Best this month
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Dolphin Tale
Dolphins are amazingly play- ful creatures. They possess a phenomenal learning ability, a sensitivity to touch, the pat- tern of forming long-term bonds with each other, and the habit of being present with hurt or dying companions. This movie directed by Charles Martin Smith is a top- drawer drama for families. Sawyer, an 11-year-old Florid- ian, cut himself off from others when his father left. He finds a beached dolphin whose tail is entangled in a crab trap. As he cuts her free, the two of them form a bond. The dolphin is taken to a marine hospital where she is named Winter. Thanks to Hazel, the daughter of the marine biologist who runs the facility, Sawyer is allowed to play a major role in rehabilitating Winter after her tail has to be amputated. Meanwhile a doctor from a VA hospital takes on the challenge of creating a prosthetic tail
A New Year’s Reunion In China, more than 100 million migrant workers labor in faraway places and only return home for a few days at New Year’s (for them, it’s Jan. 23 this year). Writer Yu Li Qiong and gifted illustrator Zhu Cheng Liang have created a fasci-
nating glimpse of this way of life
The Brussats pub- lish the website www. SpiritualityandPractice. com where you can find more information about the items reviewed in this column.
in a story about Maomao, a girl who delights in being with her father during China’s New Year’s festivities. The family makes sticky rice balls, enjoys the fire- crackers, and watches a parade with a dragon dance. Her father gives Maomao a fortune coin. By the time he is ready to leave again, she gives him a gift that will remind him of their life together in love (Candlewick Press,
www.candlewick. com).
42 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
for Winter using the latest technology. This heartwarming story about the mutual healing of a
lonely boy and a badly injured dolphin is a deeply spiritual experience (Warner Home Video, PG).
The Collected Sermons
of Walter Brueggemann “These texts bear witness to the power of God for new life. That is why we are here. God is at work giving new life,” says Walter Bruegge- mann, professor emeritus of Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga., in one of the 67 sermons in this collection. In the fore- word, Samuel Wells of Duke
University, Durham, N.C., praises him as a master exegete, preacher and theologian. Brueggemann argues that we need more bold ser- mons and preaching that offers viable alternatives to the secular world. He sees preaching as “a perfor- mance of God’s good rule.” The sermons here cover such subjects as saints, miracles, faith, ministry, deep waters, fears, strategies for humanness, habits, medi- cal care and more. In one he writes: “That is why all around the world there is such conflict and turmoil these days. It is because God is doing a new thing. The power of the gospel is at work breaking up old forms of power, permitting new possibilities, letting the weak ones have power, letting the sad ones laugh” (Westmin- ster John Knox Press,
www.wjkbooks.com).
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