Vacation Bible School
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL REGISTRATION BEGINS MAY 14th !
FIESTA! Where kids are fired up about Jesus!
For those of you who are new, you can ask any MPCer, VBS is so much FUN! Invite your friends and neighbors, your cousins and your classmates. EVERYONE is welcome. The cost will be $5 per child/$10 max per family. All guests are free. VBS is scheduled for June 26-30th. We begin the evening with a dinner for everyone at 5:30pm. Children aged 3 and older are welcome to register. We will have child care for the younger ones and there even will be an adult program. We have something for everyone!!!
God's children of all ages are welcome to participate. VBS includes programs for God's adult-children also. Please feel free to call the office at 623-6663 for more details. For MPC members, registration is $5 per child ($10 maximum per family). Registration fee for everyone else is free!
For photos of a previous VBS, click here.
The MPC Youth Program
The MPC Youth Program includes both Jr. and Sr. Highers from grades 7-12. Regular meetings are held from 4:30-6:00 pm on Sunday afternoons with frequent outings and activities taking place at other times each month. The emphasis is on fun, fellowship and service to others. Our foundation is faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with prayer and Bible study a regular part of each week’s program. A mission trip is planned for each Spring either on Oahu or one of the neighboring islands. The Youth Director is Teresa Charles assisted by the MPC CE Director Katherine Tingley. For more information contact Teresa at 630-2373 or the church office.
Church Library
The Church Library is in the Sunday School building. It’s an excellent source of Christian books, tapes and videos.
Current Events That Relate to Our Beliefs
Occasionally an event such as removing "under God" from our Pledge of Allegiance will come into the public spot light. When this happens, Pastor Jim or one of the Elders will submit a commentary. These are found below:
The Da Vinci Code Reviewed by Pastsor Jim
Daughter #3 took me to see "The Da Vinci Code" movie for my birthday this afternoon. I did not have much interest in seeing the movie for its own sake but felt that, as a church pastor, I should see it so as to respond to questions, etc. that might arise in my congregation.
My take on the movie?
The Good: This was clearly begun as a high-budget film. The cinematography, sound, etc. was excellent, especially in the dimly-lit scenes which, in so many movies, are so dark as to leave the viewer wondering what is actually going on. The scenery was enjoyable as well, especially for my daughter and I who visited the Louvre several years ago and could easily imagine the location. The acting of Ian McKlellen (as Sir Teabing) and Paul Bettany (as the albino assassin) provided most of the dramatic sparks . . . not exceptional performances, mind you, but at least believable and solid. Audrey Tautou (as Sophie Neveu) was pleasant to look at but added little else to the stories emotional tensions.
The Bad: The screenplay was dull, dreary, preachy, long-winded and, to put it bluntly, boring. So much (pseudo-) historical background had to be explained in order to understand the plot that it often seemed as though Tom Hanks (as symbologist Robert Langdon) was reading from the novel's Clift Notes. Most of the characters plodded through their lines as if they were going through a dress rehearsal rather than having arrived on the set completely in character. The "believability factor" for much of the plot was near zero. There was little motivation for Langdon to risk his life for such a bizarre and unexpected encounter with people he had never met or heard of before . . . and in a foreign country to boot. Didn't he have a real life somewhere that included family? work? commitments? The strange and irrational logic and behaviors of the supposed members of the Priory of Sion and the fanatical elements of Opus Dei who seek their extinction, seemed more like something out of an old B-Science Fiction film rather than a first-class suspense movie. The whole scenario played out as phony as a James Bond movie plot.
The Ugly: Where the movie fell apart completely was in its supposed "historical" references. The list of fantasy facts was so exhaustive that at one point I actually leaned over and told my daughter that the comment about the Pope designating Mary Magdalene as a prostitute in 551(?) AD was the first true fact I had heard so far! The flashback scene to the Council of Nicea was particularly laughable. "Ben Hur" (both of them) and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" were more historically accurate than this piece of fluff. Not only was the presentation of that event (and the substance and purpose for it) a complete fraud but the cinematic "special effects" that recreated that scene (and other flashbacks) appeared to have been filmed and produced after the film's budget had already been spent.
In the end I cannot imagine the movie convincing anyone other than a raving lunatic or an impressionable visitor from another planet that Jesus Christ was "Married With Children" and that the entire Christian Faith was a fraud concocted by Constantine in cahoots with the leaders of a faith which had just survived two centuries of suffering, persecution and martyrdom for what? Believing that Jesus had been a man?. Sure.
If I were to catalogue the novel or movie at the local public library I would be tempted to classify it as "Fantasy and Science Fiction." It has more in common with "Star Trek" than with, say, "Gladiator" or "Master and Commander."
I'd give it two stars out of five, having docked it a half-star for simply being so unintentionally pompous and pretentious in the brazen flaunting of its "historical" hoo-haws.
______________________________________________________________________________________
