Narnia: I Love Lucy

“I Love Lucy”

Mark 10: 13-16

December 4, 2005

Last week, we began our Advent season with the first in a series of 3 sermons that find their origin in CS Lewis’ book, and the soon to be released Disney film, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” As I said last week, the book centers on the adventures of four children who find their way through the back of a mystical wardrobe and into the magical land called Narnia.

And among all the people that I have met who know and love this book, pretty much every single one of them has a favorite character, one of the four children with whom they most closely identify, one child that perhaps they most wish they were like. Some admire Peter, the oldest of the children who eventually proves himself to be a mighty warrior and king. Others prefer Susan the next oldest of the 4 children who nearly always exhibits a spirit of cool, calm and practical rationality. Many people gravitate toward Edmund, the youngest boy and resident scoundrel of the family. It is Edmund, who with boyish enthusiasm and wild abandon seems to always be into or up to some sort of mischief.

And I can perfectly understand why folks choose one or the other of these 3 children as their favorite. For they each in their own way have something special to share and to show. However, from the first time that I read these books 25 or 30 years ago right up until today, my favorite has always been the same. Just like Ricky Riccardo, “I Love Lucy.”

It is Lucy, the youngest and most innocent of the 4 Pevensie children who first finds her way through that wardrobe and into the land of Narnia. And it is Lucy who leads her 3 siblings into that magical place after her. And there is something about her innocence, her faith, and her childlike trust that brings to mind this mornings’ scripture lesson and makes her for me a wonderfully endearing character.

And so this morning I’d like to take a few moments to share with you what it is about little Miss Lucy Pevensie that makes her so special to me, and an important example for us all as we seek to discover the deeper wonders that are possible in the Kingdom of God.

At the heart of what makes Lucy who she is, and the first quality that is required of any individual who desires to seek out the truth of kingdoms that exist outside of our everyday world, is a deep and abiding sense of intense curiosity and childlike wonder.

It is Lucy’s intense curiosity that sets her off exploring the mysterious upstairs rooms of the Professor’s country home. And it is this search which leads her to the discovery of that mystical wardrobe that serves as the portal to another world. And it is Lucy’s childlike sense of wonder that enables her to be open to the possibility of such magical worlds and the marvelous potentialities that such places might hold.

In “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” the magical, mystical and marvelous land that waited for those curious and wonder filled enough to go searching for it is called Narnia. In the Bible we are told about another reality outside of our everyday world that requires an equally powerful spirit of curiosity and wonder. Another way of being and thinking that holds marvelous and wonderful potential beyond even Narnian proportions. It is a kingdom where there are no enemies and where love rules supreme. It is a kingdom where there is always the hope of a better day, and the promise of a second chance no matter how hard life may seem, and no matter how much we might make a mess of the life that we have been given. It is a kingdom where the pressures, the problems and the concerns of everyday life pale in comparison to the sheer joy of living in that place. It is a kingdom where life never ends, a reality where love, joy and hope last forever. It is a kingdom where there is truly a life lived happily ever after.

That kingdom is of course the kingdom of God. And about that kingdom Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Mark 10: 15.

In her devotional book based on “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” author Sarah Arthur shares this insight. “From Jesus’ perspective, it takes the humility of a child to grasp what the Kingdom is all about. Those who think they are too grown up or cool for all that simple faith business are missing the mark. The disciples included. When a group of parents tries to bring their children to see Jesus, the disciples shoo them away because they don’t have VIP passes. But Jesus welcomes the children and says, “The Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Particularly those who are trying so hard to be grown up.