lifesong
Everyone needs compassion
Love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations
Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender
Shine your light in
Let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory
Of the risen King
Jesus, Shine your light in
Let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory
Of the risen king
Sunday, March 11, 2007
-7:30 pm
Holy Sonnet X.
by John Donne.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
------------------
We watched a movie called "Wit" during GP lesson on Friday. It was almost life-changing. There was hardly a dry eye left when it ended. Based on Margaret Edson's play, Emma Thompson stars as Vivian Bearing in this intense and powerful vehicle through which the issues of life and death are thoroughly examined by the protagonist, especially in the monologues. You must watch it. It's the best movie I've ever seen. This is no flippant advertising. To find out more, read the review.
One would tend to think that movies about the meaning of life would be overt, didactic, one cliché after another, convoluted, contrived. But this masterful piece of art manages to sensibly express the most subtle nuggets of truth in all honesty and realness, without sounding overly idealistic (it's in fact the opposite) or moralising. It's bursting with meaning, if you would view the issues presented from the intended point of view, as well as another- your own.
There are some movies that provide you with a good time, a good laugh, good suspense, thrillers and action; pure entertainment. But "Wit" draws you into the story (which is so grippingly real that it's frightening) and makes you think, challenges your notions of what life's all about. Never has a movie provoked so much thought and evoked such strong emotions- empathy and shared pain- with its sharp articulation of life's (and death's) nuances. It's real; it's relevant, and yet this is an understatement in itself, if you fully grasp the essence and gravity of its message.
-------------------------------------------
"It reads: "And death shall be no more," -comma-"Death thou shalt die."
Nothing but a breath, a comma separates life from life everlasting.
Very simple, really. With the original punctuation restored, death is no longer something to act out on a stage with exclamation marks.
It is a comma- a pause.
Life, death. Soul, God. Past, present.
Not insuperable barriers.
Not semicolons.
Just a comma."
-Professor Evelyn Ashford in "Wit"
0comments