Nightcrawler: Here’s Why This Neo-Noir Thriller Is So Creepy

March 10, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Nightcrawler is a creepy, creepy movie. Not because its content is terribly over-the-top. It’s actually not. There is your requisite strong language, but there’s no onscreen sex, and the violence is handled pretty appropriately for a film about sensationalizing violence. What’s creepy about the film is the cold lack of humanity couched in corporate, TED-talkish lingo (the main character fancies himself a self-taught corporate type). What’s creepy about the film is that in two key characters, we have a sense... Read more

This Thursday at 2 PM EST, Join Scot McKnight, Me, and Others for a Live Chat

March 9, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Scot McKnight is a fellow Patheos Evangelical blogger over at Jesus Creed. While I’ve not read everything he’s written, I’ve been impressed with his grace, knowledge of Church history, and faithfulness to the Bible. His openness to more liturgical, traditional expressions of the Christian faith is a gift as well. I think he has been and will continue to be an important church leader for our time. That’s why I’m very excited to join Scot McKnight, fellow blogger Ben Corey,... Read more

Walking with Jesus through Lent, Pt.3: Jesus Stands against the Commodification of Religion

March 9, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Thanks for joining me for another installment of “Walking with Jesus through Lent.” During this season of the church year, comprised of the roughly forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, Christians focus on the themes of repentance, mortality, and the need for salvation. Many Christians fast from certain pleasures during this time in order to demonstrate repentance or grow in faith. For Lutherans, this practice is not mandated but may be a helpful one for certain believers. To... Read more

Walking with Jesus through Lent: Take Up Your Cross and Follow

February 28, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Julianne Moore’s Short But Profound Statement at the Oscars

February 23, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

In the midst of all the film industry self-aggrandizing and back-slapping, you may have missed a gentle but powerful word spoken from the winner’s podium at last night’s Oscars. This word came from Julianne Moore, winner of the Best Actress category for a film about a sufferer of early-onset Alzheimer’s. In her acceptance speech, she gave just a few sentences that I think beautifully sum up one of the great purposes film can accomplish for humanity. So many people with... Read more

Walking with Jesus Through Lent, Pt. 1: Baptism, Temptation, and Ministry of Good News

February 21, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

The season of Lent is comprised of the roughly forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Lent is focused on the themes of repentance, mortality, and the need for salvation. Many Christians fast from certain pleasures during this time in order to demonstrate repentance or grow in faith. For Lutherans, this practice is not mandated but may be a helpful one for certain believers. Lent can also be a wonderful time of connection to the historical and global church.... Read more

The Overnighters: A Documentary about the Bakken Oil Fields, a Lutheran Pastor, Sin, and Service

February 18, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

The Overnighters (2014) is writer/director Jesse Moss’s documentary film, centered around the men who seek a fresh start in the Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota–and the pastor (Jay Reinke) who tries to welcome them. This film exemplifies what engagement with faith in film can be–honest, messy, conflicted, and human. As The Overnighters begins, we are given a hint that Reinke is far more complicated mere outward appearances may suggest. Through his own narration, he hints to us that... Read more

The Good News of Ash Wednesday

February 18, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Today marks the beginning of Lent in the liturgical calendar that my church and many others follow. I would like to invite each of my readers to visit my old website and read a reflection that I wrote about Ash Wednesday last year. Ash Wednesday can be a somewhat grim day in the church calendar, but knowing God as Creator can also open it up as a profoundly hopeful day. Here is my post. ——————- Community discussion guidelines: Because this... Read more

Samuel James on Comments on the Internet

February 14, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

I’d like to invite my readers to go read an insightful post by my colleague, Samuel James, over at Samuel’s Notebook. He recently disabled his comments section and reflects on whether it is possible to cultivate healthy conversation in the comments section of websites. (He concludes, probably not, although he allows that Facebook and Twitter can sometimes yield healthier conversations.) I think here at my site, we have all worked hard to maintain a healthy community of discussion. Certainly, there... Read more

Kernels of Wisdom from Ken Wytsma in The Grand Paradox

February 12, 2015 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Our current selection for Patheos Book Club is Ken Wytsma’s The Grand Paradox: The Messiness of Life, the Mystery of God, and the Necessity of Faith. Wytsma’s book reads somewhat like a collection of sermons, and toward the end I found myself wondering if the loose arrangement of topics in the book might be explained by each chapter being originally an oral address which was then adapted into a book. Nonetheless, if there is a common thread that holds together... Read more