We will be viewing and discussing episodes of the wonderful TV series about the life of Jesus, The Chosen, at 6:30pm in Room M8 of the Parish Family Center on March 12th, 19th, and 26th, and April 2nd and 9th.
Father Ken provided the following introduction to the program in his February 16th message:
After a series of signs which I think God has sent, pointing in this direction, I think it’s time that we dipped into the fabulous series about the life of Jesus, The Chosen.
If you are not familiar with this series (and it’s getting harder and harder not to), it’s the brainchild and labor of love of evangelical Christian film producer, director, and screenwriter Dallas Jenkins, who introduced this free series in 2017. (It can be offered free because of the copious donations the production receives; we ourselves have sent tithes to support this series.) Followers of the show await the fifth season with great excitement, whose first few episodes will appear in movie theaters on Thursday, March 27; the entire season’s streaming schedule will be announced this Sunday, February 16, but it will certainly begin sometime this spring.
Each of the first four seasons includes eight episodes. Season 1 begins with Jesus choosing and calling his first disciples, and Season 4 ends with Jesus about to enter Jerusalem on a donkey at the beginning of the first Holy Week. Season 5 will cover the events of Holy Week through the Last Supper. There will be seven seasons in all. Season 6 will deal with Jesus’ passion and death; exactly what the last season will cover has not yet been disclosed, but one imagines it will depict the resurrection.
When I say that The Chosen is free, I mean that the app, called The Chosen, can be downloaded free on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or PC. It’s also available on services such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, and Roku. You can also purchase DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. In all these ways, you can get caught up on the first four seasons to prepare for Season 5, and for our adult faith-sharing/faith formation sessions. But it is not necessary to have watched any of it to participate in the sessions.
If you are familiar with the show, then you already know how amazing it is. Personally, I’ve seen all of the film versions of the life of Christ (as is know surprise, I’m sure), and I have cherished their different aspects; but The Chosen surpasses them all: the ability of an ongoing series to develop depth of character, flesh out the stark details in the Gospels with inspired backstories, and refine dialog so that it sounds the way people really talk is something at which to marvel.
The episodes I will choose for us to view and discuss will focus on two themes: answering Christ’s call to follow him, and the commission to spread the Gospel. Join us, won’t you?