Surveying

There's absolutely nothing Eastery about this photo, but it was a different kind of Easter Sunday this year anyway. This guy (girl?) was sitting on the roof of the church hall just beyond our garden and outside my window, taking in the world, enjoying the smells, not really bothered by all the fuss of chocolate and family dinners.

This was the first year since... 2007?... that I haven't been up to watch the sunrise on Easter Sunday morning, mostly just because I haven't a clue where one goes in Norwich to see the sun rise. I'm staying at home for the break because I have a lot of essays to get done, so no exciting adventures (yet... Just wait for May), and I've really enjoyed that! Back home we don't really do Easter in a big way - try to stay focussed on the meaning behind it, but Easter with only friends and no family is quite different to usual. It's been really nice though.

I had church in the morning, then spent the afternoon watching movies with one of my housemates before heading off to church again for the evening service. After that a whole bunch of us piled around to Tom and Lucy's house for dinner, which was delicious. Thank you everyone who's made my Easter away from family such a celebratory time!




I've had a few conversations with people about The Passion of the Christ since Friday, and it has been suggested that I was too harsh. I still stand by my opinion that it just didn't work for me and that it made me uncomfortable (and not in the way intended), but out of curiosity I had a look at what some reputable Christian reviewers have thought and I came across a statement in a Christianity Today review that made me go 'Yes! That's it!' They appreciated the movie more than me, but this gets it:

For all that is praiseworthy in this film, it is still somewhat unsatisfying. Indeed, the flashback structure itself is part of the problem. In Scripture and in much of Christian tradition, the death of Christ is placed within the context of his life and Resurrection, but Gibson's film reverses that by placing small bits of Jesus' life within the overwhelming context of his death. As full of faith as The Passion is, it never gets beyond its raw and prolonged depiction of human and demonic cruelty; after vividly depicting the suffering and grief and despair of Jesus' followers for two hours, the film forgets all about them, while reducing the Resurrection to a couple of special effects tacked on to the end.