To See as We Are Seen

This is a short film made for the song "Seraph" by Sigur Ros as part of their Valtari Mystery Film Experiment. The film tells the story of a young boy who is taught to be ashamed of his body. This shame is the grounds for successive traumas as he becomes more and more confused about his body image. The boy's insecurity eventually lands him in prison where he reaches deep into his own woundedness in order to bring healing to another.

To watch the video click this link.


Sigur Ros is no stranger to nudity (see the video for their song Gobbledigook), but it is the role of nudity in this story that is particularly profound. Whether or not the writers were intentionally criticizing religious prejudice or homophobia, the film is obviously about self-image. We see that more than anything the boy wants to be seen for who he is, which is expressed most symbolically in the film (and the Bible) via nudity. The father, on the other hand, would rather turn a blind eye to things that are "hard to look at."

Personally, I find this a compelling commentary on living an embodied existence with other embodied beings. While our culture is obsessed with body image, we are not necessarily good at truly seeing one another as embodied. In fact, we are very good at not seeing others in their true embodiedness (e.g. anyone who does not fit the 'normal' body image). Even the film betrays its bias: all the skinny dippers have a trim physique. [Which reminds me: Why is Jesus always handsome? Why don't we ever see a painting of an overweight Jesus?]

At the end of the film the boy - contrary to his father's conservative opinion - opens his eyes to see [presumably] God. One cannot help but feel that the boy sees something that is more beautiful and glorious than imaginable: it is the sight of loving eyes that see him as he truly is.

One of the most moving experiences that I've ever had came when I worked as a chaplain at the Hospital at University of Pennsylvania. I had just finished visiting with a patient in the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) who was in particularly bad shape. The man had unofficially become the most depressing case on the floor amongst the staff not only due to his physiological deterioration but also because his family lived far away and never visited. As I thanked the man for allowing me to come see him, he replied, "It's good to be seen."

"I gradually realize that I want to be seen by you, to dwell under your caring gaze, and to grow strong and gentle in your sight. Lord, let me see what you see - the love of God and the suffering of people - so that my eyes may become more and more like yours, eyes that can heal wounded hearts." [from "A Prayer to See and Be Seen," in The Road to Daybreak, Henri Nouwen]

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

The Religious Approach to God... [Peter Rollins]

"The religious approach to God drains life of its pleasure through offering an elusive being from beyond who one must either accept is... 

• never fully present (thus rendering our faith practices into ultimately tedious disciplines), 
• whom we think we can have bunt never encounter (making us feel excluded and unworthy), 
• or who appears to us in exceptional moments (thus causing us to pursue ever more extreme religious practices that might create 'thin space' for these meetings). 

To approach God as a person we will meet in a future time, a person who is always avoiding us or whom we occasionally bump into, like some friend at a party, misses the properly theological insight that God is manifest only in our embrace and affirmation of the broken world." 

- Peter Rollins, Insurrection, 124

The Interesting History of the Word "Jehovah"

The word "Jehovah" appears in a lot of Christian hymns and worship songs. But did you know that the word itself originates from a mistaken, literal-phonetic translation of Hebrew letters? Here's the explanation...

The term tetragrammaton (from Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "four letters")^[1][2] refers to the Hebrew theonym (Hebrew: יהוה‎)transliterated to the Latin letters YHWH. It is derived from a verb that means "to be",^[1] and is considered in Judaism to be a proper name of the God of Israel as indicated in the Hebrew Bible.

As Jews are forbidden to say or write the Tetragrammaton in full, when reading the Torah, they use the term Adonai.^[3] Christians do not have any prohibitions on vocalizing the Tetragrammaton; in most Christian translations of the Bible, "LORD" is used in place of the Tetragrammaton after the Hebrew Adonai, and is written with small capitals (or in all caps) to distinguish it from other words translated "Lord".

The original consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was provided with vowel marks by the Masoretes to assist reading. In places where the consonants of the text to be read (the Qere) differed from the consonants of the written text (the Kethib), they wrote the Qere in the margin as a note showing what was to be read. In such a case the vowels of the Qere were written on the Kethib. For a few frequent words the marginal note was omitted: this is called Q're perpetuum.

One of these frequent cases was the tetragrammaton, which according to later Jewish practices should not be pronounced, but read as "Adonai" ("My Lord"), or, if the previous or next word already was "Adonai" or "Adoni", as "Elohim" ("God"). This combination produces יְהֹוָה and יֱהֹוִה respectively, non-words that would spell "yehovah" and "yehovih" respectively.

The origins for the composite term Jehovah, came from early English translators who transposed the vowels from Adonai to the Tetragrammaton, and read the word literally so that the Y in YHWH, was pronounced as a J in English, and the W as a V.^[1] Taking the spellings at face value may have been as a result of not knowing about the Q're perpetuum, thus resulting in the term "Jehovah" and its spelling variants. The Catholic Encyclopedia [1913, Vol. VIII, p. 329] states: "Jehovah (Yahweh), the proper name of God in the Old Testament." Had they known about the Q're perpetuum, the term "Jehovah" may have never come into being.^[12] Modern scholars recognize Jehovah to be "grammatically impossible" (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol VII, p. 8).

The consensus of mainstream scholarship is that "Yehowah" (or in Latin transcription "Jehovah") is a pseudo-Hebrew form which was mistakenly created when Medieval and/or Renaissance Christian scholars misunderstood this common qere perpetuum; the usual Jewish practice at the time of the Masoretes was to pronounce it as "Adonai," as is still the Jewish custom today.^[3]

Curious about Jehovah's Witnesses? See this BBC page.

Peace Between Individuals :: Peace Between Nations

"We Christians are above all addressed by the command of love to the point that we ourselves must live in peace with every person, just like Christ when he preached peace to the community, exemplified in peace with one's brother and sister, with one's neighbor, with the Samaritan. Unless we have this peace, we cannot preach peace to people.

Most who are annoyed at the world of peace among peoples, moreover, are already calling in question the love of enemies over against personal enemy. When we wish to speak about the conditions for peace, therefore, we would do well always to keep before our eyes the fact that relationships between two nations bear close analogy to relationships between two individuals. 

The conditions that are opposed to peace are in the one as in the other relationship: lust for power, pride, inordinate desire for glory and honor, arrogance, feelings of inferiority, and strife over more living space and over one's 'bread' or life.

What is sin for an individual is never virtue for an entire people or nation. What is proclaimed as the gospel to the church, the congregation, and, thereby, the individual Christian, is spoken to the world as a judgment. When a people refuses to hear this command, then Christians are called forth from that people to give witness to peace. 

Let us take care, however, that we proclaim peace from a spirit of love and not from any zeal for security or from any mere political aim."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom, 95

"The Matter is Simple..." [Kierkegaard]

Canadian National Exhibition in Photos

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) was all the rage in Toronto over the last three weeks. The annual event attracts millions of people each year to milk the last days of summer before school. This was my first year to attend and it certainly won't be my last! It is heaps of fun and offers attractions for all types of people: petting zoo, thrill rides, gambling games, carnival games, deep fried foods, desserts, arts and crafts, shopping, and special acts like musical artists and the exhilarating air show. Anyone who grew up going to the local country fair will find the CNE a flashback from childhood's good old days. Here are just a few photos I snapped when we visited.