While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. Acts 17:16

As you may be aware, Monday night marked the season finale of The Bachelor, ABC’s dramatic romantic “reality” show. Sparing you a recap, Monday’s finale and After the Rose ceremony was brutal.

This season was my first full introduction to the show, and I had the added experience of watching the show with several close buds who are also friends of Jason Mesnick (aka. the Bachelor).

Sitting next to them, watching dramatically edited video footage of broken-hearted Melissa fighting back tears and anger aimed at her ex-fiance moments after being dumped on national television, I couldn’t get over the mix of feeling both undeniably intrigued and grieved for the people involved. I hurt for Jason, who according to people who know him, is a genuinely quality guy, but who came off seeming like a complete jerk as he “followed his heart.” I hurt for each of the women on the show as they put their hope (perhaps foolishly) into a dream and entrusted it to a flawed person (however quality he may be). It also surprised me how much I hurt to realize what the popularity of this show (myself contributing) reveals about our culture and values. According to a recent New York Times article, “with more than 11 million viewers a week, [The Bachelor] is reaching its biggest audience in five years.”

One overarching theme kept coming to mind, though I realize there are many more layers we could glean from the Bachelor phenomenon.

• We are perpetual worshipers and tend to destroy our objects of worship when they disappoint us.

I made the mistake of wandering into a forum that had erupted since Monday and cringed at the fury of heated comments. Bloggers and forum junkies had fully utilized the top row of their keyboard to describe Jason. There was genuine passion, anger, and disappointment in the comment sections of many articles written this week.

• Jesus is the answer to our search for unconditional love and the only one who can handle our hope and deserves our worship.

Okay, that’s two points, but they are interconnected in one theme. Three questions I am wrestling with this week and hope will challenge you as well:

1. How does entertainment bleed into our call to be missional, contextual neighbors?

2. If our intended response to culture is to receive, reject, and redeem, how does that play out practically?

3. What does this show and others like it reveal about the needs of the culture we live and minister in?

Besides, of course, that we all desperately need Jesus.

I am so far from having a Godly response to culture, but my hope and prayer is that Jesus will continue to break our hearts as we see misplaced hope and that we will respond as Paul did in Athens at the original Mars Hill:

For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. Acts 17:23