Narnia: The Adventure Begins Series

Narnia Christmas Series

“The Adventure Begins”

Oakbrook Church 12/11/05

Intro.- Just curious, have any of you seen The Lion... ,yet?

Assoc. Press review by David Germain in Thursday’s Press Gazette-

3 stars out of 4; “a rollicking work of pure escapism definitely worth your time and money.”

Some journeys take us far from home, while others become adventures that lead us to our destiny. Such was the case for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy in C.S. Lewis’s classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

They took a journey far from home and while there they discovered their destiny. The adventure begins as the children walk through the door of a wardrobe into the world of Narnia, where it is always winter and never Christmas.

Through cowardly and courageous choices they each face their fears and frailties, and as they do, their destiny unfolds, they become who they were destined to be.

The Story- The four Pevensie children are sent to stay in a professor’s rambling historic mansion to get them safely away from the urban bombings of WW II.

While the children are exploring the house they find an empty room, empty of everything but an ordinary old wardrobe. One day while playing hide & seek, Lucy, the youngest, hides in the wardrobe and when she presses her way behind the fur coats, she stumbles into Narnia.

Subsequently, her brother Edmund finds his way to Narnia where he meets the wicked White Witch Jadis. Eventually all the siblings enter the magical wardrobe and discover the fantasy world of Narnia, a frozen wonderland inhabited by talking animals, beasts, fauns, dwarfs, centaurs and giants. A land that has been cursed by the evil white witch Jadis, who has declared herself queen, casting Narnia into perpetual winter.

But according to Narnian prophecy two Sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve would arrive in Narnia, defeat the wicked witch, restore Narnia, and Rule Cair Paravel.

All of Narnia is instructed to be on the watch for sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Everyone is ordered to report any sightings directly to the Queen; the penalty for withholding information or aiding one of the sons or daughters is to be turned into stone by the queen’s evil magic. When word of their presence in Narnia reaches her, Jadis targets the children for elimination.

The Children- The witch’s evil deception tempts Edmund to betray his family and this raises the stakes for Edmund and ultimately for Aslan, a talking lion who is the “True King of Narnia”.

C.S. Lewis uses the children to reflect parts of all of us, our frailties, failures and fears. We are not Peter, or Susan, or Lucy or Edmund, but rather there are parts of them in each of us; to different degrees at different times and in different ways. Throughout the story each child must face their own fears and failures and make choices, sometimes cowardly, sometimes courageously, but always with consequences.

Lewis doesn’t idealize the characters (except for Aslan), they are real, they all make mistakes, and they each experience the consequences of their mistakes. They each must deal with and work through their failures.

Edmund- Edmund is an independent self reliant, but troubled boy, he projects his own tendency toward selfishness and lying on others, (his siblings, the Beavers, Aslan)

Edmund is prone to selfish and deceitful behavior. He feels inferior to his older siblings, especially Peter. He believes they are always picking on him and that he is never good enough, or smart enough. Edmund doesn’t like to listen to others; he prefers his way. He doesn’t like to admit he’s been wrong. (ex. Edmund refuses to support Lucy’s finding of Narnia, b/c he had been teasing her that it didn’t really exist ...)

When Peter discovers Edmund’s deceit he calls him a “poisonous little beast.” Edmund thinks to himself “I’ll pay you all back for this.” And he does.

But after siding with the evil witch and betraying his siblings, Edmund realizes how foolish he has been and how cruel she truly is. But Edmund’s sincere repentance and his forgiveness by others are not enough to balance the moral scales of Narnia. The wicked witch invokes the “Deep Magic” law engraved on the Stone Table: the rule that any traitor, like Edmund, must forfiet his life as her lawful prey. Edmund is condemned to die. Consequences of his cowardly choices.

Peter the eldest, is the natural leader, he’s always fair, very respectful of other’s feelings and courageous. In spite of this he lacks self confidence, he’s not very sure of himself. When Mr. and Mrs. Beaver report to them the prophecy regarding the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve setting Narnia free, Peter quickly responds, “We’re not heroes.”

Or When called into his first battle by Aslan, he very honestly comments “I’m going to be sick.”