Author Archives: hemilykim

Virtual Read Aloud – Dragon Masters #15

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It’s been over a month since we’ve been able to have Bibliopolis in person over at Gracepoint Berkeley. I wanted to try out a way to read with all the kiddos.  With the help of some technology, I think I found a pretty good alternative to in-person Bibliopolis time. And it isn’t limited to our friends in Alameda, but can be with all of our church plant friends too.

dragon mastresDragon Masters is a favorite series amongst our Bibliopolis Bibliophiles. And the latest installment came out at the beginning of March. Under normal circumstances, we would have already read this with several reading groups, and the book would be tattered by everyone having borrowed it.

Since these aren’t normal circumstances, I’ve created a virtual read aloud. I split the book into three installments, and did a screen recording of the e-book. You can read along with the text as I read. What’s awesome is no fighting about someone’s big head being in the way or pushing you off of the couch so that you can’t see the pictures!

Let me know how you like this format…

Good Friday: a Misnomer?

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Today is Good Friday. When I was younger I was confused by this because what was so good about Jesus dying? Shouldn’t it be called Bad Friday? Over the years, I have grown in my understanding of the gospel, and how the bad news is what makes the good news truly good. The bad news of my sin necessitates the badness — the excruciating pain and suffering — of the cross, the cross that is my cross. But the story doesn’t end there. When all hope is lost, Jesus willingly takes my place. And in that Great Exchange, something so terrible becomes something wondrous, beautiful, and Good with a capital “G.”

One of my favorite parts from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe captures this in the way that only C.S. Lewis can:

…”though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

-Chapter 15, “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time”

I was moved by this video Passion City Church made for their Good Friday Service a few years back*. Thankful for the creative people who can communicate the power of the cross to make Death itself start working backward, and turn bad news into truly good news.

*They have several other Good Friday videos that are just as moving. 

C.S. Lewis Doodles

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510qmsr5vyl-_sx330_bo1204203200_If you’ve been at Gracepoint for a little while, or for…many whiles, you know that at the top of Pastor Ed’s recommended reading list are books by C.S. Lewis. For example, Pastor Ed mentioned Miracles this past Sunday, and so I know several people have picked that up this week.

Maybe you’ve tried to tackle C.S. Lewis, but have been daunted by the jump from fiction like The Chronicles of Narnia, and allegory like The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce to some of the heavier hitters.

For all you (us) visual learners, I want to share a resource I found out about from my friend Sarah S. from Gracepoint Berkeley. There are 50 C.S. Lewis doodles on YouTube made by an account called…C.S. Lewis Doodles. These are super helpful in understanding the flow of his arguments, and giving visuals to hold on to in your mind. I’m looking forward to using these to help me in my personal study of his works. Thank you, Sarah!

Here are the two videos on “The Grand Miracle” from Miracles, just in time for Good Friday and Easter.

Do you have any cool reading resources to share?