Around Town: Films and faith, First Baptist update, Folk Fest . . .

Between a Shoe and the Roof is one of several films that will be showing this week.

Several evenings featuring films and faith are coming up, two of them this Friday and two at the end of next week:

Film and Faith Evening: Luther

Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Vancouver will host a free showing of the 2003 film Luther on the evening of July 21: “We continue to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with a free showing of the 2003 hit film Luther featuring a cast including Joseph Fiennes & Sir Peter Ustinov.” See the accompanying article by Karl Przywala for more on their Reformation-related activities.

Does God Go to the Movies?

St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church will host theologian and passionate movie-goer Marjorie Suchocki as she offers “an opportunity to explore and discuss how the presence of God/The Holy is imagined in film by viewing excerpts from various movies.” Does God Go to the Movies will feature a session on the evening of July 21 and two more the next day. Cost is $40.

Between a Shoe and the Roof

A screening of Between a Shoe and the Roof will be held at Regent College July 27: “Journey with an international team of Regent College students as they travel with professor Diane Stinton to Nairobi, Kenya to explore one pressing question: ‘How do we live in that challenging place where the gospel and culture meet?'” The evening will be hosted by two Regent people, president Jeff Greenman and assistant dean of students Claire Perini.

REED Summer Film Fest

“Come out to learn about sex trafficking in Vancouver and how you can help to end it!” A screening of two Canadian documentaries on the sexual exploitation of women (Red Light Green Light and Sex Trade) will take place at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church July 28. The evening will include discussion on the work of REED and opportunities for financial partnership. Event tickets ($25) include popcorn, snacks and drinks and access to both films.

First Baptist update

Artistic rendering of the tower above First Baptist from the Sheraton One Wall Centre. (Bing Thom Architects / Westbank)

As I noted last week, Vancouver City Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing July 18 about the major new development at First Baptist Church.

Council did hear a presentation from city rezoning planner Yan Zeng in favour of the project, but ran out of time to hear all speakers who wanted to comment on the matter, and did not vote on the application.

The hearing will continue next Tuesday (July 25). Go here to see a video of the July 18 hearing.

In the meantime, Kenneth Chan of the Daily Hive wrote an upbeat update on the situation July 18. He said, in part:

But the most interesting part of this project revolves around its unique design as it has a contemporary flair that the city has never seen.

The form of the tower takes inspiration from church pipe organs, and there will be open common gardens on each level to provide opportunities for residents to interact with their neighbours.

“The patterns and fenestration on the tower will further distinguish this building as a dynamic addition to Vancouver’s skyline,” wrote [prominent architect Bing Thom, who died last fall] in the application, adding that the gardens are “effectively a kind of ‘front porch’” as they will “provide space for personalizing suite entries common gardens, seating, and perhaps even bike storage.” . . .

“At this juncture in its long and distinguished history, the church is looking to adapt to the current social needs and demands of the city by undertaking an ambitious and logical program of rehabilitation and change,” continued Thom.

“The First Baptist Church understands that the creation of a transformed facility that simultaneously provides services to the community and a welcoming, architecturally distinguished physical environment is essential . . . The FirstBC project represents a bold new chapter in Vancouver’s development.”

Go here for the full story.

Folk Fest highlights

Stage 2 at the Folk Fest: The Sojourners (left), Jim Byrnes, Eilen Jewell, and Nell Robinson & the Jim Nunally Band.

The Vancouver Folk Music Festival lived up to expectations July 13 – 16 at Jericho Beach Park. The weather was perfect, and several of the old guard delivered – Billy Bragg and Roy Forbes, for example, but particularly Ferron. Newer blood such as John K. Samson, Eilen Jewell, Leif Vollebekk and Jake Morley were all very good.

As always, though, I particularly enjoyed Sunday morning at Stage 2. As the long-time host said, after pointing out that he’s not really a religious type: “My two favourite times of the year are playing music with my daughter (any time) and 10 am Sunday on this stage.”

Local gospel group The Sojourners kicked things off with these words (didn’t catch the name of the song): “Ain’t no use in anybody trying to turn me around, my soul is heaven bound.” Jim Byrnes, who pulled the group together years ago, then sang the old gospel standard ‘Didn’t it Rain.’ Eilen Jewell followed with a George Jones classic “for those who like a little whiskey with their gospel”:

Well, I’m a-gonna tag along with Jesus
I’m a-gonna keep a-taggin’ along
Well, if I see that’s heaven’s story
Ain’t nothin’ ever a-go wrong.

Ah, when the saint goes marchin’ in there
Do not might tell me I’m wrong
For by the help and the grace of God
I’m a-gonna keep a-taggin’ along.

And so it went, a sweet hour, moving from one gospel classic to another. Nell Robinson, with the Jim Nunally Band, even recited a lovely Mary Oliver poem.

I stayed for the next workshop at the same stage, ‘The Songs of Leonard Cohen.’ The gospel set was more joyful, but this one may have been more reverent, with each performer outdoing themselves to pay homage to the great one. It was beautiful, but definitely caused me concern about the spiritual state of the nation.

Emmanuel Jal (centre) was a joyous presence at the Folk Fest.

Later I saw Emmanual Jal, who I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. He survived years as a child soldier to become a world musician devoted to peace and justice, from a Christian base. His music didn’t necessarily have much Christian content (the beat seemed central; at any rate, I missed much of the lyrical content).

But the joy was there, as it had been on Stage 2 earlier. His energy and good will were infectious; he danced with abandon – on his own and with members of the audience, both on and off the stage.

One highlight was the clear affection demonstrated between Jal and Ramy Essam, who is known for bravely singing out for human rights in Egypt’s Tahrir Square during the anti-Mubarak protests. Their obvious desire to act as peacemakers was really quite encouraging.