“Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:28).
My wife and I went to the cinema last Monday. We used to go to the cinema quite a lot but it’s much rarer these days. It can be hard to find a good film – my last time at the movies I walked out midway. But I noticed a review by Judy Adamson of the movie ‘Living’. I don’t usually read a review until I’ve seen the movie, but I did pick up the final comment:
“Go and see Living. It is beautifully crafted, poignant and subtle, and will resonate with you long after you leave the cinema.”
That sounds right for us, I thought, and so we went off to a local cinema. We were both glad that we did. It was quite moving – a slow burner, as my son would say, but well worthwhile. Thanks Judy – and I enjoyed reading your full review afterwards.
I quoted Acts 17:28 above because, strangely enough, the English word ‘cinema’ is derived from the Greek verb ‘kinein’ which in Acts 17:28 is translated ‘move’. It’s the word from which we get our word ‘kinetic’. The Greek ‘kinema’ refers to movement and it was from this that the French introduced the word cinématographe back in the 1890s. And English duly embraced and shortened it to ‘cinema’.
So, I recommend you get moving and see Living if it’s still showing in your cinema today!
But above all, live wisely by paying heed to Paul’s words which follow in Acts 17:
“Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31).