Josiah VanderMey and Heather West ask some questions about the sermon from Sunday.  Check back soon to hear a response.

Learn Something Every Day was started by UK based design studio Young. Drawn with copic markers, the project features a daily hand-drawn image of a random fun fact. Check it out if you’re a fan of trivia and Snapple caps.

The bible says “Honor your father and your mother.”  It doesn’t say, “Honor your father and mother when it’s convenient or when you feel like it.”  It doesn’t even say, “Honor your father and mother when they deserve it.”  It simply says, “Honor your father and your mother.”  This includes stubborn parents, over-protective parents, thoughtful parents, insensitive parents, emotionally distanced parents, emotionally smothering parents, supportive parents, absentee parents, married parents, divorced parents, healthy parents, even broken parents.

Honor your father and mother.

From what the experts tell me, the odds are pretty good that you, in fact, are someone’s child! But as children get older and even begin to have children of their own, the 5^th of the 10 Commandments becomes increasingly harder to practice in the day-to-day. I’ve lived in Boston for the past eight years. My folks still live in North Carolina. Honoring and respecting my mom and dad has taken shape through regular (and sincere) conversations over the phone, quarterly visits, and an occasional date on Skype. Until recently.

In mid-September our family celebrated my dad’s 60^th birthday.  Wanting to celebrate the accomplishment of 60 years well-lived, I decided a birthday adventure was in order – an adventure that took shape as he and I, alone, father and son, made a visit to Yosemite National Park.  “Honor your father.”

Our 5 days in Yosemite will stay with me forever.  Here are a few thoughts I take away from our time together:

• Honor your father by saying things you usually keep hidden.  Tell him what he means to you, why you admire and respect him, why he’s your hero.  Explain things that have hurt you in the past.  Ask for forgiveness. Don’t allow the brokenness of the past to dictate your future.  With your words, take steps toward reconciliation.
• Honor your father through service.  Give of yourself as much as you can.  Look for the ways in which you can “carry his pack” when the hill gets steep.  Service is never easy or convenient.  But it binds us to others in unique ways.
• Honor your father by praying together.  Christian parents long for the salvation of their children.  My dad and I both serve Jesus.  In a way, praying and reading scripture together was an answer to years of expectant prayers.
• Honor your father by laughing together. Life is maybe best shared through laughter.  Be willing to share your quirks with your parents.  They know you’re not perfect, they changed your diapers.  But your parents aren’t perfect either.  And your willingness to make laughter and simple fun a part of enjoying one another makes time together rich and authentic.
• Honoring your father is a choice.  Parents, while often wise and discerning, are cut from a different generational and (potentially) ideological cloth.  Kill your pride, listen with new ears, and critique with charity.
• Honor your father with your time. There is no substitute for time together.  Give your time away to your parents.  Seek to make it intentionally meaningful.  Time in each other’s presence is different than time well spent.  But we’ve all got to start somewhere.

There are times when people get together — parties, special events, late-night hang outs — that are most likely to generate ‘lists’. You know, like “What are the top 3 ways you would NOT want to die?” or “If you could take one book (sometimes at ‘Christian’ events this is interrupted by the injunction against using the Bible as your answer) with you to a desert island, what would it be?” Inevitably, for me and my friends, one question comes up:

“What’s your favorite movie?”
“Of all time?”
“Yeah.”
“Ever?”
“Yeah.”

Is there a harder question to answer?

I honestly can’t say what my favorite movie is — there are too many — but I can say what my most re-watched movie is The Shawshank Redemption. Without question. It’s one of those movies on TNT from time to time, and if I see it, it’s almost inevitable that I get sucked in and watch the remainder. You can jump into it like that. It’s like striking up a conversation with an old friend: effortless.

The movie centers on a successful accountant, Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robinson), in a failed marriage who goes to federal prison on murder charges after his wife and her lover are found murdered in his house. He struggles in prison but befriends a group of veteran prisoners led by Red (Morgan Freeman), who “knows how to get things”, while trying to avoid the dangers of prison life. He eventually builds a library and relationships with the guards and the warden through his skill with money and his courageous demeanor. The movie climaxes with…well, you’ll have to see for yourself, I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it.

There are at least 63 reasons that make Shawshank the most re-watchable movie of all time, but here’s my top five:

1) Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman not only plays a major role in the film; his character is the narrator. How many people saw March of the Penguins because Freeman was telling the story? I would listen to this guy read the phone book; his voice is that captivating. He’s in the Pantheon of great voices that includes James Earl Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Donald Sutherland, and Ian McKellen.

2) Stephen King
This is one of the few stories that Stephen King wrote that was actually good to the last drop. Usually King seems to fall asleep at the type writer about 90% of the way through and mails in head-scratchingly bad conclusions to his otherwise brilliant and engaging stories. Steve gave us a gem in the short story on which Shawshank is based and I’m forever grateful he stayed lucid ’till the end on this one.

3) Memorable lines
This is one of the most quotable/reference-able films of all time. From “Brooks was here” to Red’s (Freeman’s) description of Andy’s eccentric and at times baffling behaviors, there are countless moments in this movie that stick in your mind and charm you into submission. It’s fun just to talk about with people who love the movie like you do. It makes you want to see it again.

4) Human Consciousness
This movie reflects deep truths about what it means to be human. The longing for justice and freedom that Andy and his friends experience, the moments of life even in the midst of the greyness of prison life, and the true community that is formed among the men all evoke similar feelings and a sense of deep reflection in us. There is hope in this story. The abuses of power, realities of violence and struggle for survival, and the portrayal of insitutionalization that Shawshank gives us are valuable to us as symbols and memories which can challenge us to treat others in a way which acknowledges that they are human persons with God-given rights and attributes.

5) Integration
This is one movie that successfully integrates great lead acting, narration, character acting, story telling, dialogue, film score, photography, and overall production. This film didn’t win Best Picture only because it landed in one of the toughest Academy Awards classes of all time. The other nominees included Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Quiz Show, and the winning movie, Forrest Gump. Shawshank is an all-around solid film; there are very few weak spots.

So, there it is. The Shawshank Redemption is the most re-watchable movie ever made, in my humble opinion, and if you didn’t know, now you know. Catch it some time on TNT or rent it (it is set in a prison, so the non-edited version is not for the faint of heart), and you may be tempted to buy it. If you have trouble finding it, I know someone who knows how to get things.

Ryan Huber is a graduate student in Theology and Education at Boston College. He blogs about theology/spirituality, culture, education, and the intersections between them at www.culturemaker.blogspot.com. He can be reached at ryan.huber@bc.edu.

Jim LePage decided to combine his desire to read the Bible more with his love for design, which led to the birth of his series Word. As LePage writes on the project’s homepage:

Word is a series where I create original designs for each book of the Bible. Before each design, I spend time researching the book, finding out the themes, historical context, weirdest stories, etc. I also scan through parts of the book looking for a passage or story that could translate into a cool design. Each design isn’t meant to completely represent the book, rather it is merely based on a passage from the book.

Click on the site to see every print so far, as well as the story behind each one.

Li, above, a self-professed Flickr junkie and lover of colored post-its, was inspired by the project The Truth Is… to finally get her own project started:

I have always, always wanted to do a 365 project to push myself. It’s so easy to go through periods of times with a lot of photography and then periods where I don’t even touch my camera. Recently I saw this person’s [The Truth Is...] project and it made me think of what is true in my life and Jesus is the most true part of me. So it became “I love Jesus because…”. I think it’s important because oftentimes, people see only the church going, rule following part of Christianity as a religion, as an institution. But for me, it’s so much more than that. It’s about a love story, a happily ever after with Jesus. It’s about the little things and the intimate ways that He loves and cares for me that makes Him so compelling and worth living for. And I wanted to be able to share that with the people in my life.

The pictures are on Facebook and so far, Li says, the project has been very well-received.

I’ve had my non-Christian friends, or even people who are just acquaintances, tell me that they follow my project and that they look forward to seeing the next ones. A lot of people particularly like the one that says, “I love jesus because he made bacon.” I think that especially captures my hope for the project because God is not just this big lofty God who made the stars and the oceans. He is also this very personal God who has made us bacon for breakfast.

If you’re in the Boston area and would like to be part of Li’s project, you can contact her at 781 502 8539 or debra.li@tufts.edu.

Every year we wish more students could be part of our fall retreat. It’s always an incredible weekend together. This year we’re making it easy for students to come.  We’re staying local and only charging $10! We hope you’ll consider reserving October 15-17. Sign-up here by clicking on the fall retreat image. (Spots are nearly full – don’t waste much time in consideration!)

Friday Night Fellowship kicked off last Fridaywith a great time of fellowship and build your own burritos from Anna’s Taqueria. About 75 students and UM volunteers came out for the first Friday Night Fellowship (FNF) of the semester held in an awesome location in the heart of Boston.  In case you have not heard, this fall our weekly gatherings are happening at 64 Beacon Street, a beautiful brownstone on the corner of Beacon and Charles streets, right off the Boston Common.

The space is home to the King’s Chapel Parish House. We are excited to use this space and can access it starting at 5pm on the Fridays we’re meeting there. Bring your reading or grab a friend and come hang out before FNF starts at 7pm. We’re meeting the following Fridays: September 24, October 1, 8, 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19, December 3.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Fall Retreat happening October 15-17 in Chestnut Hill MA. Cost is only $10 & includes meals! Sign up here to reserve your spot (space is limited to 60 people).

It’s going to be a great year, friends! Hope you can join us.

- Beth Goad, Boston University Volunteer