VineAgeStart A Community!Sign In

Posts for August, 2007

Siskel & Ebert’s Orthodox View of Christ

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Film Diary and Updates. 0 Comments

Many Christians have very strong feelings about Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ”. I was actually fearful of seeing it because of the way I heard others speak about it. But after seeing many of Scorsese’s movies (and loving them) I decided it was time to see it. I understand how people are upset about certain parts of the film. However, I believe it is probably the most powerful film about Jesus that has been made.

The very beginning of the movie there is an explanation that the film is not based upon the Gospels. You understand right away that this is a fictional account of the life of Jesus. The “temptation” of Christ in the movie is to live the normal life of a man. What is so horrible about this idea? Do people think Jesus’ main temptation really would have been to bow down to Satan, become a tyrant or a pimp? This denial of the normal life (fatherhood, marriage and work) must have been difficult for the God-man.

I’m not defending every single part of this movie. The main point I write this is because I recently watched Siskel and Ebert’s original review of the film. This is really worth seeing. They both give an orthodox explanation of how Christ is the mysterious union of God and man. It’s moving to hear them speak about Jesus in this way. I recommend checking out the link.

Check it out here.

Healing…Alleviating Suffering

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Meditations and Updates. 1 Comment

Luke 8:40-56

These miracle stories are insane. These are two unorthodox healings. I guess the thing I like most about the stories of healings is just the fact that you care about individuals. I can see that you care about people right now in this life. Even though this is only temporary it is still important to you. I think that teaches us that we need to care for people’s needs here on earth.

The thing that is so strange about healing is that even when a person is healed they will still have other physical problems and even die at some point. Healing is a way of alleviating suffering for a time. That really matters to you. That just shows again how involved you are. It shows how much you care. So how can we show that same care here for others here on earth?

May 5, 2007

Jesus and the Concealed Truth (is it really?)

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Meditations. 0 Comments

Luke 8:4-15

One of the interesting things about this passage is when Jesus says, “I am using these stories to conceal everything about it from outsiders…” If you read this verse alone then it’s a bit confusing about the mission of Jesus. Was his mission to hide the truth?

The other fact about this is that “Jesus told this story to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him.” And before that “Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God.” We see that Jesus was out preaching to all kinds of people in all kinds of different places. His purpose was to “announce the Good News”. So why would he “conceal” anything about his message?

I think maybe it’s because he wanted these stories to stick with people. Maybe he wanted their curiosity to be aroused by these stories. They could meditate on them and at some point the message would hit home. At the same time it made it easy for people who didn’t want to believe. I think it’s cool how God has chosen to speak to us in ways that are subtle and require initiative from us as well. I think that makes the message more personal and meaningful to us when we start to get it.

April 26, 2007

Jesus Defying Expectations

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Meditations. 0 Comments

Luke 7:36-50

This story is so beautiful. Just thinking of this woman who began to weep (were the words of Jesus touching her heart right then and there?) and anoint Jesus’ feet with oil is so intense. I can imagine the extreme reactions of the others that were there. It really makes sense to see how people had a hard time with so many things that Jesus did. It only makes me love You more! You are so caring to the broken, sincere person.

It’s interesting to see how often You defied people’s expectations of the Messiah. In the chapter before we see John the Baptist confused because some of his expectations weren’t being met. Here the Pharisee doubts Jesus because of the fact that this woman is washing his feet and Jesus lets her. He doesn’t understand that this is exactly what Jesus is about.

Those attitudes of self-righteousness are so scary. I’ve seen that in myself at all times. I want to love much. I need forgiveness and grace Lord. I want to love you with all of my heart and mind and strength. I want to live my wife and friends and family with all that I’ve got. Remind me of your great forgiveness and grace with me. Beautiful.

April 20, 2007

My Top Films

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Film Diary and Updates. 0 Comments

I truly love movies! There are different ways to list favorite films but I’m going to do it by director. It’s too hard to do 1-20 or something like that. This is kind of a long list though. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree on any?

Martin Scorsese
“Taxi Driver”, “After Hours”, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, “No Direction Home”, “The Last Waltz”, “The Departed”, “Bringing out the Dead” and “Goodfellas”

Terrence Mallick
“The Thin Red Line”, “The New World” and “Badlands”

Francis Ford Coppola
“The Godfather”, “The Godfather Part 2″, “Apocalypse Now” and “Peggy Sue Got Married”

Paul Thomas Anderson
“Magnolia” and “Punch-Drunk Love”

David Lynch
“Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me”, “The Straight Story” and “Twin Peaks (tv)”

Woody Allen
“Crimes and Misdemeaners”, “Manhattan”, and “Stardust Memories”

Tim Burton
“Ed Wood” and “Edward Scissorhands”

Jean-Pierre Jeunet
“The City of the Lost Children”, “Amelie” and “A Very Long Engagement”

Tom Tykwer
“Heaven” and “The Princess and the Warrior”

Alfred Hitchcock
“Rear Window”, “Vertigo” and “Psycho”

John Hughes
“The Breakfast Club” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”

Quentin Tarantino
“Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill 1 and 2″

Rob Reiner
“Stand by Me” and “This is Spinal Tap”

Jonathan Demme
“Stop Making Sense” and “The Silence of the Lambs”

Joel and Ethan Coen
“Blood Simple” and “Raising Arizona”

Sidney Lumet
“Dog Day Afternoon”, “Running on Empty” and “Serpico”

Arthur Penn
“Bonnie and Clyde” and “Little Big Man”

Terry Gilliam
“The Fisher King” and “12 Monkeys”

Richard Linklater
“Before Sunset”, “Before Sunrise” and “Waking Life”

Various Directors
“Casablanca”, “Citizen Kane”, “Lost in Translation”, “The Apostle”, “Stalker”, “Rocky”, “Rocky Balboa”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Lord of War”, “Adaptation”, “28 Days Later”, “The Shining”, “Ikiru”, “La Strata”, “Stalker”, “Repo Man”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “Alien”, “The Big Sleep”, “Children of Men”, “The Fountain”, “Wild Strawberries”, “The Third Man”, “The Stand (tv)”, “The X-Files (tv)”, “JFK”, “Fearless” and there are way to many more!

Adam Again: The Reality of Suffering

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Music Diary. 0 Comments

Yesterday I took a prayer walk here in Tepic, Mexico. Even here we have Blockbuster Video so I decided to get some movies and just get outside for a while. On the walk I was listening to a song that I truly believe is a masterpiece and the reality is that most people have never even heard the group. The song is “Dig” and the group is Adam Again.

Adam Again is most known for it’s singer, Gene Eugene, who produced all kinds of indie albums and also worked with the Lost Dogs until his death several years ago. Gene Eugene always wrote sincere, insightful and tough songs. “Dig” is definitely one of his best.

“Consult the stars to measure time
The earth is hard, the treasure fine
At the sea, I’ll wait on my knees”

One of Eugene’s greatest strengths was his ability to write about the reality of suffering without embracing cynicism. In my opinion he expressed what Christ has spoken of and shown to us. Pain is a reality. But redemption is even more real.

I just finished reading “The Great Divorce” by CS Lewis. In that book a certain person has a dream of taking a trip through heaven and hell. The people in hell are like ghosts. They have the opportunity to visit the edge of heaven but the grass seems to cut into their feet. When the visitors from heaven come to encourage the ghosts to join them they have full, solid bodies. CS Lewis seems to be saying throughout the book that heaven is more real than hell. Love is more real than hate. Good is more real than evil.

I think Gene Eugene was sharing a similar feeling in songs like “Dig” and “Deep”. Here on earth pain and suffering are all too real. The redemption is real not only in the future but even right now. I am reminded of the idea that the kingdom of God is both “now and not yet”.

“the earth is hard, the treasure fine
on the sea, I’ll wait on my knees”

October 13, 2004

Nick Cave and the Beauty Impossible

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Music Diary. 0 Comments

Up those stone steps I climb
Hail this joyful day’s return
Into it’s great shadowed vault I go
Hail the Pentecostal morn

The reading is from Luke 24
Where Christ returns to his loved ones
I look at the stone apostles
Think that it’s alright for some

And I wish that I was made of stone
So that I would not have to see
A beauty impossible to define
A beauty impossible to believe

-Nick Cave “Brompton Oratory”

Nick Cave’s lyrics always seem to have true power. I think this is because he confronts difficult questions about God, love and death. He confronts them head on and makes strong statements. As time has gone on he has seemed to come closer and closer to Christianity. His last album “Abatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus” seem to be full gospel albums (lyrically and even musically). “The Boatman’s Call” is consistently lacking in faith in Christ or “an interventionist God” as he sings in “Into my Arms”.

What interests me is his reason for lack of faith on the “Boatman’s Call” album. In the song he basically seems to say that he does not believe because the message of Christianity is too beautiful. This is something that I have not heard expressed very many times from people lacking in faith. I think this is extremely honest and a good subject to consider. I should add before going on that the song later turns to the subject of lost romance. But what interests me more is a “beauty impossible” that he mentions here.

Why is Christianity a beauty impossible?

In no other religion/worldview does God take part in suffering. I guess some could argue that Buddha did. But true Buddhism is agnostic. Buddha is not God. Christ is the only example of God choosing to take part in the suffering and injustice of this world (if you can think of another religion please mention it to me). This is truly beautiful.

Chesterton said something that goes along with this. He blew me mind when I read this statement.

They will not find another god who has himself been in revolt…They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist.
-G.K. Chesterton “Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith

I believe he is referring here to when Christ is on the cross and screams out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” This is the beauty impossible that Nick Cave is singing about. The world is full of injustice and suffering. Yet God, out of love, chose to suffer when he didn’t have to.

He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief…He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!
-The Bible Isaiah 53:3,5

This is the beauty impossible. God takes part in the suffering we all experience. He suffers so we can be healed. The question is this. Is this beauty an impossibility? Or is this beauty true? That’s up to you to decide.

September 17, 2005

28 Weeks Later Review (7/10)

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 25th, 2007 in Film Diary. 0 Comments

I know this is kind of a radical movie but I really enjoyed “28 Days Later”. I actually think “28 Days Later” is one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. It has true heart and soul. The actors are beautiful and you really get to know them. Nayeli and I have been waiting for the sequel to get down here to Mexico for a while now. We were in Mazatlan with my parents when we went to see it. The movie starts with some true intensity. I would say the beginning is more unnerving than any part of “28 Days Later”. The fact is that we were scared! At the same time it started raining outside the theatre and the rain actually begin to fall through leaks in the ceiling! The theatre was old and obviously not really suitable any more. Well…that basically made us more nervous so we just left! We didn’t want to be the victims of some horrible ceiling collapse.

A few days later we saw that the movie arrived here in Tepic so we decided to give it another shot. I was actually nervous about seeing it because I was truly scared from the parts we saw. Unfortunately the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to the beginning. It’s still better than your average movie but the soul and the beauty of the first film just isn’t there. The first film had more social commentary as well. This one felt more like just a movie. I guess there may be some comparison’s the Iraq war but I don’t think it really had anything new to say.

“28 Weeks Later” will get 7/10 on imdb.com from me. Beware that the movie is obviously quite violent. August 24, 2007.

The Beginning of Our Band

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 24th, 2007 in About Us, Home Page and Updates. 0 Comments

Into the Sea

A few of us in The Movement have started a band here in Mexico. This is a part of the value of expression in The Movement. We are all about love, social help, protest and the pursuit of a new community of artists that values substance over style. You can check out some of our music on our myspace page.

www.myspace.com/intotheseaofficial

VineAge Has Begun!

Published by Andy Hackett - Tepic, Mexico August 10th, 2007 in Home Page and Updates. 0 Comments

Hello friends and family. It’s good to see VineAge coming together. It’s awesome how Scott, my dad and others are making this happen. Nayeli and I are on the bandwagon now. We are going to be posting frequently here. Nayeli and I are missionaries and musicians soon to be living in Guadalajara, Mexico. We have started a ministry called The Movement. The Movement is all about community, expression and social help. We are also in a band called Into the Sea (myspace.com/intotheseaofficial) and we play music inspired by love, community, protest, anger and passion. This VineAge site is for us to write blogs, post pictures and generally keep in touch with our friends, family, supporters and anyone else who is interested in what we are doing. I also plan to write occasional film reviews, music articles and other blogs about things that I am passionate about. And…we have begun.

Now Online

(secret kung-foo php code will go here to provide a list of online users)

Support Vineage