Please Note
Video Reviews are published three times a year: January / February, March / April, and September / October. | |
Servant or Sucker? Wise and Compassionate Ways to Help the Poor
One DVD plus a study guide (Word or PDF compatible) and bonus material. $39.95. (2009); EcuFilm, United Methodist Communications, 810 12th Ave., P.O. Box 320, Nashville, TN 37202-0320; phone: (888) 346-3862; www.ecufilm.org.
The title of this DVD, Servant or Sucker? bluntly captures the dilemma virtually all congregations face as they strive to understand and care for the poor, hungry, and homeless.
The subtitle Wise and Compassionate Ways to Help the Poor points to how this DVD provides practical, effective strategies and methods to help congregations become more effective servants to neighbors in need — without being played for suckers.
The leader in this task, the Rev. Beth Lindsey Templeton, Presbyterian Church USA, shares her 24 years of experience as the director of United Ministries in Greenville, South Carolina, and more recently as head of "Our Eyes Were Opened," an outreach program to the poor.
Clearly, Templeton has walked the walk on the streets, homes, shelters, and churches. Her insightful analysis and vision for effective caring carry the marks of years of hard lessons learned and compassionate successes achieved.
Templeton guides us on video visits to the homes and neighborhoods of the poor and homeless, as well as the church basements and shelters. Through interviews with caregivers and the needy, Servant or Sucker lets us hear the voices and put faces to stories and statistics of poverty and hunger. But we also see the struggles of those trying to help.
Topics on the DVD include:
The dilemma: How do we hear the call to help the poor? How do we respond compassionately yet effectively?
Why do people beg?
An individual's response
Making compassionate decisions
Churches' and organizations' response
It would have been interesting to hear more about how churches can work together, through local ministerial associations or ecumenical efforts, to better serve those in need. But that is a small quibble.
Overall, Servant or Sucker is an excellent, and very cost-effective, resource for improving the effectiveness and compassion of any congregation's outreach ministry to the poor. The PDF materials provided on the DVD offer a wide range of activities in support of the video lessons, such as biblical references, quizzes, and discussion starters.
First Light: Jesus and the Kingdom of God
Two-disc DVD, 240 minutes (2009) plus downloadable/printable leader and participant guides. $295; includes one-year license for use of downloadable guides, annual license renewals for the guides: $50; Living the Questions; e-mail: info@livingthequestions.com; phone: (877) 838-9843; Web site: www.livingthequestions.com.
Shot on location throughout Galilee and Jerusalem, First Light is a challenging, in-depth exploration of Jesus and the kingdom of God. Presented by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, this 12-session video and Internet-based study offers a searching look at questions of eschatology, justice, and the meaning of the kingdom not only in Jesus' time but also for us today.
According to Crossan, the First Light participant reader guide, which he authored, "is all I have to say about Jesus after half a century of study — in succinct summary." And indeed, not only in the reader guide, but also in the video lectures and commentary from Crossan and Borg, there is plenty of meat for thought and discussion, however much you may agree, or not, with their views.
The visual component of First Light came as a very pleasant surprise. Crisply shot video of places, excavations, and art not only illustrates specific subject matter, but over the course of the entire study, also creates a vivid sense of the physical and geographic "context" of Jesus. The context, for Borg and Crossan, plays a key role in their discussion.
For example, in the lesson entitled the "Lake as the World," the gorgeous video of Galilee enhances and adds a breathtaking dimension to the session's themes.
Each DVD contains six teaching sessions. The first DVD begins with the matrix of religious, sociopolitical, and even geographical contexts that provided the environment into which the advent of Christ occurred.
The second DVD looks at the concept (and claim) of Jesus as Lord, moves through the events of Jesus' ministry, Holy Week and the resurrection, concluding with reflections on the application of the preceding sessions to contemporary America.
First Light is rich not only in historical and theological content, but visually as well.
Short Takes
AmericanEast
One-disc DVD, 111 minutes (2007) rated R (for language, some sexual references, and brief drug use). $26.98. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
www.foxhome.com.
Much more than a 21st century take on immigrant life in the United States,
AmericanEast delves deeply into issues such as conflicting faiths, the struggles and tensions of being Muslim in urban America, and larger issues of racism and prejudice — all in the context of post-9/11 terrorism and political upheaval.
The film features many engaging characters portrayed by an excellent cast including Sayed Badreya (
Iron Man), Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub (
Monk), and Kais Nashif (
The Nativity Story). While the R rating may make use in a church setting problematic,
AmericanEast offers an enlightening look at the humanity behind the headlines that, in the end, is also a vision of hope.
Geoffrey Scott, Lutheran Partners
video review editor, is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Menomonie, Wisconsin.
This article appeared in the September / October 2009 issue of Lutheran Partners (vol. 25, no. 5).