Bart Blair

Valentine's Day in the Big Apple

Elizabeth and I spent Valentine's Day weekend in Manhattan with our dear friend Jeff Haley, for the second straight year.  We had a great time, in spite of being a bit "under the weather."

We made trips to The Cloisters at Ft. Tryon Park, which is an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We also spent an afternoon at The Met, itself.

On Valentine's Day we treated ourselves to a showing of the Oscar Nominated Short Films at the IFC Centre.  Our two favorite films of the viewing were Auf Der Strecke  and Grisen.  Personally, I related to the tragic nature of Auf Der Strecke more than all the others, but Grisen had a wider dynamic range of emotions and had a happier ending, which will probably lead to getting more votes.  Of course, Manon on the Asphalt (the French Film) managed to squeeze in a 3 minute sex scene into its 15 minutes, so it'll likely win!

We rounded out our weekend with an afternoon worshiping at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  In spite of their length (2+ hours), services at the BT are always an emotionally and spiritually stirring experience.

Below are a few photos from our trip:

            

Check out some more pics on my Facebook page:
More NYC Pics

The Da Vinci Code

I just returned from seeing The Da Vinci Code.  As far as films go, I'd probably give it a 6.5 out of 10; maybe a 7.  I had some exciting moments, but there were some slow times too.  And my suspension of disbelief was challenged a few too many times as escapes were too easy and mysterious riddles were too simply solved.

I haven't read the book.  I've planned to for a while, but honestly haven't been able to convince myself to commit the time to it.  We're doing a 2-part series at Grace starting next Sunday on the book/film and also hitting on the Jesus Papers and the gospel of Judas.

I can honestly say that from the standpoint of being offended, I'm sort of surprised (and relieved) that I wasn't more ticked off about the obvious blasphemy in the film.  Personally, I didn't find much of a case to support the "hooey" that the story is based upon.  Leading up to our teaching series at Grace I've watched a number of documentaries on the Priory of Sion and the Da Vinci Code and have found those to be much more "dangerous" than this film.

I guess the real threat to the cause of Jesus is that here in Canada, especially the Greater Toronto Area, there seems to be a real need for the secular culture to discredit the Church, Bible and followers of Jesus.  For those who have never studied much out, in regards to Bible history and canonization and so forth, I can see how this could be a stumbling block for Truth.

But in the end, God's truth is more powerful and more pervasive than anything Dan Brown (or any other fiction novelist for that matter) could conjure up.  I'm just gonna keep loving my God, keep loving my neighbors and, Da Vinci Code notwithstanding, I'm gonna keep praying that Jesus will prove himself alive and well through me, my life, my love and my ministry.