Synthetic Resurrections in the Digital Age

Today is Good Friday, a day which always takes me down a meditative path.

It is a dark trail that leads me into an awareness of human suffering, desperate loss and mind-numbing grief. A darkness, a pain, that drives me straight to the Cross.

By pure coincidence today, I found myself watching a very moving episode of British Channel Four's celebrated series, "Black Mirror".

In Be Right Back, a young woman grapples with staggering grief and loss; out of that pain, she reaches for a surprising comfort: the Powers of the Digital Age.

Watch the trailer

If writer Charlie Brooker is correct, our new-found god-like abilities based on software algorithms, a constant matrix of recorded digital video, and amazing medical advances will lead us to "conquer death" in new ways in the very near future.

(Watch the video above, if you don't believe me.)

Synthetic Resurrections in this Brave New World will make it possible for us to connect with deceased loved ones as never before. Death frightens us, Loss enrages us. The sudden Disappearance of one we loved leaves a wound some never see heal.

So, will we be justified in seeking Eternal Life on our own terms?
Are we really Masters of our own digital destinies?

Or, might a truer hope be found in the well-documented case of a true flesh-and-blood Resurrection? The triumph of One who promises hope and meaning in this lifetime, and eternal life to all who lose their lives for His sake, in order to find it?

The Last Supper, by David LaChapelle

Do our synthetic gods truly deliver what they promise?
Or is there perhaps more?

Tears of Joy

Hearing this story on the Daily Audio Bible this morning made me cry ...
out of sheer joy.
.
It shows God's loving heart so clearly.
.
That's why I wanted to share it with you.

* * * * * * *

It wasn’t long after this when Jesus entered a city called Nain. Again all of His disciples accompanied Him, along with a huge crowd.

He was coming near the gate of the city as a corpse was being carried out. This man was the only child and support of his widowed mother, and she was accompanied by a large funeral crowd.

As soon as the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her.

Jesus said to her, Don’t weep.

Then He came to the stretcher, and those carrying it stood still.

Young man, listen! Get up!

. 

The dead man immediately sat up and began talking.

Jesus presented him to his mother, and everyone was both shocked and jubilant. They praised God.

* * * * * * *

This is why I love Him so.

Text:

Luke 7:11-16

The Voice Bible

Photo credits:

Grieving in Syria, Google Images

Widow of Nain, by Corinne Peters

Podemos cambiar esto · We Can Change This

¿Por qué resignarnos?
El poder radica en los pequeños gestos diarios,
amor mostrado al prójimo.

Sí, tenemos muchos problemas.
Y sí, los podemos solucionar.

¡Manos a la obra! (¿Me ayudas a pintar?)

* * * * *

Why should we give up?
The power is found in small gestures every day,
love shown to our neighbour.

Yes, we have a lot of problems.
And, yes, we can solve them.

Let's get to work! (Wanna help me paint?)


Un beso enorme para Gemma por compartir este vídeo con nosotros.
A big hug and kiss to Gemma for sharing this video with us.

Génération désenchantée

Recently, I have seen things that greatly moved me here in Barcelona.
And both have occurred on public squares.

The first moment came as I crossed Plaça Catalunya, the city's very heart, one evening during citizen protests sparked in early May. At midnight, there they were: wave upon wave of people, standing on the square to protest rampant speculation and the wholesale robbery of our democracies.

There they were, by the hundreds, like true citizens. Standing, and awake.

The second encounter was more tender. It happened on my way to a summer theatre performace during Barcelona's open air festival, Grec. To get there, my friend and I needed to pass by the city's famous "Magic Fountain".

Constructed in 1929, the attraction of water, music, and lights are an irrestible draw for hundreds of tourists each night. As we made our way past the square, I was touched by the sight of nationalities from all over the globe shoulder to shoulder, many open-mouthed in wonder at the "simple" show.

As if to reaffirm (or rediscover): "No Spielberg is necessary. Cut out the 3D. Just give me my family... my lover... my child... my best friend at my side ... and let us share this magical moment, this wonder-ful evening in Barcelona. This is enough."

There they were, by the hundreds, like so many children.
Happy, and in awe.


This is the same quiet respect I once witnessed in a dark room in the heart of Trinity College in Dublin.

In the dimmed light, designed to protect an ancient manuscript of the four Gospels found in "The Magical Book of My Master", I watched agnostic, consume-driven Europeans gaze intently at the pages of Ireland's jewel, "The Book of Kells". There they were, struck by the beauty of the Word. Surprised, and yes, reverent.

The nightly telediarios, the 24-hour Twitter streams, the endless chatter of the Matrix, would have us believe otherwise.

The authors of the surreality shows, the Berlusconi-begotten insult orgies of Telecinco, want you to despair. They desire above all other things, for us to feel désenchantés: disenchanted, helpless victims of a Machine spinning out of control.

In the words of Belgian singer Kate Ryan, they are literally programming you and me to consider ourselves lost and in limbo:

Tout est chaos
A côté
Tous mes idéaux: des mots
Abîmés...
Je cherche une âme, qui
Pourra m'aider
Je suis
D'une génération désenchantée,
Désenchantée

Yet, the hundreds of Europeans I have seen in the streets and on the squares, tell me otherwise:

They are standing -- indignados -- to say NO to unfettered and immoral materialism.

They are rediscovering the power of words, people, values.

They are remembering, perhaps, the true heritage of European culture.

In my humble way, I join you there: in front of the Magic Fountain, in line with you, to read the Magic Book:

I believe in Europe, I believe in the Light that used to illuminate her heart. I believe in Magic... enchanté.

Amanecer · Awakening

Resurrección

¿Qué después de esta vida tengamos que despertarnos un día

aquí

al estruendo terrible de trompetas y clarines?

Perdona, Dios, pero me consuelo

pensando que el principio de nuestra resurrección, la de todos

los difuntos,

lo anunciará el simple canto de un gallo...

Entonces nos quedaremos aún tendidos un momento...

La primera en levantarse

será mamá... La oiremos

encender silenciosamente el fuego,

poner silenciosamente el agua sobre el fogón

y coger con sigilo del armario el molinillo de café.

Estaremos de nuevo en casa.

Vladimír Holan
Poeta checo · del libro Dolor

Traducido al castellano por Clara Janés

Créditos foto: Richard Baxter

What Every Hero Needs to Know

I just finished watching Prince Caspian, the second part of The Chronicles of Narnia. It's an idea I've had in mind for weeks for some reason, and now I see that the timing of this re-viewing could not have been better.

In my personal sphere and on the world stage, the need for heroes (and the desire to find the hero within) to confront today's challenges seems stronger than ever before.

We all await heroes. Sadly, they seem late in arriving.

Whether the situation is one concerning health (Sara, Chari and Manolo with cancer), hope (my cousin's current struggles) or heritage (the dangers facing my much beloved country), the needs are so great, and the temptation to despair so easy to succumb to.

Nevertheless, I think it is important that we remember a few key things about heroes and how they rise. The key thread in this afternoon's viewing of "Narnia" for me was the victory of hope over impossibility. Time and again, the Faithful Four along with hosts of devoted Narnians stood with their backs to the wall, pressed in on by relentless foes much greater in number.

Many times they became tired, dirty and hopeless... yet they kept on fighting. A virtue very reminiscent of the example in perseverance we recently saw during the World Cup victory of Spain. Heroes get worn down and wounded; they often cry for answers and receive silence instead. Yet they keep on believing.

How? Battling on, while only trusting in one's own strength, is a sure recipe for failure. True heroes are not single stars of the show: they remain humble, they reach out and they bow their heads.

When President Obama was elected, I shared a glimmer of hope that perhaps we were about to witness a true hero's ascent during a great time of need. Those hopes have been dashed, not so much by his broken promises, but more so by his swagger.

Our country is in dire straits, similar to another dark time of fratricide faced down by a young lawyer from Springfield who, quite literally, gave all he had for the country he loved. In the darkest hours of the Civil War, he documented his own despair but also the faith that caused him to bow his knees to ask for wisdom, instead of relying solely on his prodigious intellect.

Heroes, despair not. Humility does prevail, hope can win out over impossibility. Raise that sword, lift your eyes, link your arms.. and fight on.

Furious Love · El amor furioso

Furious Love Official Trailer from Wanderlust Productions on Vimeo.

World Premiere February 14, 2010

Furious Love, sequel to Finger of God, is the story of one man’s journey into some of the darkest spiritual climates on earth to test the limits of God’s love.

Watch his discovery and witness God’s response to the demon possessed in Africa, the heroine addicts of Madrid, and witches in Salem, Massachusetts. See this Love in relentless pursuit of the persecuted church in India and the oppressed victims of sex trafficking in Thailand.

This journey of LOVE will leave you undone and must be experienced to be believed.

“Truth is not a teaching.
Truth is a Person.”

Director Commentary · Darren Wilson

What is this movie about?
Furious Love, quite simply, is about one man’s journey into the heart of darkness to try and find out if God’s love can really overcome anything. It is one thing to know in your head that God loves you, but I wanted to try to make a film that moved that knowledge from the head to the heart. So we traveled all over the world and met a wide variety of ministries and people working in these dark places, and we saw God move in ways that simply needs to be seen to be believed.

When you say “darkness”, what do you mean?
Well, the easiest way to answer this question is to simply tell you what kinds of things are in the film. We filmed former satanists, prostitutes, the persecuted church, heroin addicts, people involved in witchcraft, new age, demon possessed, etc... If I was going to put God’s love to the test, I wanted to put up a good fight.

Of course, He completely obliterated the darkness we encountered every time, as you will see...

Finger of God Official Movie Trailer from Wanderlust Productions on Vimeo.

La Religión es un opio

Come As You Are

English: choose "inglés" from the Google Translator

menu to the right for an approximate translation

Acabo de descubrir
las canciones honestas y reales de Charlie Hall.
Este chico habla sin pelos en la lengua, y esta balada suya
es como un enorme abrazo. Gracias, Charlie!

Ver el vídeo

* * * * *

Jesús les habló otra vez, diciendo:

"Yo soy la Luz del Mundo;
el que Me sigue no andará en tinieblas,
sino que tendrá la luz de la vida."

El Libro Mágico de mi Maestro
"El Relato del Amado", capítulo 8


La Religión es un opio

U Saved Me

R.Kelly - U saved me
por deejoe

Una voz como la miel misma, ¡me encanta cómo canta R. Kelly!
En este hermoso vídeo nos relata una serie de historias
de esperanza y amor.

A voice like honey itself, I love how R. Kelly sings!
In this video he recounts a series of stories of hope and love.

I LOVE GOSPEL, OLD AND NEW!

Y otro clásico suyo / And another of his classics:

R'Kelly - I believe I can fly
por cavapanon

La Religión es un opio

No Fear

Los telediarios, como ríos venenosos brotan; insisto en no beber de sus fuentes.

Me resisto, nunca me convertiré en seguidor suyo, discípulo de esta presente época nihilista, materialista, fatalista. Me niego a doblar la rodilla ante el altar de su devoción y nunca entonaré su himno (y credo): de que lo único que vale se compra, mide y almacena.

No es que huyese de ninguna "realidad" (dictada y programada); sólo es que tengo -- y ofrezco -- otra:

El Señor es mi pastor, nada me faltará. Preparas mesa delante de mí en presencia de mis enemigos; has ungido mi cabeza con aceite; mi copa está rebosando.


Créditos foto: p...kin...e

Mirando hacia la Eternidad...

Anoche mi amiga Raquel perdió a su padre
tras su lucha con el cáncer.

La despedida ha sido mucho más repentina de lo esperado, lo que aumenta el dolor. Era un hombre vital y abierto, a quien tuve la suerte de conocer en la boda de Raquel y Miguel este año.

Raquel, estamos contigo y con toda tu familia.
Siéntete muy amparada y abrazada.

Y piensa que tal vez, tu padre se encuentre en este momento como el hombre de esta foto: tomando sus primeros pasos hacia la Eternidad, un lago en cuyas orillas te estará esperando, con gran amor.

Créditos foto

Welcome, Mr. President

There is Hope, at last, for a New Beginning.
Today my country truly begins a New Day.

Let's get to work... Yes we can!

Thank you, Mr. President-elect.













Créditos foto: Reuters

El Muro · The Wall

VER EL VÍDEO AQUÍ - ¡NO TE LO PIERDAS!

Come close, listen to the Story,
About a Love more faithful than the morning.
The Father gave his only Son just to save us.

The earth was shaking in the dark,
All creation felt the Father's broken heart.
Tears were filling Heaven's eyes
The day that True Love died, the day that True Love died.

When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn't move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that True Love died,

The day that True Love died.

Search your heart you know you can't deny it;
Lose your life just so you can find it.
The Father gave his only Son just to save us.

The earth was shaking in the dark,
All creation felt the Father's broken heart
Tears were filling Heaven's eyes
The day that True Love died,

The day that True Love died.

When blood and water hit the ground,
Walls we couldn't move came crashing down.
We were free and made alive
The day that True Love died...

Jesus is alive.
He rose again.

Come close, listen to the Story.



"True Love", por Phil Wickham
Video: Dan Stevers

11 - 09 - 08

"Aunque pase por el valle de sombra de muerte,
no temeré mal alguno,
porque Tú estás conmigo."

El Libro Mágico de Mi Maestro
Las Canciones del Rey, Número 23


We remember.

Créditos foto: Manohard en Flickr.com

Para las familias del vuelo JK 5022

La horrífica noticia sobre el catástrofe del vuelo de Spanair nos llegó durante nuestras vacaciones en el oeste de Irlanda.

Desde entonces no he parado de hacer llamadas al Teléfono Rojo de este blog, rogando un derramiento del amor, la fuerza, la gracia y el tierno consuelo de Dios para las familias de las víctimas del avión accidentado en Madrid.

Te animo a que hagas exactamente lo mismo: oremos por ellos todos, recemos para todas sus necesidades, para que encuentren la fuerza y el apoyo en este momento tan oscuro.

Desde aquí les mando a estas familias todo mi amor y cariño, junto a todos los amigos-blogueros de este espacio. Os queremos y estamos a vuestro lado, en toda España y más allás de sus fronteras.

Find rest, my soul

In Christ alone;

Know His power

In quietness and trust...

Hillsong

"Still"



Créditos fotos: Karen en Flickr.com · Ver también: BrandSpirit

Lecturas de verano, 2008

Un blog es algo maravilloso. Sobre todo, cuando se convierta en un espacio de reflexión y debate entre amigos, como ha sido el caso aquí.

Sin embargo, si tiene una debilidad, es que la típica bitácora se convierte en una enorme cajón desastre a lo largo del tiempo. El efecto "sedimentario" hace que muchos contenidos llegan a ocultarse para siempre, una vez desaparecidos de la página principal.

Es con este motivo que he pensado que podría ser interesante "rescatar" una decena de posts de los último 12 meses, creando así una pequeña guía de lectura para este verano que espero te gustará. Es una selección de todo lo que hemos compartido, y de las ideas que nos han movido. Porque claro está: a veces los comentarios y la conversación que nace allí llegan a ser más interesantes, incluso, que el artículo inicial.

Ahí va, como siempre, con mucho cariño y con un corazón muy agradecido por todos vosotros que habéis participado tan activamente aquí.

JULIO 2007
Hay esperanza

AGOSTO 2007
Abiertos al Cambio

SEPTIEMBRE 2007
La espiritualidad de Second Life

OCTUBRE 2007
Los mansos

NOVIEMBRE 2007
The Bridge · El Puente

DICIEMBRE 2007
La Navidad que no conoces

ENERO 2008
Dios no es religioso

FEBRERO 2008
¡Bienvenida al mundo, María!

MARZO 2008
Hasta la vista, querido Antonio

ABRIL 2008
Uups! Too busy!

MAYO 2008
No juzguemos, ¡amemos!

JUNIO 2008
Escucha · Listen

JULIO 2008
Alberto y el Teléfono Rojo

¡Felices vacaciones!


Créditos foto: Oliva en Flickr.com

I LOVE Gospel!

Me di cuenta de ello, una vez más, el pasado viernes
en un concierto benéfico de la Associació Solidària Anantapur (ASA) en Sabadell. Nuestro amigo Joe y su mujer Miriam son miembros activos de la ASA y fueron algunos de los creadores de una velada de música inspiracional e inolvidable en todos los sentidos.

¡Gracias de nuevo, queridos amigos!

Además de aprender más sobre los proyectos para mujeres y niños de la Fundación Vicente Ferrer en Anantapur (India), gozamos - en el sentido más profundo de la palabra -
de la fuerza de la música Gospel.

Llamarla "alegre" significaría no entender para nada
ni su mensaje, ni sus raices. La música Gospel es mucho más que mera música.

Es triunfadora, fuerte, llena de dignidad y de esperanza. Se manifiesta por medio de una Voz que sale como un grito del alma, que insiste en creer en un Dios de amor, en medio de un mundo de injusticias y crueldad.

Esta música, creada por personas consideradas "escoria" por otros (gente a menudo muy "religiosa", por cierto), sube al cielo y acaricia la cara de un Padre que ve todo y que declara sin equivocación, que en Su Reino los primeros serán los últimos.
Y los últimos (¡gloria!): los primeros.

La música Gospel da alas al alma, llena el vacío con palabras de alabanza, sabe perdonar. Me instruye, me consuela, me reta, me fortaleza. La noche del viernes no ha sido excepción.

AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE SOUND,
THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME!

I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW AM FOUND.
WAS BLIND, BUT NOW... I SEE.


Créditos foto: Fran Fernández

Precioso(s)

Dedico este vídeo
a todos mis amigos que se encuentran en el hospital
(como José), o bien en varias fases de tratamientos (como la madre de Miriam, el padre de Toni, el padre de Raquel, y el padre de Kike...)

Como cantan tan bien aqui los de Depeche Mode, sois preciosos ... y por eso os dejamos con esperanza en Manos seguras, para que Él os cuide y cure lo antes posible.

Muchos besos...

Hay esperanza

Hay días en los que desaparece la esperanza. Todo parece carente de significado y de futuro. El miedo se apodera de nosotros.

Esto ocurre cada día más a nivel planetario también. Tan grandes nos parecen los desafíos y problemas; y tan lejos las soluciones...

Aún así, a pesar de tanta confusión y resignación,
there is hope.

Lo creo, firmemente. Pero, para hallarla, hemos de buscarla.

Hace poco descubrí un maravilloso sitio que transmite esa esperanza, la misma que encuentro en El Libro Mágico de mi Maestro que tanto os comento en el blog. Lo hace por medio de 12 "capítulos vídeográficos".

Espero que los descubrirás todos, pero por si te faltara tiempo,
éste (capítulo 10) sería lo más importante de ellos.
Creo que te traerá paz... y esperanza.

Como siempre, me interesa saber cómo te parece. No olvides escribirnos aquí, ¡por favor!

A big hug,
Paul

Los mansos heredarán la Tierra

Muchas gracias a nuestro amigo Kike
por pasarnos este mágico clip de animáción.

Escribe en el blog 'Día 1':

"Nos encantó esta parábola del animador paraguayo Joaquin Baldwin. ¡Aún estamos a tiempo de cambiar las cosas!"

Son unos dos minutos que valen la pena ...
¡Que disfrutes de esta pequeña fantasía :-)

Oh! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S.A.!
Hoy es el 4 de Julio y mi país cumple 231 años.

Extreme Days · Toby Mac