Thanksgiving has come and gone and the festivities of the season continue to approach. As we live in a society that prods us to speed every season before one has been celebrated, the urgency to live life calmly and to the fullest is one of my goals for my family. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays because it brings everyone together to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is an opportunity to sit back and leave the marketing and commercialism behind and to savor and understand this season in life.
Growing up, right before Christmas, we would watch videos and stories talking about the birth of Jesus in the manger. Not only were there songs to sing, but there were short films to depict the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth. As I think about how I want my children to grow up in this society, my husband and I make sure we talk to our girls about Jesus at all times. How about our friends and family?
Lumo Project, an educational resource to help promote biblical literacy, has been working on a project for five years that was just released December 1st on Netflix. For anyone interested in the Gospel stories, the Gospel of John is the first of the four Gospels released during this month, with Matthew, Mark, and Luke following in the near future. The Gospel of John takes the story of Jesus from John’s gospel with its own unique characteristics. For John, Jesus is the Word of God made human. John is clear that that when encounter Jesus, we encounter God. The gospel writer points to the miracles (the ‘Signs’) and teachings as evidence of Jesus’ special relationship as the divine Son of God.
This full-length feature film about the life of Jesus takes the actual Gospel text as its script, word for word, unedited. Five years in the making, this epic production has been critically acclaimed by leading religious scholars as a unique and highly authentic telling of the Jesus story. Narrated by leading British actor David Harewood (‘Homeland’, ‘Blood Diamond’, ‘Merchant of Venice’) it is based on the latest theological, historical and archaeological research. With specially constructed sets and the extraordinarily authentic villages and countryside of rural Morocco, it immerses the viewer in the world of first century Palestine.
I love the fact that this video is available for all to see and that it will be available in many languages for all people to watch and hear stories from Jesus’ incredible birth, his ministry on earth up until his painful death on the cross and then his amazing resurrection. What will you differently this season? Why not watch and listen to this Gospel in available in either the New King James version or New International Version of the Bible. As I watched the video, I was truly transported to the time when Jesus lived. The characters were well-portrayed and the soundtrack is truly powerful alongside the reading of Scripture.
Watch portions of it with your family and talk follow with the Bible and talk about how it made an impact on you. I am thankful for resources like Lumo Project for making the video available to watch on Netflix. Look for The Gospel of John and choose your version. Narrations in French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Finish, Danish, Norwegian, Brazilian and Portuguese will be released over the coming months.
