‘Sabbath’ debuts this week
COVER STORY—On June 1, filmmaker Martin Doblmeier is debuting his two-hour invitation to Sabbath on public television—at a time when millions of us are overwhelmed with pandemic anxiety, loss of loved ones and fears about the future of our country and our planet’s resources. We all wonder if we’re running out of time.
“Time is our only non-renewable resource,” J. Dana Trent—a pastor, scholar and author—tells us early in this new documentary. Because the film is debuting on public TV stations nationwide starting on June 1, Dana and Martin talked with ReadTheSpirit in a Zoom interview this week.
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Holidays & Milestones
Memorial Day
Howard Brown on Memorial Day Memories:
How do our memories shape our lives today?
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Resources for a Memorable Weekend
HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS COLUMNIST STEPHANIE FENTON reports on the many ways families are celebrating this annual milestone, including helpful links to more than 200 recipes and ideas for family activities this holiday weekend.
In her column, Stephanie Fenton also mentions Pulitzer-Prize-winning Yale Historian David Blight, who has shared his research into the roots of American Memorial Day via PBS documentaries, books and magazines, rewriting our national memories of this observance to honor the courageous former slaves who first decided to honor our Civil War dead. We originally published this story in 2022, and thousands of readers continue to re-read this account of Blight’s work.
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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com
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Please click on this image to read Ed McNulty’s review of the film ‘The Master Gardener.’
Faith & Film
Click on this image to learn about the latest issue of Visual Parables Journal, which includes reviews and discussion guides for many current films.
ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.
Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:
- THE MASTER GARDENER—Ed writes, “Knowing that this is a Paul Schrader movie, we expect that, as in his previous films such as First Reformed, redemption will be a major theme in the story. But it will not come with the simplicity found in a faith-based film, but with far darker overtones and twisted, complicated means.”
- AIR—(Streaming) “In director Ben Afleck’s fifth film, the race is a heated one—a commercial race between three sneaker shoe companies: Converse, Adidas, and Nike.”
- LET ME HAVE MY SON—(In theaters) “Writer/director Cristobal Kruson’s newest film is a fictionalized story of his own spiritual journey that centers on his son’s descent into mental illness.”
- ON A WING AND A PRAYER—(Streaming on Amazon) “Sean McNamara’s film is based on a true story in which a seasoned pilot of a private twin-engined plane suffers a fatal heart attack.”
- THE LOST KING—(In theaters) “That truth is sometimes more bizarre than fiction is well demonstrated in Director Stephen Frears latest film, a historical detective story.”
- OPERATION MINCEMEAT—(Streaming on Netflix) “For those of us who missed 1956’s The Man Who Never Was, Netflix’s current film will introduce us to one of the great deceptions of WWII.”
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