Summer Sunday Evening Series on Poverty, Racism & Congregational Vitality
for Adults and Mature Teens
7pm Sundays in Wright Chapel – July 10 through August 14
** Click here to register or call the church office at 216.226.0514 **
WHAT: Together we will view clips from commercially released films and engage in guided discussion on the Matthew 25 topics of Eradicating Systemic Poverty, Dismantling Structural Racism and Building Congregational Vitality. We also will choose one film dealing with each of these three themes to watch in its entirety on alternate Sunday evenings.
WHO: Adults and mature teenagers (accompanied by an adult). Child care will be provided, but please let us know your child care needs by calling the church office at 216-226-0514.
Most of the commercially released films we will discuss are rated R or PG-13. The author of this video discussion series — Dr. Edward McNulty, a Presbyterian minister who for many years was the film reviewer for Presbyterians Today — writes, “Most of the people Jesus dealt with had behaviors or lifestyles that would have been considered R-rated at that time, but he did not avoid or reject them. Hopefully, we can accept the films and the people in them without being influenced to emulate their language or other objectionable behavior.”
WHEN: Six consecutive Sunday evenings at 7 p.m., July 10 through August 14
The duration of the sessions when we view and discuss the clips will be approximately an hour and a half (July 10, July 24, August 7). The sessions when we watch a film in its entirety may last, at longest, two and a half hours (July 17, July 31, August 14).
WHERE: Wright Chapel at Lakewood Presbyterian Church and via Zoom if technically feasible.
WHY: Part of Lakewood Church’s commitment as a Matthew 25 congregation is to grow in our understanding of these issues and thereby more effectively address them in our community and the world.
Motion pictures are a visual as well as an auditory medium. A well-chosen clip from a film, watched actively and then supported with discussion and a theological foundation, can help us understand how these abstract processes work out in daily life.
WHICH FILMS? During this series we will view clips from the following films:
SYSTEMIC POVERTY
The Florida Project – Rated R
Frozen River – Rated R
Time Out of Mind – Rated PG-13
Cesar Chavez – Rated R
STRUCTURAL RACISM
12 Years a Slave – Rated R
If Beale Street Could Talk –
Rated R
Selma – Rated R
Do the Right Thing – Rated R
The Hate U Give – Rated PG-13
CONGREGATIONAL VITALITY
All Saints – Rated PG
Lars and the Real Girl –
Rated PG-13
Encanto – Rated PG
The Long Walk Home – Rated PG
Walking Across Egypt –
Rated PG-13