ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Matt Hill

What’s New? Nothing (Except This!)

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So it’s 2023. What’s new? Nothing, really. Well, except one thing. What is it? What’s actually, really, truly new?

Find out in this mindbogglingly exiting, fast-paced Season 5 opener of the Your Sunday Drive podcast.

Topics covered include: McCarthy and the same-old political divisions; how Jesus offers a third way vis-a-vis divisions; how to not let the culture wars steal our joy (a la Trevin Wax) because we’re “citizens of Heaven and fight Mordor with the joy of the Shire in our hearts” (a la Tolkien – happy bday, professor!); btw that’s at least two French phrases used so far in this description (oui oui!); rewatching Mad Men and the providential, still-small-voice moment involving “The Door” where you can discover the actually, really, truly new thing (spoiler, it involves the gospel and Jesus and all that, as per usual w this podcast 🙂 ); the new Avatar and how some movies really change things; probably other topics come up in there as well, but who’s to say really? listen and find out I guess.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

The Truth Behind Your Favorite Christmas Songs

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your sunday drive podcast christmas

Have you ever noticed the deep theological truths that often appear in popular Christmas song lyrics? We have! Have you ever wondered about the people and history behind these songs? We have!

In the final Your Sunday Drive podcast episode of 2022, we take a deep(ish) dive into some familiar songs of the season. Plus we dig into related issues of sacred vs secular music, possible trends in worship music over the years, do some general Christmas-related chatting, etc.

Thanks to any and everyone who’s listened to an episode this year or any of our other FOUR YEARS of podcasting!! Merry Christmas and a blessed 2023 to you!

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Don’t Just Be Thankful – DO SOMETHING!

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Being thankful is nice, but doing something in response is better!

In this fresh new Your Sunday Drive podcast episode, we reflect on items from the realms of current events, pop culture and our own lives. We discover plenty to be thankful for, but more importantly, we discuss actual ways to show thankfulness and respond.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

The Lord of the Rings vs. Game of Thrones

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Amazon’s The Rings of Power and HBO’s House of the Dragon are two of the hottest shows out right now. In this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we dig deep into the authors, fantasy universes and worldviews behind The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.

How are these works similar and different? How do the new series fit into the larger universes? How are Tolkien’s and Martin’s sensibilities reflected in our current culture? Our politics? The church? And how do these fantasy worlds ultimately relate to the faith?

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Back to School Catch-Up Catch-All

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Back to school time is always busy and full of new beginnings. In this new episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we get together (for the first episode since June!) to catch up and have a catch-all conversation about all things related to this time of year.

In the end, we reflect on how easy it is to be anxious at times like these… and how good it is to be able to cast our anxieties on God.

Note: When we say catch all, we mean catch all 🙂 Topics include: What’s new at the Church in Drive, cancel culture, book bans, education in general, sharing back-to-school photos on Facebook, how we create community even when it’s more challenging, how college kids are still kids, how there’s a sweet-spot agewise for politicians, the Forward party, avoiding the ditches of extremes, Randal Rauser and Progressive Christians Love Jesus Too, grammar quibbles and the constructedness of language, the new football season and the Big 10 going “coast to coast” (like Space Ghost), 1177 B.C., The Old Man, Better Call Saul, Nope, Everything Everywhere All at Once, chilling and doing bird stuff, etc. etc.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Roe Is Overturned… Now What?

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Abortion is no longer a constitutional right, as Roe vs. Wade is overturned in a historic supreme court decision. But now what? Especially for Christians, what should we be doing? How should we be reacting? (And not reacting?)

In this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we dig into the decision, the politics, the worldviews behind pro-life and pro-choice positions, how worldviews influence politics, the reactions people have been having so far to the decision, how to react in a more Jesus-like manner, and more.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Mass Shootings; Top Gun, Stranger Things, Obi Wan & Nostalgia

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It is a sad season of far too many mass shootings…

In this episode of Your Sunday Drive, we discuss details of the recent incidents, their complex causes, related political and cultural issues, possible solutions, and more.

How may our overall crisis of meaning be leading to a crisis of gun violence? What role does the church play?

Nostalgia rears its head yet again, as Top Gun: Maverick rules at the box office, while Stranger Things 4 and Obi Wan Kenobi take over streaming platforms. We talk about these stories, the positives and negatives of nostalgia, and why now might be such a fertile time for the familiar to find favor. (Sorry about all those Fs … sometimes things just happen and you gotta go with it 🙂 )

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

The Meaning Crisis; This Is Us

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Have you ever wondered “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”? We attempt to give an answer in this new episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast by looking at a popular Atlantic article with that title from cultural commentator Jonathan Haidt. Points of discussion include social media, its influence and some possible ways to curtail its negative effects.

Sure… social media is a problem and has amplified our fragmentation, like languages at the Tower of Babel, but isn’t there a deeper issue? Yes – what’s currently being discussed as “The Meaning Crisis” by a growing number of voices, such as Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Jonathan Vervaeke, Paul Vander Klay, Johnathan Pageau, Tim DeRoche and others. We look at this current moment, try to unpack some of its causes and history, and ultimately contextualize it with the Christian faith.

Popular (and excellent) show This Is Us reaches its final few episodes and Nate has thoughts. What does our current pop culture have to say about things like love and marriage? How should a Christian respond when non-Christian ideas about such topics are presented and even celebrated in our pop culture?

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Ukraine & Thinking Christianly About War; Batman; Elden Ring

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With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is war in Europe. In this new episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we discuss the current crisis, asking questions such as: How should Christians think about war and physical conflict in general? Is pacifism the right way? Is there ever a time to *not* “turn the other cheek?” What is it about such times that evokes powerful ideas about good and evil, heroes and villains? What deep truth lies behind these conflict-borne intuitions?

We also take a moment for the pop cultural pulse, quickly covering The Batman, Elden Ring and In Search of a Kingdom.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Christian Takes (On Rogan, Whoopi, Wordle, Superbowl, Book of Boba Fett…)

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There’s always so much in the news and current culture! How can a Christian develop a solid take on so many things? Does a Christian even need to always have a take? Why? What principles can guide us as we attempt to see and communicate things correctly from a Christian point of view?

Find out in this brand new episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast…

With wisdom on having a solid Christian take in place, we tackle a grab bag of current topics to put it into practice. Things that come up (in rando order): Joe Rogan, Whoopi Goldberg, Spotify, Wordle, The Oscars, The Superbowl, The Olympics, Pokemon GO, The Book of Boba Fett, God Reforms Hearts by Thaddeus Williams, the current Canadian trucker protests, mask mandates, abortion, free will and predestination (more later?), ice skating, small groups at CiD, Epic by John Eldredge.. plenty more unremembered items 🙂

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive