This sermon uses a “tour guide” to take your listeners through the Land of Narnia. My wife, Sandy, dressed as a typical tour guide with a winter coat & hat. I began the teaching with a review of the 3 major points shared in our first week’s teachings…only to be ‘interrupted’ by the Narnia tour guide.
Marty: Are you ready to continue our journey to Narnia?
Sandy interrupts. (Comes in from the back)
Welcome to Narnia....I’m your tour guide for your trip.
Are you ready to go? Make sure you stay seated & keep your arms & legs inside the train. Caution...You are about to enter a land where it is always WINTER, but NEVER CHRISTMAS.
SLIDE ONE: Pictures of Narnia
Narnia...
As you remember from last week, Narnia is a land that came from the imagination of C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis had what many would call a biblical imagination. Lewis loved fantasy. In fact it was through reading fantasy that Lewis’ faith journey began. So it is no surprise that his Christian beliefs, actually Christian truths pushed their way into his stories. His theology was part of him so it became part of what he created. For him there is always a story within the story. So he created Narnia.
These stories began with images. The first one was of a faun carrying an umbrella with parcels under his arm. This image was first seen in his mind when he was just sixteen years old. It was decades later when he began the work of imagining the rest of Narnia.
SLIDE TWO: MAP of Narnia
Narnia, a country where Aslan is king of all creatures, where there are talking beasts, fauns, satyrs, giants, and waking trees.
Narnia is a valley country extending from the Lantern Waste in the west to the capital of Cair Paravel which lies on the shores of the Great Eastern Ocean. We start our tour from the Lantern Waste area and will travel through out this land going all the way to the Stone Table and back to the west to end our tour.
SLIDE THREE: The Lamp Post
The first stop in Narnia for all visitors from earth is the Lamp Post. No one knows how long it’s been here. But it has always served as the starting point for visitors such as yourself.
The Lamp Post is a landmark to remember.
A Reference point between our world and Narnia.
The light between our world and Narnia.
God’s word is just like the Lamp Post. A reference point between heaven and earth.
For Lucy. Went further and further into the wardrobe because she was drawn by a light. The Lamp Post drew her from our world into Narnia.
God’s word draws us from our world to Him. God’s word serves as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
When we are lost, we go back to God’s word for our reference point.
Because Narnia is big, one can get lost in it. Therefore it is very important to familiarize yourself with this setting. In case you get lost always come back to the Lamp Post.
SLIDE FOUR: The Beavers Home
Second Stop: Mr. and Mrs. Beaver’s House.
This is a holy stop. It is a place that is hidden, a refuge.
You can always find a friend at the Beaver’s house. Mrs. Beaver has the gift of hospitality. She keeps a cozy place, warm, food cooking on the stove. Comfort for all who enter.
It is in this house that the four Pevensie children first learn of Aslan and the prophecy surrounding him and them. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver reveal the prophetic reason why the four are here in the first place. God always releases information, the prophetic voice before He does something big.
There is always a Mr. and Mrs. Beaver’s house in your journey. A place of prophetic awareness that there is something bigger than you that is going on.
As they sit around their table the children learn from Mr. and Mrs. Beaver that their arrival in Narnia is seen as the fulfillment of prophecy – a sign that Narnia’s long – awaited deliverance is near. They learn about Aslan and what their roles play in this deliverance.
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
By golly, I am beginning to get a bit warm. How about you? I wonder what change is taking place here? (unbutton coat.)
SLIDE FIVE: The Witch’s Castle
The Third Stop: The Witch’s Castle
Beware. This may be the most beautiful place in Narnia from a distance.
Take a good look. Large and imposing. Can you see all the statues? But beauty is only skin deep.
There is evil with in these walls. Lots of evil.
Deception.
If you happen to meet a beautiful lady dressed in white and riding in a huge sleigh offering you delectable treats called Turkish Delight. Don’t be fooled. Edmund fell for it and it nearly cost him his life.
And the courtyard full of statues? They say that they aren’t statues at all. But are Narnians that the White Witch has turned into stone. Shudder.
It is the Witch’s curse that has made Narnia always winter but never Christmas. Shudder.
Let’s get on with the tour and get out of here!
But I say, it is getting warmer. Whew! (take off hat)
SLIDE SIX: The Stone Table
Fourth Stop: The Stone Table
This is the most important stop on our tour.
Please step out of the train and gather round the stone table.
It is here that Aslan will take on the sin of Edmund’s betrayal in order to save Edmund’s life. It is here at the Stone Table that Aslan will be bound and murdered by the evil White Witch.
It is here, this very place that Susan and Lucy will stay by Aslan’s body as mice nibble away at the ropes that have bound Aslan.
It is here that upon hearing a “great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant’s plate” that Susan and Lucy will see that Aslan’s body is no longer on the table and the table has been split in two.
It is here that Aslan appears to them alive, resurrected.
It is here that he explains to them the Deeper Magic.
“When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the table would crack and death itself would start working backward.”
Isn’t it interesting that the Stone Table is similar to the Cross in our world?
I do believe that it is getting quite warm. (take off coat)
SLIDE SEVEN: Cair Paravel
Fifth Stop: Cair Paravel
As we are standing at the Stone Table look toward the Great Eastern Ocean. It is there on the shores of the ocean that you’ll see a castle.
Cair Paravel the place where 2 sons of Adam and 2 daughters of Eve will one day rule as kings and queens of Narnia.
A victory ceremony will be held here. As Aslan crowns them kings and queens, he says of their destinies…
“Once a king and queen in Narnia always a king and queen in Narnia!”
And as Lewis wrote, “And now as you see, this story is nearly (but not quite) at an end.” We will leave it at that for now.
Let’s head back to the place where this tour started. More for another day, another tour. Back to the Lamp Post.
SLIDE EIGHT: Return to the Lamp Post
Final Stop: Back to the Lamp Post.
Great tour. Thank you for touring Narnia.
You were a fun group. However, I was a bit surprised that this tour consisted of adults. For to enter Narnia, you must enter as children.
Responding to a letter written by a young girl named Ruth, Lewis says: “If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope that you may always do so. I’m so thankful that you realized the ‘hidden story’ in the Narnian books. It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever.”
Children can naturally have what theologians call a numinous experience – a supernatural experience of the divine Presence. Usually by the time we have matured, we adults lose that sense of awe, that direct experience of the supernatural, that numinous experience.
Mt. 18:3 - Jesus said that to enter the Kingdom of God we must enter as little children.
For the very reason that they have not lost that sense of awe. They still have that ability to keep on probing, seeking, asking questions, searching for the real thing, the something more.
If that has stopped, then we have lost that child like awe to desire more of God, to know Him more.
My prayer for you today is that this tour will help begin to restore awe and wonder to your faith. To become like a child.
