Oscar buzz is in full swing now that the list of nominees has been released. This year there is a full contingent in the Best Film category. I was gratified to see that three on my Top Ten list have been selected as contenders for Best Picture. There is still one film that I haven’t seen, the Japanese feature film “Drive My Car.” It will be at least a week until I can catch it at a Cincinnati theater, so I will proceed without it.
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt or postpone the releases of some films during 2021. With theaters closed during part of the year, some new releases were viewed on various platforms via streaming video. Although this has meant that I have not been able to catch all the new films, I have seen enough to compile a long enough list of candidates that still make paring down the list to 10 a pleasantly painful process.
The Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin would not likely be a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today if she’d stayed in her homeland of Northern Ireland — and never found the Young Adult Volunteers (YAV) program.
Reconciliation is the active process of healing broken relationships. Many believe coming together for healing is one of the greatest challenges facing our country today. Some believe it can never happen, but after 37 years as a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker in Northern Ireland, Doug Baker knows the power of acceptance, forgiveness and relationship building.
