Local church invites all to study with 'The Chosen'

A group of 20 or more has begun gathering regularly at First Lutheran Church in Waldorf to watch episodes of the Christian series “The Chosen” and use it as a basis for short Bible study sessions. The group will meet again at 6 p.m. on March 15. At that time, season one episode 5 will be viewed. The meeting after that will be 6 p.m. March 29.

 

The sessions began in January and are held every other Sunday in the basement of First Lutheran Church. The video is shown on a 6-foot-tall screen and popcorn is served at no cost.

 

Session leader Rev. Larry Sipe says he believes the show will help viewers “gain a deeper understanding of God’s love for mankind and especially for themselves.”  The series is produced by Dallas Jensen, who has been making Christian films for decades. In its fifth season and available online, the series depicts Christ and the apostles, adding elements about their daily lives and personalities which are not mentioned in the Bible, but are not in contradiction to information and circumstances provided in the New Testament.

 

Regarding the dramatizations, Sipe observes, “One of the appealing aspects is we get to see how human Jesus was, that he laughed, played, had friends, joked around, not just that he is God but also that he is man. Another appealing aspect for me is that ‘The Chosen' shows how much we have in common with the great heroes of the Gospels, Peter, who made the great confession that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God, had a wife and marital problems. ‘The Chosen’ does a good job at helping us understand what life was like under Roman occupation and the sense of longing for a savior/messiah/deliverer.”

 

Sipe goes on to say the dramatized version inspires viewers to read the gospels for themselves; it also offers a low pressure opportunity to invite family members and friends to connect or reconnect with the central occurrences of Jesus’ life.