Friday, October 30, 2009

Together - 36 Parables Monthly Newsletter - 10/30/09

Dear Friends,

This month I finished reading John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Though the story deals with the migration of Okies to the west coast during the first great depression, I couldn’t help but see the obvious parallels to the present. The book revolves around the journey of the Joad family from Oklahoma to Southern California after they are forced from their forty acres because they were unable to pay their mortgage. Sound like anyone you may know or be related to right now? As job losses and foreclosures continue people are once again on the move and willing to work for much less then they would have even 12 months ago.

The book ends with the unforgettable image of a young woman literally nursing a starving man at her breast. Her baby died during labor, the man is dying from a parasite, there is no more food, and so his only chance of survival is milk from the mourning mother of a stillborn child. John Steinbeck’s classic challenges everyone who reads it to care for others even when they're the one who is down and out; whether you're bankrupt, grieving, have no place to lay your head, or all of the above. Like the Joad family many of us don’t know what is going on; whether this is a V or W shaped recession, an epidemic or pandemic, or how we’re going to pay for any of it no matter how everything shakes down. The point of The Grapes of Wrath is that we’re in it together. For better or worse, we can’t ever forget that. We’re in it together.

That’s why I’m offering you a sneak preview of 36 Parables' upcoming short film Together. Based on the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), Together will be available February 2010 on the 36 Parables Lime DVD.

To watch a Sneak Preview of Together:
1) Follow this link (http://vimeo.com/7334649)
2) Enter the password: 36sneakpreview

Whether your neighbor, brother or sister, mother or father, boss, staff, or volunteers are Wheat or Weeds in your life right now… remember… we’re in it together. Christ’s call to love resonates like thunder through the ages… if you can hear it, you can do it. Together.

Three ways you can help "set the oppressed free" today.
(Isaiah 58:6-11):

  • Higher M-Pact - Offering Hope to High Risk Urban Youth
    http://www.highermpact.org/
  • Care Net - With the support of Care Net and its network of pregnancy centers, people facing unplanned pregnancies are choosing life and hope everyday.
    http://www.care-net.org/
  • Rapha House - Rapha House exists to love, rescue and heal children who have been rescued out of slavery and sexual exploitation.
    http://www.raphahouse.org/

36 Parables News and Reviews:

Events:

Content & Resources:

Illuminating Understanding,

The Cinematographer
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com

posted by 36 Parables at Friday, October 30, 2009 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

posted by 36 Parables at Tuesday, October 27, 2009 0 Comments

Monday, October 26, 2009

Students, the Student Ministry at First Baptist Church of Geneva IL, uses 36 Parables to Illuminate Understanding:
http://www.fbcgstudent.com/parables-2/

posted by 36 Parables at Monday, October 26, 2009 0 Comments

Sunday, October 11, 2009

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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

What Albert Tate has to say about 36 Parables:

Albert Tate is the Intergenerational Pastor at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, CA.

posted by 36 Parables at Tuesday, October 06, 2009 0 Comments

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Victims - 36 Parables Monthly Newsletter - 09/30/09

Dear Friends,

Victim. Definition: one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent. That definition includes everyone who has ever lived on the planet Earth. We’re all victims. Some people have no trouble admitting this. Life has been hard on them and they can’t see any way things could have worked out differently. To others those who are comfortable being victims appear complicit in staying down and out. The polarity of those who admit to being victims and those who detest them have loaded the phrase “victim mentality” with so much cultural, socio-economic, gender, or racial baggage it’s best to never describe some one that way who is actually standing in the room with you.

The idea that we’re all victims, whether we want to admit it or not, comes with the territory of living in a world where others can “do unto us however they want”, whether we like it not. A few weeks ago I noticed this theme in every single one of the parables our films are based on. The characters inside these stories are all victims, harmed as a result of a particular force or agent. Most often the inciting incident in each parable we have adapted is something harmful; unfair judgments, inconvenient invitations, poor job performance, an unexpected late night visitor, or even getting mugged. The rest of the parable unfolds along the lines of the main characters’ response to their given circumstance, whether it is of their making or not.

However, some of the parables seem devoid of inherent conflict, and thus you may be hard pressed to find a victim in them. One such parable is the Parable of the Mustard Seed. The Lime DVD(available Feb. 2010) includes a short film called “Charlie” based on this parable. The original parable recounts a relatively benign chain of events, a seed that is planted and grows into a tree. Though the sequence of events in this parable could appear completely automatic at first glance, if you take a harder look you will see the seed is a victim. It did not choose where it would be planted, and perhaps it is emotionally scarred from being forced to leave mom and dad. Then there are the inevitable winters, the droughts and parasites, and potentially a gardener who needs to do some pruning.

The parables of Jesus are often referred to as stories about everyday people and events told in such a way to make a Heavenly point. When you look at the parables with a victim mentality you see they are stories about everyday people and events told in such a way to make a point about everyday people and events. If you haven't been already, you will be a victim at some point in your life. Everyone is a victim. The message of the parables is simply this, how will you respond when the victim is you?

Isaiah 58:6-10 calls us all to help out the victims of this world. Here are two organizations that exist to help those who cannot help themselves, at risk urban youth and the unborn.

Higher M-Pact - Offering Hope to High Risk Urban Youth
http://www.highermpact.org/

Care Net - With the support of Care Net and its network of pregnancy centers, people facing unplanned pregnancies are choosing life and hope everyday.
http://www.care-net.org/

NEWS:

What Hayley Neal Has to Say about 36 Parables
http://withoutashepherd.com/2009/09/05/creative-gospel-36-parables/

What Cory Edwards Has to Say about 36 Parables
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-cory-edwards-has-to-say-about-36.html

Encounter Church Illuminates Understanding with 36 Parables in Helena, Montana
http://www.encounterhelena.org/2009/08/36-parables-discussion-on-august-25.html

Pastor Jon McClarnon Illuminates Understanding with 36 Parables in Garner, North Carolina
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/07/pastor-jon-mcclarnon-illuminates-truth.html

CONTENT/RESOURCES:

36 Parables Bundle at YS.com
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/08/36-parabels-bundle-at-ys.html

Leading Pre-Teens: A Growing Ministry Guide by Patrick Snow
http://secure.ciy.com/store/ps-119-7-leading-preteens-a-growing-ministry-guide.aspx

Christ in Youth - Believe - Junior High Event
http://www.ciy.com/believe/

One Time Blind - Mini Movies
http://onetimeblind.org/resources.html

MyCatholicVoice.com - Connect. Explore. Share.
http://www.mycatholicvoice.com/

Family Drive - Protect, Preserve, and Share your Family's Precious Memories
https://secure.familydrive.com/cartV2/

StewartHRedwine.com - writing and videos - designed by Able Parris
http://stewarthredwine.com/

Illuminating Understanding,

The Cinematographer
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com

posted by 36 Parables at Thursday, October 01, 2009 0 Comments

Monday, August 31, 2009

Heroes - 36 Parables Monthly Newsletter - 08/31/09

Dear Friends,

It must have been January last year, because when I pulled up to the church around 6:00 AM the air was cold enough to wake up my coffee. That morning the men’s group watched one video from a series discussing manhood. I felt well prepared for the course because the month or two before I had seen 3:10 to Yuma, I Am Legend, and Children of Men . The self-sacrificing heroes in these films had me ready to lay down my life for a greater cause. Despite the fact all three of these films end with the hero sacrificing his life in an attempt to save others, the speaker on the DVD denounced Hollywood for destroying the male role model by portraying men as either little more than sex obsessed apes or feminized weaklings. Apparently he hadn’t been to a movie theater in a while. I checked the DVD and found it was outdated by at least a couple years. Still, it seemed this guy must have been living under a rock since 9/11.

Like me, I am sure you have grown accustomed to hearing from pulpits, on blogs, or in conversation how self-indulgent, morally lax, and feminized the males in America are. On a personal note, this bothers me because I am none of those things and neither are many of the men I know, both Christian and non-Christian. The standard attack goes something like this; Hollywood is playing a major role(and potentially a pre-mediated one) in the destruction of American culture by omiting or destorting male role models in films. And yet this summer I witnessed Marcus Wright(played by Sam Worthington) in Terminator Salvation and George Kirk(played by Chris Hemsworth) in Star Trek both willingly give up their lives in order to save others. Not only that, up to the point of their sacrifice they had acted with dignity and compassion.

The stories a culture tells reveals volumes about the people who live in it. It is clear the people of America are hungry for heroes. Don't be trapped in the Hollywood hatred rhetoric any longer. I can't think of one time, and correct me if I am wrong, that Jesus Christ ever criticized the theater? In fact he quoted it when he confronted Paul on the road to Damascus. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” was a line from the Greek theater.

The five films I have mentioned in this newsletter could easily be used to discuss Christ's heroic sacrific for all mankind. After any of these films just start a discussion around John 15:13, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends". If you stop listening to the criticism long enough to watch, you'll see Hollywood is putting Christ in the mainstream.

P.S.

News:

What Cory Edwards Has to Say about 36 Parables
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-cory-edwards-has-to-say-about-36.html

Encounter Church Illuminates Understanding with 36 Parables in Helena, Montana
http://www.encounterhelena.org/2009/08/36-parables-discussion-on-august-25.html

Pastor Jon McClarnon illuminates understanding with 36 Parables in Garner, North Carolina
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/07/pastor-jon-mcclarnon-illuminates-truth.html

StewartHRedwine.com - writing and videos - designed by Able Parris
http://stewarthredwine.com/

Content:

36 Parables Bundle at YS.com
http://36parables.blogspot.com/2009/08/36-parabels-bundle-at-ys.html

Leading Pre-Teens: A Growing Ministry Guide by Patrick Snow
http://secure.ciy.com/store/ps-119-7-leading-preteens-a-growing-ministry-guide.aspx

Christ in Youth - Superstart - Pre-Teen Event
http://www.ciy.com/superstart/tour-info/

One Time Blind - Mini Movies
http://onetimeblind.org/resources.html

MyCatholicVoice.com - Connect. Explore. Share.
http://www.mycatholicvoice.com/

Care Net - Changing Hearts, Saving Lives
http://www.care-net.org/

Family Drive - Protect, Preserve, and Share your Family's Precious Memories
https://secure.familydrive.com/cartV2/

Illuminating Understanding,

The Cinematographer
Stewart H. Redwine
C: 310-770-0448
E: sredwine@36parables.com

posted by 36 Parables at Monday, August 31, 2009 0 Comments