WEEK ONE: THE LORD OF THE RINGS

If you’re at all familiar with “The Lord of the Rings,” you’ll know that it all started with a book series by author J.R.R. Tolkien. But it wasn’t just a small series; the author created a whole fictional world of characters, geography, politics, scary creatures, immortal beings, magical wizards, and heroic quests. This world of Middle Earth was explored through several books (published in a wide timeframe between 1936 and 1980) which are still talked about in depth among fans today. And now, through our media and entertainment industry, we can see these stories come to life through the original movie trilogy, the prequel “Hobbit” trilogy, and a streaming series called “The Rings of Power” which is planned to stretch across five seasons, exploring how Sauron (the villain of the story) came into power. The original trilogy even includes very popular extended editions with more scenes and content for the biggest fans of the story!

And while that all may feel like a lot if you’re not someone who has delved into the world of Tolkien’s writing, my favorite thing about “The Lord of the Rings” is how this fictional story can’t help but reflect the author’s Christian faith. Tolkien is widely considered to be a huge influence in helping to lead famous Christian author C.S. Lewis to faith in Jesus from atheism, and Lewis went on to create his own fantasy book series (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) which is seen as a strong Christian allegory. And while Tolkien admits that his stories about Middle Earth are not a direct allegory to the gospel, he did admit that his work is “fundamentally religious…unconsciously so at first.” He implied that his personal relationship with Jesus can’t help but be present in the stories that he created in his mind; the themes of good versus evil and light triumphing over darkness are strong in the characters and plotlines, as well as virtues and traits that Christ-followers should be striving to exemplify in our lives.

So in a way, I like to think of Tolkien’s masterpiece as an example of what this series is all about! In “Watchlist,” we take a story which is told through a book or a movie or a television show or even a video game… and we talk about how it reminds us of the gospel. As followers of Jesus, we can’t help but find reminders of our faith in the media we consume, just as Tolkien couldn’t help but reflect his relationship with God when he put creative pen to paper. When we are living our lives and walking with Jesus, we can find reflections of him almost anywhere! And maybe we can even share and show the love of God to others in what we do or in our own creativity—whether any of us become a world-renowned author or not.