride is about worship, about adoration, about holiness and purity. She is why we treat one another with tenderness and gentleness. She is why we pray, and study, why we question and learn, and sing, and dance, and weep and celebrate. Our gatherings are but a shadow of a feast that is coming (sometimes a pretty dim shadow, sometimes almost a reflection).
And, I believe, the Bride is why we evangelize. In Jesus' earthly ministry his Kingdom work was about the incarnation. But his redemptive work, his purchasing men and women for God and his building of an inheritance, was about securing a Bride. It was about capturing the hearts of men and women in the place of intimacy.
So it is with the church.
Our kingdom work is incarnational; we advance the Kingdom of God because we are the Body of Christ. Our redemptive work, our bringing men and women to Jesus and being made holy with them, is about intimacy. It is about filling hearts with passion for Jesus.
There are other pictures used in scripture as well. And some of them do address the individual more specifically. In fact, there are aspects of both the Body and Bride paradigms that speak to us as individual parts of the corporate whole. But the church's function is to be the holy people, the royal priesthood, and it's not a function we can play alone.
How we express that, how we do church, has a lot of latitude. And we would do well to remember that when we are tempted to pick on this expression or that structure; you may do church in a completely different way than I do: your traditions, style, and structure may not look at all like mine. But together we are the church: Jesus' Body on the earth and his beautiful Bride for the age to come.
Any thoughts... ?
7.07.2006
An interesting little quiz
I found this quiz to be rather interesting (theology is a favorite pastime for me... what can I say?) The link was from Jesus Outside the Box
The results were pretty bang-on, probably to the chagrin of my former Seminary profs.
The results were pretty bang-on, probably to the chagrin of my former Seminary profs.
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7.06.2006
Family updates
Here's the goings-on of the Brooks family...
After a highly successful school year, we're ready for the summer holidays! Jonathan and Elisha both did really well in school this year - and Mom and Dad are awfully proud!
The end of the school year was a little nutty, though. Both kids playing soccer, Elisha in dance, and Dad playing soccer meant that we had stuff going on Monday, Tuesday (double booked), Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes Friday evenings and Saturday, sometimes Sunday afternoons. Let's just say that by the end of June, we were occasionally (ok, truth be told, often) praying for rain so that soccer would be postponed.
Both kids had a pretty good soccer season. Jonathan's team only lost about 3 games all season, and ended up being re-tiered half way through the season, 'cause they were creaming the competition! And I had the amazing privilege of helping to coach his team.
Elisha's team got off to a rougher start - they didn't score their first goal until very near the end of the season. And it happened to coincide with their first win (1:0)! I don't know who was more excited, the kids or the parents -- there was actually talk of going down to Whyte Avenue to celebrate (keep in mind, this happened in the middle of the Oilers' Stanley Cup run...) They went on to either win or tie the rest of their games (if only the same could be said of the Oilers...).
Birthday celebrations this year were, well, birthday celebrations... and reminders to both Beth and I that we aren't getting any younger. How is it that the kids are now 10 & 7? 
When the heck did that happen? The only time I feel like I could actually be old enough to have a 10 year old is the day after one of my soccer matches - then I know for a FACT I'm not 20 anymore!
The summer is shaping up well. We're looking forward to spending time together at Family Camp - a week of someone else cooking, planning, entertaining... it's pretty tough to beat.
We have a few other things on the go, too. Seven weddings - though I'm only performing three of them - will keep us busy. And Jonathan has an amazing August ahead of him, but I'll leave the details for him to write about.
Over all, I am incredibly blessed. I've got the two most amazing kids on the planet (sorry, to all the other parents out there, but your kids just aren't as awesome as mine!!), live in a terrific city, am part of and help lead the most incredible church community, and am married to the same beautiful, amazing, kind, gentle... awe inspiring woman that I married 14 years ago (there's no way our kids can be 10 & 7 - we're far too young for that!).
After a highly successful school year, we're ready for the summer holidays! Jonathan and Elisha both did really well in school this year - and Mom and Dad are awfully proud!
The end of the school year was a little nutty, though. Both kids playing soccer, Elisha in dance, and Dad playing soccer meant that we had stuff going on Monday, Tuesday (double booked), Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes Friday evenings and Saturday, sometimes Sunday afternoons. Let's just say that by the end of June, we were occasionally (ok, truth be told, often) praying for rain so that soccer would be postponed.
Both kids had a pretty good soccer season. Jonathan's team only lost about 3 games all season, and ended up being re-tiered half way through the season, 'cause they were creaming the competition! And I had the amazing privilege of helping to coach his team.
Elisha's team got off to a rougher start - they didn't score their first goal until very near the end of the season. And it happened to coincide with their first win (1:0)! I don't know who was more excited, the kids or the parents -- there was actually talk of going down to Whyte Avenue to celebrate (keep in mind, this happened in the middle of the Oilers' Stanley Cup run...) They went on to either win or tie the rest of their games (if only the same could be said of the Oilers...).
Birthday celebrations this year were, well, birthday celebrations... and reminders to both Beth and I that we aren't getting any younger. How is it that the kids are now 10 & 7? 
When the heck did that happen? The only time I feel like I could actually be old enough to have a 10 year old is the day after one of my soccer matches - then I know for a FACT I'm not 20 anymore!The summer is shaping up well. We're looking forward to spending time together at Family Camp - a week of someone else cooking, planning, entertaining... it's pretty tough to beat.
We have a few other things on the go, too. Seven weddings - though I'm only performing three of them - will keep us busy. And Jonathan has an amazing August ahead of him, but I'll leave the details for him to write about.
Over all, I am incredibly blessed. I've got the two most amazing kids on the planet (sorry, to all the other parents out there, but your kids just aren't as awesome as mine!!), live in a terrific city, am part of and help lead the most incredible church community, and am married to the same beautiful, amazing, kind, gentle... awe inspiring woman that I married 14 years ago (there's no way our kids can be 10 & 7 - we're far too young for that!).
7.04.2006
Life Under The Canopy: Sunday July 2 - Walking & Listening
Life Under The Canopy: Sunday July 2 - Walking & Listening... is a series of comments from people from the Canopy in response to last Sunday's "experiment."
The First Post
This is the very first entry in the Brooks' Family Blog (aka Eric's hobby; maybe the rest will join in.)
I want to point out The Canopy's Blog "Life Under the Canopy" (see the next post) mostly 'cause I love the Canopy, and I think the things that are being posted there are worth taking a look at.
I want to point out The Canopy's Blog "Life Under the Canopy" (see the next post) mostly 'cause I love the Canopy, and I think the things that are being posted there are worth taking a look at.
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