Narnia: What If There Were No Christmas Series

Narnia Christmas Series

“What if there were no Christmas”

Oakbrook Church 12/24/05

Intro.- It looks like we have a long winter ahead of us. (slide-) I hate it when we get snow and cold so early. I was born and raised in GB, so this isn’t anything new, but the older I get the longer and colder and snowier winter gets. Here’s my perfect plan for winter in WI; snow for deer season, stop; snow for Christmas, stop; 2 weeks of snow in Jan; then warm up from there.

Don’t get me wrong, I love living in WI, I love having 4 seasons. I just don’t like it when one of the four is 6 months long. Sometime during the winter season most people begin to long for spring, by the way, as of Thursday the days are getting longer.

Our winters are long and cold and snowy, but can you imagine 100 years of winter. Can you imagine living in a place where it is always winter but never Christmas? (slide) I mean Christmas is the only good thing that happens in winter, besides a golfing vacation to a warm climate. In C.S Lewis’ book TLTWTW 4 children discover a magical wardrobe (slide) and stumble into the land of Narnia, (slide) where it’s always winter and never Christmas. The land is under the curse of the evil White Witch, Jadis. (slide)

The Narnians long for spring, well, really they long for much more than spring, they long to be rescued from the evil witch, they long for the return of Aslan, (slide) the Rightful ruler of Narnia; they long for hope that is bigger than their everyday hardships and struggles. Sounds like me.

Can you imagine a world without Christmas? No Christmas tree, not gifts, no family gatherings at grandma’s house. No Christmas carols, no Grinch, Rudolph, or Charlie Brown TV specials, no It’s a Wonderful Life. No special holiday times with friends. What if there were no Christmas?

Well, there would be no long lines at the stores, no 20 minute trips around the parking lot looking for a parking place, no 4” thick newspapers filled with sale flyers, no incessant holiday sales commercials, no political debates over wishing people a Merry Christmas, no extra 10 lbs. from holiday eating, and no demoralizing credit card bills in Jan.

Hmm, maybe if there were no Christmas it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

No, seriously, if we lived in a world where it was always winter and never Christmas (slide) there’d be no Christ. What if Jesus were never born? What if He had never lived, taught, died or risen from the dead? What would the world be like? (slide-) What would your world be like?

Well, about 2000 years ago another pastor thought about the state of the world without Jesus and he left us some ideas of what that would mean. His name is Paul, and his words are inspired by God Himself. Listen to how he describes a world without Christmas, a world where Christ never came, a world where the reality of Christmas was never personally embraced.

Eph. 2:12 (slide) “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

“In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”

Without Christmas there is no Christ. What it’s like to be “apart from Christ”; “to be living apart from Christ”.

“excluded from God’s people”- no church, no family, no community of faith.

“foreigners/strangers from His promises”- you did not know His promises; His promise were foreign to you and you were foreign to His promises- they didn’t know you and you didn’t know them. No promises, no hope

“no hope” You lived in this world “without hope and without God in the world.” (slide)

Life without Christmas- no God, no hope

Imagine the despair of being without hope; hope-less. Of feeling there is no end to the misery, no light at the end of the tunnel, no reason or purpose to go on; imagine. Some of you don’t have to imagine, you’re there, or you have been, or you’re afraid you will be. No one wants to live where it’s always winter and never Christmas; where there is no hope and no God!

Our Longings-

We long for spring, for life, for the joy of being rescued from our frozenness; we long for hope that the misery will end, good will come and the bad will go away. We live everyday with deep longings within our heart, longings which Christmas seems to revive, longings which are renewed by stories like TLTWTW.