Virtual Methodist

Had a very interesting evening last night with a few old friends, one of whom is just back from New Zealand for a short time. It was probably all the more interesting after 2 hours listening to a briefing on church finance reports in the light of the new charities laws. But during the conversation someone mentioned a former teacher and leader in Scripture Union who was involved in a low level "scandal". This triggered an explosive response from one of my friend's, who claimed that this just goes to show that everything that this man, and his fellow SU leaders, had taught us, was rubbish (he used stronger language), and that to influence young people with a black and white view of religion/spirituality in schools in wrong. It must be said that this particular teacher, whilst being very affable, had portrayed a particularly black and white picture of Christian faith that I, even in my tender teenage years, was uneasy with, and I suppose it is that which makes his "fall...

Channel 4 aired Penny Woolcock's film "Exodus" on Monday night past (19th November 2007). It was a, that dreaded word, "reworking" of the second book of the Old Testament, and like many Channel 4 Films, and films with a religious/Biblical dimension, it was both interesting and frustrating at the same time. The director, Penny Woolcock , has a history of making films in avant garde ways, and are usually imbued with a strong sense of social conscience, from her first film When the Dog Bites to Shakespeare on the Estate and the drama trilogy Tina Goes Shopping, Tina Takes a Break and the controversial 2006 release, Mischief Night. She often uses "real" people rather than actors (as a former actor I am not sure about that contrast!), and that was very much the case here, with a number of the set pieces being filmed at a special Exodus Day Festival in Margate, a somewhat run-down seaside resort on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. The broad gist of the plot is th...