i made a promise a year ago today. now i'm finally going to act on it.

A year ago today.

A year ago today I hopped on a Zoom call. It was originally for reading a book aloud to my dear friend Olivia. She had been in an accident in Germany that took away her ability to walk or talk, and her friends organized a regular Zoom call to read “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” out loud to her. I normally didn't get to join those calls due to a scheduling conflict. But somehow my schedule shifted, and I made it a point to join that call, a year ago today. It turns out many of her friends had the same impulse. The Zoom room was more full than usual, they said.

So we read out loud to her for a bit and then went to check-ins to report to Olivia and each other what was going on in our lives. As we made the rounds and it got to me, I wanted to tell her, just so it was known, I wanted to tell her everything.

I wanted to tell her that her conversion to Christianity before the accident moved me, even though it wasn’t my path. I wanted to tell her how her mother’s daily updates on Facebook since her accident were the most cherished use of social media I knew. I wanted to tell her that those social media posts mentioned how the family used a TV show called The Chosen as a comfort watch. I wanted to tell her that I secretly started watching too, to be closer to her, to feel like I’m in her orbit somehow. Then I started watching because… it was good TV. It wasn’t preachy. It wasn’t cheesy. It was a well-written and well-shot historical fiction series. It even had (gasp!) some humor. I wanted to talk with her about each episode and break it down like a biblical scholar would. I wanted to go deep into the philosophy of her newfound faith and hear her conversion story, her reaction to these scenes, what she thought of this, what she thought of that. I wanted to discover what I thought, felt, how I reacted as an agnostic admirer of Jesus’ work in this world.

I didn’t get to tell her all those things in all the ways I wish I could. But I did get to at least tell her I’ve been watching the show, thanked her for introducing it to me vicariously, and that I was thinking of starting a podcast called A Part-Time Agnostic Reacts to The Chosen. We all laughed.

I told her this on May 14, 2024.

The next day, Olivia left this world.

It took me a year to the day to finally start to make good on that promise.

And here is where I want your help.

If you aren’t the normal kind of person who would be watching a Jesus television show, do you want to watch the show with me? I would love some companions on this journey, where doubts and questions about all this stuff are welcome.

It will be Tuesdays from 7-9pm Pacific, starting May 27th and going through at least the summer. It’ll start online, but if you’re in the LA area, there may be some in-person watch parties too.

There will be no proselytizing allowed. You can be a staunch atheist before, during, and after watching it, and no one is there to change your mind. This isn’t a group for the normal Jesus crowd. This is a watch party and discussion group for The Rest of Us.

Please email me at hi@littlespiral.com if you would like the Zoom link, and tell me about yourself. I would love to talk.