ACTS 17: Find God in what you watch, read, listen to today

We’re over half way through this journey through the Book of Acts – it’s certainly quite a ride!

If you’re just joining us, welcome aboard! We’re reading a chapter a day and I’m providing a link to the chapter in the NIV(UK) version, but you can of course read the chapter in whatever version you like. I’ve been sharing some short reflections, but the important part is the last part: ACTION.

I wonder how you’ve been getting on with the short challenges I’ve been setting…

READ: Acts 17

REFLECTION: 

Proclaim Jesus in the synagogue. Some Jews believe. Some Greeks and women too. Other Jews stir up trouble because they are jealous. Paul and Silas are sent away.

Repeat.

Proclaim Jesus in the synagogue. Some Jews believe. Some Greeks and women too. Other Jews stir up trouble because they are jealous. Paul is sent away.

Repeat.

Proclaim Jesus in the synagogue. Some Jews believe. Some Greeks and women too.

Thessalonica. Berea. Athens.

There’s a pattern here as Paul faithfully tells people about Jesus. I love his speech in Athens. He looks around him and makes his message relevant to the culture these people are living and breathing in. He quotes other philosophers. He takes what they know and places it in a spiritual context that reveals more about the living God.

I went to see ‘A Quiet Place’ with my teenagers the other day. I then read a piece about this horror film, celebrating the art and creativity of the film and drawing out a spiritual message. One of my favourite series is ‘The Walking Dead’. I heard an amazing talk at Greenbelt last year about what we can learn about human nature and about faith from the Zombie apocalypse. I wrote school assemblies for many years, using films and soaps and real life stories to point us towards God.

This is my thing. I look for God in popular culture. I listen for God in songs on Radio One. I find God in films and books and TV series. Wherever there are humans interacting, there are lessons for us to learn. I find it hard when Christians distance themselves from popular culture, make assumptions about the godlessness of actors and writers and musicians, as if it’s impossible to follow God if you’re involved in the arts (yes, some people still believe that. I heard it voiced yesterday).

This is the world in which people live and breathe and have their being. Creativity in the arts is amazing, something to be celebrated. Making sense of the world and the nature of God is something all humans wrestle with and therefore this struggle will be represented in the arts.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands…He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else…God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

ACTION: Find God in what you watch, read, listen to today

You’ll hear me pointing out examples of forgiveness and love and courage and doubt and selfishness and cruelty every time I watch TV or a film with the family or listen to the radio with them in the car. Sometimes the references to God are obvious – like Drake’s song ‘God’s Plan’ which spent weeks at number one or April’s crisis of faith in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Other times, the lesson is in the way people treat the ones they love, their friends, their neighbours, their enemies.

Today’s challenge is to watch some TV, watch a film, read a book, listen to music – and find God.