Preaching in a Messed-up World

Lots of people have been talking about the Netflix mini-series Adolescence. With my book “Good Bad No Dad?” coming out this month, I have been particularly tuned in on media stories about fathers.

Yet at the back of my mind, I have the insights given by Neil Postman in his wise book: Amusing themselves to Death, that remind us of fact that whatever television touches it tends to trivialize.

Clearly TV can raise important issues, as was seen last year with the mini-series Mr Bates Against the Post Office, that got people in high places talking about the need to do something about this scandal. The 1960’s play Cathy Come Home, which started people talking but young people still end up living in chaos on the streets or in unsuitable homes.

I am grateful that Adolescence has got people talking about issues around male role models, toxic masculinity and the misuse of smartphones.

The following things struck home for me in the series.

1.    In the first episode when Jamie, who is being accused of stabbing to death a fellow pupil, is arrested he wets himself. Here is a 13-year-old boy, a child who bursts into tears and wants to have his dad with him at the police station.

We live at a time when childhood is being snatched from our children. Children might want to explore adult themes and have adult experiences, but they are still children who are not mature enough to navigate them. Jamie has been exposed to images of woman that have attracted him to an older pupil, who when she ridicules him, is brutally stabbed.

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” (Song of Solomon 8:4)

2.    The police inspector who oversees investigating the case has a son who is at the same school as Jamie. The boy is embarrassed to see his dad in the school and in a cringe-worth scene must explain to his dad how innocent looking emojis have been repurposed by teenagers to distort their message.

The yawning generation gap this exposes between father and son is telling!

3.    The most chilling episode is the one where a Child psychologist interview Jamie. At first, he flirts with her and then when the line of questioning becomes too uncomfortable, he loses his temper and threatens her. The 13-year-old has picked up on enough on toxic masculinity that he is unable to view woman objectively.

4.    The final episode contains what is perhaps the most pertinent moment. Jamie’s parents are talking about how they assumed that their son would be safe in his room. Yet with an internet connection, real and present danger is only a click away.

There is a danger and an opportunity for the preacher in this series.

The danger for preachers is that of moralizing. It is easy to repeat what the media is saying about the show. The Prime Minster has suggested screening the series in school to all children over 11 years old. There is little point in exposing children to what is going wrong without telling a better story.

The opportunity is to preach the gospel that introduces our hearers to the experience of new creation in Christ. A fresh sense of identity shaped by Christ that gives us a fresh set of lenses to view God, ourselves and people around us.