A 20-Week Devotional Plan for the Arts

Members of the faculty, staff, and student body of DTS have prepared a twenty-week series of devotionals to help you bring biblical wisdom and theological perspective to your engagement with media. In this weekly devotional plan, we invite you to spend time with one artwork—story, movie, poem, painting, song, and more—each week (or at your preferred pace, in the case of Middlemarch!) and ask God to be present and speak to you in those moments. When paired with Scripture passages, what insights do these works bring to the surface? What conversations with other people might you begin by starting with artworks like these?

Devotional Series

Devotional#1: “Wanna Be Loved” (2024), Red Clay Strays

Genesis 2:18; 1 John 4:7–12

Glenn Kreider
Devotional#2: The Wild Robot (2024), directed by Chris Sanders

Romans 8:12–17, 28–29, 31–39

Brian S. Chan
Devotional#3: T. S. Eliot, “Ash Wednesday,” Part VI

Joel 2:1–2,12–17; Isaiah 58:1–12; Psalm 103

Sandra Glahn
Devotional#4: David (1501–1504), Michelangelo

1 Samuel 17; Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 5:7

Brian S. Chan
Devotional#5: “Blue Train” (1957), John Coltrane

Psalm 73

Neil R. Coulter
Devotional#6: A Still Small Voice (2023), directed by Luke Lorentzen

Psalm 23; Isaiah 55:8–9; 1 Kings 19:11–12; Psalm 63

Bessie Barker
Devotional#7: John Adams (2001), and a conversation with author David McCullough

Proverbs 21:5

Kraig McNutt
Devotional#8: A Concerto Is a Conversation (2020), directed by Ben Proudfoot

Proverbs 13:22; 2 Timothy 1:5

Neil R. Coulter
Devotional#9: “The Architect” (2024), Kacey Musgraves

Hebrews 11:10; Genesis 3

Glenn Kreider
Devotional#10: Another Slave Narrative (2017), directed by Michelle Jackson

Psalm 34:18

Jeremiah Chandler
Devotional#11: Middlemarch (1871–1872),George Eliot

1 Thessalonians 4:11; Matthew 10:24; 25:35–40

Sandra Glahn
Devotional#12: From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), directed by Gorō Miyazaki

Psalm 145:4; Hebrews 10:24–25

Neil R. Coulter
Devotional#13: “It Is Finished” (1994), James MacMillan

Lamentations 2:11–13; John 19:16–30

Neil R. Coulter
Devotional#14: Deaf President Now! (2025), directed by Nyle DiMarco and David Guggenheim

Leviticus 19:33–34; John 13:35

Kim Bacon
Devotional#15: “Liking What You See: A Documentary” (2002), Ted Chiang

Psalm 34:5; 2 Corinthians 3:18

Neil R. Coulter
Devotional#16: “Heavy Is the Crown” (2024), Linkin Park

Proverbs 16:18; Luke 12:48; Acts 8:18–25

Glenn Kreider
Devotional#17: Belle (2021), directed by Mamoru Hosoda

Philippians 1:1–11

Torey J. S. Teer
Devotional#18: Revelations of Divine Love (1393), Julian of Norwich; “Little Gidding” (1942), T. S. Eliot

Revelation 22; Romans 8; John 3:16

Sandra Glahn
Devotional#19: “Country Mile” (2024), U2

Proverbs 3:5–6; Micah 6:8

Glenn Kreider
Devotional#20: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), directed by Joe Johnston

2 Peter 1:3–11; Mark 10:18; Ephesians 5:1; Matthew 5:1–16

Brian S. Chan