Three short post-modern films about God at SFFM
Please join us at San Francisco Friends Meeting for three short, post-modern films and open discussion about God and other religious topics on Saturday, November 4, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
Bring your dinner if you want and/or a dessert to share. Bring a friend, a date, anybody who'd be interested. I'll bring the popcorn and my vegan chocolate cake.
We will watch three short films featuring Rob Bell and produced by Flannel, a non-profit production company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are part of a series of 14 short films called Nooma. You can see clips and learn more about them at www.nooma.com.
The three we're going to see are called Rain, Noise and Rich.
I first heard about the Nooma films from Gregg Koskela's blog. He showed one of the films in the programmed worship at Newberg Friends Church.
The clerk of my Meeting asked me what does it mean if the films are post-modern. I babbled something about a new understanding of authority. But really, I'm afraid I'm just using it as shorthand for hip or cool. Come see them and tell me what you think.
If this goes well, or at least we see potential, we'll probably have a monthly film night for a while. The Peace and Social Concerns committee is thinking of some documentaries they'd like to show. Other possibilities include the movies Friendly Persuasion and Thirteen Days (with its portrayal of the self-immolation of Friend Norman Morrison), an excerpt from the HBO series Six Feet Under and other portrayals of Quakers and Quakerly issues.
Bring your dinner if you want and/or a dessert to share. Bring a friend, a date, anybody who'd be interested. I'll bring the popcorn and my vegan chocolate cake.
We will watch three short films featuring Rob Bell and produced by Flannel, a non-profit production company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are part of a series of 14 short films called Nooma. You can see clips and learn more about them at www.nooma.com.
The three we're going to see are called Rain, Noise and Rich.
I first heard about the Nooma films from Gregg Koskela's blog. He showed one of the films in the programmed worship at Newberg Friends Church.
The clerk of my Meeting asked me what does it mean if the films are post-modern. I babbled something about a new understanding of authority. But really, I'm afraid I'm just using it as shorthand for hip or cool. Come see them and tell me what you think.
If this goes well, or at least we see potential, we'll probably have a monthly film night for a while. The Peace and Social Concerns committee is thinking of some documentaries they'd like to show. Other possibilities include the movies Friendly Persuasion and Thirteen Days (with its portrayal of the self-immolation of Friend Norman Morrison), an excerpt from the HBO series Six Feet Under and other portrayals of Quakers and Quakerly issues.
Labels: meeting work
posted by Robin M. at 2:26 PM
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7 Comments:
postmodern... or actually "pomo"... was a big buzzword for the students at new college. it sort of drove me crazy. it's in some ways such a smug idea. "you thought we were modern!? ha ha! we are so past that!" is what it kind of sounds like to me. but my understanding of it, and why i've come to sort of like it, is that it's a lot about how there are so many grey areas (which is why the idea of it is kind of silly. "we are Definitely not modern anymore, because we understand that there is no such thing as definite."). but i have a hard time putting it all into words in real time... which is why i didn't say anything and instead smiled agreeably to your definition.
This sounds like so much fun! I wish I could be there.
I don't think I'll bite on trying to explain postmodernism. But I think people will enjoy the thoughts that these videos provoke.
Oh good. Cubbie, I was worried you would have a totally different idea than what I stammered out. Or that you would think I was just totally lame, as we would have said when I was in high school.
Gregg, I'm still wondering how you heard about Nooma. Is there a secret resource list for hip emerging type pastors? Or is this the kind of thing that if you have to ask, you're not cool enough to know?
I'm realizing that I have some lingering issues around being cool enough. Frankly, I think too many of us never progress much past who we were in high school.
i think people my age and younger-ish have this really great thing-- which is that in a lot of circles, being a really big dork is highly valued. this can be a problem as even geekiness and dorkiness becomes a pose, but i've been surrounded by enough fantastic dorks to accept that part of myself. there's a song that i really like by kimya dawson (... i had not heard of her until i met puck. she used to be part of this hip band called the moldy peaches, but her recent stuff is pretty unknown-- and absolutely amazing) called "being cool" -- the lyrics are here: http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/kimya_dawson_lyrics_9452/my_cute_fiend_sweet_princess_lyrics_30391/being_cool_lyrics_329971.html . i can burn you a copy of the song, if you'd like. (when she performs it live, i've heard her add the line at the end "the part of me that knows i'm really scared of being cool" --- *laughs* she also has changed the line "doesn't mean that they are diamonds" to "doesn't mean that i'm neal diamond.")
Yeah, all my friends in college were people who were probably considered geeks in high school, but when we got out of our hometowns, we found each other and these really intelligent people had amazing senses of humor and sexiness and music collections. But still not cool clothes.
And Chris M. keeps reminding me that our ideal is not to be cool but to be on fire.
I found out about the Nooma videos because two of my staff members have them. There isn't a "secret list" that I know about...maybe we're BOTH out of the loop. ;)
Stanley Grenz has a great "Primer on Postmodernism" if you're interested in digging it up a bit and some of the implications for the church.
Oh and I really like Rob Bell's stuff, he's a good guy, cool or not, I don't know, but he's good.
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