Kyria Blog

Bruce Marchiano

Kyria: You are best known for your role as Jesus in The Gospel According to Matthew (The Visual Bible), which is celebrating its 15th anniversary. In this film you portrayed Jesus with raw emotion—excruciating grief, but also overwhelming joy. What has informed your interpretation of Jesus? And have you always understood Jesus in the way you portrayed him in the film?

No, I haven’t. It wasn’t until I had to portray Jesus that I realized I’d never really taken the time to get to know him. Making The Gospel According to Matthew forced me to begin that journey. I knew that no basic actors’ skill was going to be enough. I needed to, first, understand Jesus, and second, to personally pursue conforming to his likeness. Once I began, I became more and more desperate to know Jesus; that was the cry of my heart. I buried my nose on the carpet seeking God in preparation for the film.

Scripture says that Jesus loved people with an everlasting love. That means you get down in the dirt with people and cry over their pain and hold them until that pain is gone. Anyone who hangs on a piece of wood and bleeds for the love of people is not a detached person. It was within this wide range of heartbreak and joy that the interpretation was born.

Continue reading "Bruce Marchiano" »

share this

Posted by Bonnie McMaken at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

In 1993 Greg Mortenson, a nurse and avid climber, barely survived a failed attempt to scale Himalayan peak K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Lost and separated from his guide, Mortenson wandered into the small, impoverished Pakistani village of Korphe. As the people nursed him back to health, Mortenson was moved by their kindness—and horrified by the sight of school children attempting to learn while kneeling on frosty ground. Once healed, he left with the promise he’d return and build them a school. Amazingly, over the next decade he managed not only to keep his vow, but build 54 more across the country.

“The first time you share tea with [us] you are a stranger,” Korphe village leader Haji Ali told Mortenson. “The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die.” Ali’s words not only inspire the book’s title, but foreshadow the often nail-biting adventure Mortenson embarks upon as he faces con artists, the fallout from 9/11 and Islamic extremism, and young girls struggling to gain an education in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

Continue reading "Book Review: Three Cups of Tea" »

share this

Posted by Bonnie McMaken at 1:41 PM | Comments (3)

Book Review: Everyday Justice

Sometimes we feel crippled by the pain and oppression in the world. So many causes. So many worthy callings. We think our actions have to be big or even vocational; it’s overwhelming and paralyzing.

But what if even our small actions—like what we eat, drink, drive, and wear—can make a difference to others and the environment? Julie Clawson’s new book, Everyday Justice (IVP Books), helps us answer this question. Her practical guide takes the obscurity out of “social justice,” a buzz phrase we hear all the time in our churches and in the media. What does it mean to live justly (Micah 6:8), and why is it important in our mission to love God, others, and creation?

Clawson fuses a healthy understanding of worship and justice: “Worship doesn’t merely involve enacting the cultural rituals of worship of personal piety, but more importantly, it involves how we treat others. . . . Following God in full obedience is an act of worship, which means acting justly is part of what it means to worship God.” In other words, what we do in the sanctuary should inform what we do in our homes, in our ministries, and in the world.

Continue reading "Book Review: Everyday Justice" »

share this

Posted by Bonnie McMaken at 2:08 PM | Comments (0)

Book Review: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

For Bella Swan, romance is dead. Literally. When the 17-year-old heroine of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling young adult series falls for her classmate, a hottie named Edward, she has no idea he’s keeping a secret: He’s a vampire and, well, dead.

Throughout the first three novels, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, Bella navigates love and a rollercoaster ride of conflicts and adventures stemming from the clash of her human frailty with Edward’s virtually indestructible immortality. Note: Edward is a member of a “civilized family” of vampires who drink only animal blood. Spoiler alert: In Breaking Dawn, Meyer wraps up the romance, and the series, while stirring up a bit of controversy in the process. Beginning just days before Bella and Edward’s wedding, Dawn takes a darker turn that includes “off-camera” honeymoon rough sex (evidently Edward doesn’t know his own strength and Bella bruises easily), a life-threatening pregnancy that causes Bella to drink—and vomit—blood, and her eventual death and transformation to vampire. Though Meyer gives us a happily-ever-after ending, the journey is at times disturbingly bumpy and graphic.

Continue reading "Book Review: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer" »

share this

Posted by Bonnie McMaken at 12:38 PM | Comments (4)

Music Review: Awaken the Dawn

There are some Christian musicians who release albums, sing, and perform. Their music blesses their listeners. Then there are artists who touch not only individuals but the church through their music. Keith and Kristyn Getty are the latter. Like its predecessor, In Christ Alone, Awaken the Dawn features strong melodies and scriptural lyrics, earning its place as one of the most cohesive, thoughtful, and accessible worship albums of the decade.

The title of the album draws its meaning from Psalm 57: “Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples” (Psalm 57:8–9). The motifs of worship as awakening, God calling all people, and ecclesial unity are evident throughout the album. Because of their thematic intentionality, the Gettys have created a focused body of songs that compels the listener to worship through the vivid imagery.

Continue reading "Music Review: Awaken the Dawn" »

share this

Posted by Bonnie McMaken at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)