Rev Gal Pal Friday Five - Cultural Questions

I haven't played the Friday Five in months, but here are today's answers to the question: what unusual engagements with popular culture have helped/challenged you on your spiritual journey?

Book: This is a tough one. I LOVE books. And some of the most significant ones are in that catagory of sort of spiritual. One that really made me think and laugh was Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I read it while on retreat at Holden Village. It's irreverent and strange and really funny. But it did make me think about issues of culture, faith and ecumenism.

Piece of Music: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen. His covers of some of the old spiritual songs have really warmed my heart over the last several months.

Artwork: I have a copy of a painting in my living room that I bought in Geneva over twenty years ago. It is of a rabbi and a Hebrew student. It was painted by Mane-Katz and it is called The Rabbi. The copy of it here is a little darker than the true piece, but you get the idea. The framed print has hung in every home I've lived in since I finished seminary. I just love it.

Film: Movies are a wonderful thing. I think there are several that have informed my faith. Babette's Feast, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Last Temptation of Christ are three oldies. Recently I watched I am David on the Independent Film Channel. IMDB.com has this to say about it.

I Am David is adapted from Anne Holm's internationally acclaimed novel North to Freedom. It is the story of a 12-year-old boy, David, who escapes a Communist concentration camp with little more than a compass, a sealed letter, a loaf of bread, and instructions to carry the letter to Copenhagen, Denmark. David is thrust into the free world for the first time in his young life as he travels across Europe. It is a spiritual voyage of discovery, where David slowly loses his instinctual mistrust of humanity and begins to smile, share, trust and ultimately, love. I Am David addresses the cruelties, politics, and suffering of warfare while celebrating the resilience of youth and the unbreakable spirit of a child.

It's a hauntingly beautiful film that came out in 2003. Joan Plowright and James Caviezel are two of the players. If you see it in the listings, watch it!