News Archive
Faith and The Simpsons
I had the pleasure of taking a couple of seminars this week on the theme of 'Faith and the Simpsons' as part of a sixth form RE conference at Longbenton Community College with Year 12 students.
The sessions went really well and the students responded with interest to the content and engaged with the materials I had spent time preparing. It was really encouraging to see the school's Religious Studies department put so much work into giving their students an opportunity to engage in issues/themes spirituality in a way which was relevant to popular culture.
Other sessions that day included finding stories of faith in films and superheroes and spirituality. I am a firm believer in this kind of approach to encouraging young people to engage with spiritual issues. Jen often finds it amusing that we can see even the most awful or violent of films together and I am somehow still able to pull out a spiritual message or theme. It's a book project I want to work on in the next year or so!
Wouldn't it be great if churches took a similar approach to engaging with popular culture? I know of some that have tried it. A good friend of mine, Neil Sorenson, who is a youth pastor at Holy Trinity Church (Jesmond) spent last summer, with his church, looking at what Doctor Who, Big Brother and other well viewed progs had to say about the Christian faith.
I would love to hear any stories or reflections from you about how or where you have seen faith in contemporary culture recently. What was the last movie you saw that contained echoes of the gospel? Where did you last see faith or God crop up on your TV set? When was the last time you heard the audio of God on your iPod? Where did you, like the prophet Elijah, last hear the still small whisper of God in everyday life? (1 Kings 19:12)