Sunday, July 12, 2009
earth whisperers as film church
Earth Whisperers/Papatuanuku is a new movie by Kiwi Kathleen Gallagher, currently showing in selected cinemas around New Zealand. It’s beautifully shot and profiles 10 Kiwi “green” saints. I’ve just sent my monthly Touchstone film review off. My main criticism is that all the saints profiled are “bush” bound”, all living the rural idyll. In contrast the reality is that most humans are urban dwellers. So I wish they had interviewed a few suburban community garden owners, or teachers in local schools pursuing enviro-awards.
In the review, I suggest that Earth Whisperers/Papatuanuku would make a great “film-church” night. It’s available on DVD from the director. All you then need is a spare night, a set of couches, some candle lit tables, a stack of recycled paper on which to print invitations and some well-chosen discussion starter questions.
Here are four questions for starters:
1. Of the ten people interviewed, who did you feel most drawn to?
2. In what ways has the green movement changed your attitudes and behaviours, whether positively or negatively?
3. One way to describe these ten people is as contemporary Kiwi “environmental” saints. Are there any Bible characters, or people in Christian history, that you consider could also be “environmental” saints?
4. Francis of Assissi famously wrote in The Canticle of Creation: “Praise be to You, my Lord, for our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and keeps us.” How practically, on a regular basis, might we as humans pay attention to the whispers of the earth in ways that might sustain and keep us?
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