In the early 1980’s, I was attending the Fuller
Seminary Institute of Youth Ministries in Colorado Springs as part of my Young
Life training. I was only several days away from completing my course work,
when a friend introduced me to what is now my favorite set of books, ”The
Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. . I devoured the seven books in a brief period,
almost causing me to flunk my coursework! I could not put them down. At first blush, you
would think that they are only written for children, which they were, but there
is so much more for all of us.. The main character in the stories is Aslan the
Lion, who is an allegory for Christ. I
would like to give you a taste of what these books are about in hopes that it
will whet your appetite to read these wonderful stories. If you haven’t had the
pleasure of reading these Christian classics, I would urge you to do so.
Two characters discuss Aslan:
Mr. Beaver says
,”“Aslan is a lion-the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan.
"I'd thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a
lion"..."Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ..."Who said anything about
safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
From The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe
The character Jill comes face-to-face with Aslan at a
brook in the woods:
“If you are thirsty, you may drink.” They were the
first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the
cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then
the voice said again, “If you are thirsty, come and drink,” and of course she
remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and
realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this
time, and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger;
a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she
had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way. “Are you
not thirsty?” said the lion .“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill .“Then drink,”
said the lion. “May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said
Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low
growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as
well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The
delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. “Will
you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill. “I make no
promise,” said the Lion. Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she
had come a step nearer. “Do you eat girls?” she said. “I have swallowed up
girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said
the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry,
nor as if it were angry. It just said it. “I daren’t come and drink,” said
Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion. “Oh dear!” said Jill,
coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream
then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion – no
one who had seen his stern face could do that – and her mind suddenly made
itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward
to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the
coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink
much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
From The Silver
Chair
Then Aslan turned to them and said: “You do not yet
look so happy as I mean you to be .”Lucy said, “We’re so afraid of being sent
away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.” “No fear
of that,” said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?” Their hearts leaped and a wild
hope rose within them. “There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly.
“Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the
Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is
ended: this is the morning.”
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a
lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and
beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the
stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But
for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in
this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the
title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story
which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter
is better than the one before.
From The Last
Battle
C.S. Lewis was an avowed atheist and a professor of
Medieval Literature at Oxford College until
he had conversations with friends such as J.R.R. Tolkien, well known author of
“The Lord of the Rings. He became probably the greatest Christian
author of the 20th century. His seminal work, “Mere Christianity” is regarded
as one of the best explanations of the Christian faith to date.
It is my hope that through the reading of both The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, you would come to a
deeper and richer faith in Christ.
Blessings To You and Yours,
Buck
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