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MUSIC
TRAA NEWS
13th June, 2013
CAM WANT
This week, Jade Diary’s Cold Hearted gets a work-over, and a little know US worship leader works with some of the biggest names in Christian and pop music on his latest worship project.
If you’re into big dance music, songs driven by melody, funk and “larger than life beats”, then get ready for Will Darling’s remix of Jade Diary’s song Cold Hearted.
Darling is a rising figure in the international electronic dance music community from the UK who’s worked with Kings Of Leon.
Jade Diary is a young singer/songwriter from Perth who’s begun generating significant interest on Australian Christian radio.
American hip-hop/rap artist Lecrae is one of a handful of Christian musicians generating mainstream success. What’s unusual is that Lecrae is doing this with overt Christian lyrics. He’s not holding back just for popularity. On Walk With Me he raps: "Ah, I'm on a mission, they probably think I'm missing some screws, but it's these three nails that keep me driven. If God ain't with me I know that I'm gonna fail..."
What, if you could, would you say to your future self? FutureMe gives you the chance to do so by presenting the opportunity to write a letter to yourself which can be delivered to your selected email address at a nominated date in the next 50 years (although most letters we saw are to be delivered within the next few years). You can choose to make the letter either private or public (while this means it will be available for anyone visiting the site to see, it will be anonymous).
DAVID ADAMS looks at a website that gives a future glimpse of your past... |
more... |
One of my favourite and most inspiring places in the world is Patmos. It is a small and beautiful Greek Island and was lovely to visit on holiday. But the highlight was to see the cave where John the Apostle was said to have received his Revelation, which he transcribed through a scribe and which became the final book in the Bible. It helped the Bible come alive for me, and inspired me as a writer to be receptive to “what the Spirit is saying to the churches”.
Ben Chenoweth is passionate about helping his readers get in touch with the Bible and its original writers and context. His latest book The Ephesus Scroll is an entertaining historical novel about a scroll of Revelation. It alternates from the world of the early church to the contemporary church, from persecution in Asia Minor to a growing church in modern-day post-communist Russia. So the book takes the reader on a journey following the scroll from Patmos to Ephesus and it being read in the seven churches of Asia Minor.
DARREN CRONSHAW finds Ben Chenoweth's novel, The Ephesus Scroll, an entertaining and informative read... |
more... |
ISAIAH'S MESSAGE FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH TODAY
Economic distress. Rapid population urbanisation. Declining religious freedom and ongoing religious persecution. In the introduction to her new book Turn Back the Battle, Elizabeth Kendal - an experienced religious freedom analyst and advocate of prayer for the persecuted church who formerly worked for the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission - paints a bleak picture of today’s world. A picture which, in many ways, is similar to that faced by the Israelites in the days of the prophet Isaiah.
But, drawing on the lessons of Isaiah, Kendal goes on to look at how today’s world can be changed and how, just as God intervened almost 3,000 years ago when Judah was under threat, He can do so again.
In her detailed and insightful study of the Book of Isaiah, Kendal explains how the message of the Biblical prophet is as relevant today as it was on the day it was written. Key to this message is the question of who the church – and Christians as individuals - will trust: God or the world?
DAVID ADAMS looks at Elizabeth Kendal's Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today... |
more... |
ABRAMS' STAR TREK REMAKE (PART II) CONTINUES TO PLEASE
After director JJ Abrams revived Star Trek with the 2009 reboot, new life was given to the franchise that has been around in various films, TV series as well as numerous novels, comics and videogames.
With so much rich material to draw from, Abrams could’ve taken the film anywhere. It was always going to be a difficult task, with the previous 10 films that ran from 1979 to 2002 fondly remembered (well, most of them), and fans of the series being both loyal and vocal. However, Abrams and his talented team managed to inject a renewed sense of zeal to the adventures of the starship Enterprise.
Now, four years later, comes the sequel with the original cast. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the rest of the usual team have to match wits and fists with John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a former Starfleet officer now turned rogue with talk of vengeance on his mind, and impressive fighting skills at his command.
KRIS BATHER takes a look at the latest Star Trek film, Star Trek Into Darkness... |
more...|
DVD: OSCAR ROMERO'S STORY AS CONFRONTING AS EVER
First released in 1989, Romero has lost none of its power in this DVD version.
Following the story of El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero, it starts shortly before the bookish priest’s elevation to the archbishopric in 1977 – a matter which was greeted with some dismay by many in El Salvador looking for reforms and as a safe bet by those wanting to maintain the comfortable relationship between church and state – and follows events up until his assassination in 1980.
Raul Julia plays Romero, whose hitherto on-confrontation ways change forever when his friend and fellow priest, Rutilio Grande (Richard Jordan), was himself assassinated only a couple of weeks after Romero took up his new office.
DAVID ADAMS revisits Romero, a classic now available on DVD... |
more...|
Playing as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the two hour family-friendly 'gala performance' at the Melbourne City Conference Centre in Swanston Street features acts all brave enough to meet the challenge of being funny without resorting to bad language or vulgarity. And while the acts don't all have you holding your sides, it all makes for an entertaining evening. Hosted by Mike Klimczak (an act in his own right), the show features Comedy Festival regular Dave O'Neil, and comedian and ventriloquist Sarah Jones, as well as harmonica-playing Michael Connell, Mark Pengilly (who performed a clever act based around Time magazine), and country boy Beau Stegmann.
DAVID ADAMS on Squeaky Clean Comedy, running at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival... |
more... |
COMICS: A CHILD IS BORN "BRIMS WITH LIFE AND BEAUTY" IN A SUMPTUOUS RETELLING OF THE NATIVITY
Writer/artist Billy Tucci is known throughout the comics industry for his success with his own creation Shi, as well as more recent work including 2008’s Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion. That mini-series was inspired by an actual World War II event and cemented Tucci’s reputation as a creator who does his research, and a lot of it. That same focus continues with this new 32 page comic.
Based on the accounts of Matthew and Luke about Christ’s birth, A Child is Born is an unabashed love letter to Jesus, and comes from newly formed publisher Apostle Arts.
Based on historical accuracy, everything here looks like it should, from lambs to Jerusalem’s Holy Temple and best of all, the people including the demure beauty of Mary to Herod’s jealous anger. Tucci’s use of models and props has paid off, but the pictures here never look static or devoid of life and Tucci’s interpretation of the angelic messengers who visit Mary, Joseph and the three gift giving travellers is suitably awe inspiring.
KRIS BATHER on a timely release for Christmas... |
more... |
We've been busy compiling a list the 10 songs Sight readers would take with them if they were stuck on a desert island. The list is being compiled based on the number of votes received for each song. Our initial top five songs are:
1. Offering: Third Day
2. Amazing Grace: Various
3. What a Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong
4. Secret Garden: Bruce Springsteen
5. Shackles (Praise You): Mary Mary
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
IT'S NOT TO LATE TO VOTE!
To vote for your favorite songs (and only one entry per person please!), send your list of 10 songs (title and artist) to editor@sightmagazine.com.au marked '10 songs'. We'll be updating the list as the votes come in and releaseing the second part of our top
10 shortly.
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THEY SAID IT
"The President has been clear that the use of chemical weapons - or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups - is a red line for the United States...Our intelligence community now has a high confidence assessment that chemical weapons have been used on a small scale by the Assad regime in Syria."
- Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, in a statement made on 13th June, 2013, concerning the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Mr Rhodes went on to say as a result, the President had "augmented the provision of non-lethal assistance to the civilian opposition, and also authorized the expansion of our assistance to the Supreme Military Council (SMC)" (as quoted in astatement on www.whitehouse.gov on 13th June, 2013). For more of They Said It, follow the link... | more... |
THIS WEEK ON THE WEB
12th June, 2013
In a new video posted on his website, Martin Johnson talks to director Rob Draper - currently working at Cinecitta Studios in Rome - about his upcoming film Nicaea. You can see the film here...
For previous 'This week on the web'... | more... |
Sight now has a Pinterest page where you can see some of our images. To see it, head here...
MUSINGS
SORRY...
18th June, 2013
PAUL CLARK
There is a word that is incredibly powerful. A word that is essential for peace between nations, and harmonious marriages. But it’s a word we are reluctant to use. Why are we scared of sorry?
Sorry is risky. It makes one vulnerable. It involves swallowing pride and humbling oneself for the sake of another. But that is precisely why saying sorry is so powerful.
Sorry opens the door to reconciliation.
If sorry is met with calls for retribution, then there’s still more to be done before healing can begin.
Musings is a regularly updated, column featuring short snippets reflecting on daily life from a Christian perspective...|
more...
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"WORLD'S OLDEST COMPLETE TORAH" FOUND IN ITALY...
The world's oldest complete Torah has been found in an Italian university with experts reporting it could be as old as 12th century.
The soft sheepskin scroll, which has found in the archives at the University of Bologna - said to be the world's oldest university, was originally believed to have dated from the 17th century.
But when examining the scroll earlier this year, Mauro Perani, professor of Hebrew in the university's Department of Cultural Heritage, found that the text did not contain changes that were introduced in the 12th century.
Well, it's WAY past Easter...and way past time for me to write again.
We have managed a lovely gradual fall into cooler weather, with the days holding their warm centre a lot later into the year than normal, but the cool, dark-edged grey palette is here now and the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness has massaged us officially into winter.
I'm having an unusual year thus far. It's so far outside what I anticipated that I fairly regularly have to stop and recalibrate. It almost feels like I'm sailing in waters I haven't any experience of and I have to take a new sounding every few days to keep track of things.
ANN
WOJCZUK's blog about life, the universe and possibly everything...|
more... |
INSECTS ON THE MENU?; A 'SPACE ODDITY'; BACK FROM THE DEAD; AND, A FOUR-YEAR-OLD MAYOR...
Insects already form part of the diet of an estimated two billion people but they may well be on even more menus in the future as experts look to alternative means of feeding people. The Food and Agriculture Organisation says that insects (and there are about a million known species) could provide a "readily available source of nutritious and protein-rich food".
DAVID
ADAMS writes about the odder side of life...|
more... |
THOUSANDS OF EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS JAM STREETS FOR 'HOLY FIRE' CEREMONY... While Roman Catholics and Protestants in Israel and across the world celebrated Easter Sunday on 31st March this year, for hundreds of millions of Eastern Orthodox in Russia, Ukraine, Greece, the Holy Land and elsewhere the highlight of Easter 2013 came on Saturday, 4th May, when tens of thousands of the faithful packed Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher to witness the Holy Fire ceremony marking the resurrection of the Christian messiah.
Over the last year or so I've been realising how everything in life is related to our relationships, whether we realise it or not. All of our interactions are either constructive or destructive for our relating. That's why life is so difficult. I thought of saying during a sermon once that life is easy until you have to relate to someone! It is for this reason that doing our best to get our relationships to work is the most important thing we can do with our lives.
NILS VON KALM'S blog on faith, life and how it all might fit together...|
more... |
OUT OF AFRICA: TAKING YOUR BLESSINGS FOR GRANTED...
I have been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I was living in Australia. Sadly much of that blessing was in a sense ‘lost on me’ because I didn’t see it for what it was. The longer I live here the more I realise the day-to-day difficulties people face in the majority of the world. I am amazed that people are able to keep their hope when so many things seem so difficult.
Things I have always taken for granted - access to water, nutritious food and good medical assistance - are, at times, just not available here. I am horrified at the number of times people come back from our local medical clinic saying that there is no medicine or even occasionally no doctor.
LENA JOHNSTONE's blog about life in Malawi, Africa, where she works with the Mphatso Children's Foundation...|
more... |
THE STOREROOM: HOW TO ABOLISH SLAVERY? GUEST POST BY THE APOSTLE PAUL... From Paul a servant of Christ Jesus, and Richard his brother.
So, as I wrote, my hope was that in the homes of the Church in Ephesus the relationships between slaves and masters would be transformed.
Also, I left Timothy in Ephesus and wrote this to him: “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me.”
Emphasis is mine. Well, actually, the whole thing is mine.
RICHARD THOMAS' sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful 'storeroom' of ideas...|
more... |
FOR
SIGHT'S BLOG LINKS, HEAD TO OUR BLOGSPOT PAGE...
This week, Jade Diary’s Cold Hearted gets a work-over, and a little know US worship leader works with some of the biggest names in Christian and pop music on his latest worship project.
American hip-hop/rap artist Lecrae is one of a handful of Christian musicians generating mainstream success. What’s unusual is that Lecrae is doing this with overt Christian lyrics. He’s not holding back just for popularity. On Walk With Me he raps: "Ah, I'm on a mission, they probably think I'm missing some screws, but it's these three nails that keep me driven. If God ain't with me I know that I'm gonna fail..."
What, if you could, would you say to your future self? FutureMe gives you the chance to do so by presenting the opportunity to write a letter to yourself which can be delivered to your selected email address at a nominated date in the next 50 years (although most letters we saw are to be delivered within the next few years). You can choose to make the letter either private or public (while this means it will be available for anyone visiting the site to see, it will be anonymous). 
One of my favourite and most inspiring places in the world is Patmos. It is a small and beautiful Greek Island and was lovely to visit on holiday. But the highlight was to see the cave where John the Apostle was said to have received his Revelation, which he transcribed through a scribe and which became the final book in the Bible. It helped the Bible come alive for me, and inspired me as a writer to be receptive to “what the Spirit is saying to the churches”. 
Economic distress. Rapid population urbanisation. Declining religious freedom and ongoing religious persecution. In the introduction to her new book Turn Back the Battle, Elizabeth Kendal - an experienced religious freedom analyst and advocate of prayer for the persecuted church who formerly worked for the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission - paints a bleak picture of today’s world. A picture which, in many ways, is similar to that faced by the Israelites in the days of the prophet Isaiah.
After director JJ Abrams revived Star Trek with the 2009 reboot, new life was given to the franchise that has been around in various films, TV series as well as numerous novels, comics and videogames.
Playing as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the two hour family-friendly 'gala performance' at the Melbourne City Conference Centre in Swanston Street features acts all brave enough to meet the challenge of being funny without resorting to bad language or vulgarity. And while the acts don't all have you holding your sides, it all makes for an entertaining evening. Hosted by Mike Klimczak (an act in his own right), the show features Comedy Festival regular Dave O'Neil, and comedian and ventriloquist Sarah Jones, as well as harmonica-playing Michael Connell, Mark Pengilly (who performed a clever act based around Time magazine), and country boy Beau Stegmann. 
Writer/artist Billy Tucci is known throughout the comics industry for his success with his own creation Shi, as well as more recent work including 2008’s Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion. That mini-series was inspired by an actual World War II event and cemented Tucci’s reputation as a creator who does his research, and a lot of it. That same focus continues with this new 32 page comic.
THOUSANDS OF EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS JAM STREETS FOR 'HOLY FIRE' CEREMONY...