Okay, so I was ready to take issue with the Gaines' (cuz of all the social media stuff I DONT follow kept showing up in my newsfeeds...) and wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Glad I didn't. Who are we to know how/why/if God directed Chip and Joanna to produce a show ((as Jesus followers)) who would also extend a hand to people whose life choices have made them feel anything but welcome in the church? Who knows but they could be planting seeds of love just like Jesus did?
Dallas Jenkins' approach comes to mind with the many, many hundreds of cast and crew members of The Chosen who are not Jesus followers--he and his wife are telling the story of Jesus and his followers and letting the words speak for themselves while they produce a stellar show. Who knows what mysterious ways God works in?
Also, I've been re reading I Corinthians lately and j u s t happened upon this judgment and lawsuits within the church passage the other day. No coincidence.
All the years I've been a believer, people have grossly taken that scripture out of context. Thank you for the re calibration. We are to judge one another within the church.
Thank you for sharing some of your reflections here, Jody! I resonate with a lot of what you say here. One nice thing about trusting the love of God is the realization that we can rest in that and trust the Lord to draw people to himself as only he can. (PS love the Chosen!)
Well written and wholeheartedly agree with you. Thank you for writing this and reminding us reality TV is not the church. So appreciated what you emphasized while reading aloud.
Thank you for articulating so much that I could not. 💯
You are very welcome! I’m glad it resonated!
"Maybe we can turn our attention outwards after we’ve expelled abusive leaders and corrected church family systems that enable abuse."
::fist pump::
Okay, so I was ready to take issue with the Gaines' (cuz of all the social media stuff I DONT follow kept showing up in my newsfeeds...) and wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Glad I didn't. Who are we to know how/why/if God directed Chip and Joanna to produce a show ((as Jesus followers)) who would also extend a hand to people whose life choices have made them feel anything but welcome in the church? Who knows but they could be planting seeds of love just like Jesus did?
Dallas Jenkins' approach comes to mind with the many, many hundreds of cast and crew members of The Chosen who are not Jesus followers--he and his wife are telling the story of Jesus and his followers and letting the words speak for themselves while they produce a stellar show. Who knows what mysterious ways God works in?
Also, I've been re reading I Corinthians lately and j u s t happened upon this judgment and lawsuits within the church passage the other day. No coincidence.
All the years I've been a believer, people have grossly taken that scripture out of context. Thank you for the re calibration. We are to judge one another within the church.
Thank you for sharing some of your reflections here, Jody! I resonate with a lot of what you say here. One nice thing about trusting the love of God is the realization that we can rest in that and trust the Lord to draw people to himself as only he can. (PS love the Chosen!)
So very well said. Keep speaking up!
Thank you for reading!
this is so well-articulated, marissa. thank you for your courage to work through the complexities of this and post your thoughts!
You are very welcome! Thanks for reading!
Well written and wholeheartedly agree with you. Thank you for writing this and reminding us reality TV is not the church. So appreciated what you emphasized while reading aloud.
Thank you for reading and for this encouragement.