Rev. Lin Smalec Salem Church, Waynesboro, PA
DISCOVER THE WONDER
Fourth Sunday of Advent
18 December 2005
The other day while it was snowing, I watched my cat, Phantom, looking out the window. He sat there, barely moving, intently watching the big fluffy snowflakes. Occasionally his ear would twitch, and once he looked around at me with big wide eyes as if to say, “Wow, would you look at that?!” It seemed like he was fascinated, mesmerized, by the wonder of the gently falling snow.
When is the last time you reacted to something with wonder? Do you know what I mean? Wonder is that feeling that takes your breath away, that sense that something is amazing and special and truly awesome. I felt wonder the first time I saw Niagara Falls - it was so unimaginably huge and powerful, all that water pouring down in a thundering never-ending torrent. I felt wonder the day I was ordained to the ministry, when all the pastors present laid hands on me and prayed for me - the feelings of eternal connection and spiritual responsibility and fulfillment of God’s call were overwhelming. The birth of a child, the beauty of nature, the touch of a loved one - all of these can be wonder-filled experiences. When is the last time you felt wonder?
Christmas is a season that is supposed to be filled with wonder - and yet sadly, many of us become so busy working at Christmas that we can’t enjoy it. We spend all our time and energy and money trying to make Christmas perfect -that imaginary perfect Christmas that we think we remember, but that never really existed. In all that work, we miss the wonder of Christmas.
Oh, we might get a tinge of wonder as we watch wide-eyed kids waiting to talk to Santa Claus, or leaving milk and cookies for the big guy on Christmas Eve, with a few carrots for his reindeer. Or we might feel a bit of Christmas wonder when we see a lovely Christmas tree or houses lit up with cheery sparkling lights. We might even feel just a touch of Christmas wonder when we sing old favorite Christmas carols like “O Little Town of Bethlehem” or “Silent Night”.
But when is the last time you felt wonder about the Christmas story itself? We take it for granted, don’t we? We’ve heard it so many times that we don’t truly listen to it anymore. Mary, the young virgin engaged to Joseph, who becomes pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit - “Yeah, yeah”. The angel who tells Mary that her child will be the Son of God and the Savior of all people - “Uh huh”. The birth in the stable, the baby in the manger, the visits of shepherds and wise men while angels sing in the skies above - “Ho hum”, “Been there, done that!”
What has happened to our sense of wonder? One of the things that makes the Chronicles of Narnia so endearing to both children and adults alike is the sense of wonder that the books capture. I think the movie “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” has several scenes that communicate that wonder. When Lucy first enters the snowy world of Narnia, she doesn’t say a word - but the look on her face shows the wonder she is feeling. And later, when all four children push their way through the wardrobe into Narnia, Susan looks around and breathlessly says what I think we would all be thinking - “Impossible!”
Impossible! What an interesting word! It means “incapable of existing or taking place” or “contrary to fact or reality” (1). And you see, that is exactly the problem for us modern people in this twenty-first century. We are people of facts, people of logic, people of knowledge, people of reality. Many of us have lost the ability to feel a sense of wonder. Wonder is for kids, wonder is for fairy tales, wonder isn’t for reasonable, intelligent people!
Ironically, that is the power of story and of fantasy - it breaks through our reasonable, logical minds and opens us up once again to the world of wonder. This is why in this scientific, humanistic age, our culture is drawn to Star Trek and Star Wars and Harry Potter and Narnia. All of these fantasies teach eternal truths, the same basic truths about good and evil, right and wrong, that are taught in our Scriptures. But because they are story and fantasy, they break through our cultural barriers and become real and true for us. They teach in a way that is truly wonder-filled!
Our lives are dull and dreary without wonder. But the wonderful things of the world are not hidden - they are right there, all around us - all we have to do is open our eyes and our hearts to discover the wonder! So as we come to the end of our study of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, I want to look at three areas of wonder that Scripture lifts up and that I think this book illuminates for us.
The first is the Wonder of God’s Purposes and Plans. Those of you who were with us back in 2004, when we studied Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Life” remember this spiritual truth, that God has a purpose and a plan for each of us, and for the world as a whole. As Scripture proclaims: “Everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible... everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him (Colossians 1:16, The Message). In the book of Job, it says “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power” (Job 12:10, The English Version).
Now sometimes God’s plans for us as individuals have a very real and direct influence on God’s plans for the world. In Narnia, there was a prophecy that someday four human beings - “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve” would come to Narnia and sit on the four thrones in the castle of Cair Paravel. When that happened, it would mean the return of the Great Lion Aslan and the end of the evil reign of the White Witch. So when Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers first meet Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy, they know exactly what is about to happen in their land! The purposes of the great “Emperor-beyond-the-sea” - in other words, God - are about to be fulfilled!
In our own world, Christmas is a time when we discover anew the wonder of God’s purposes and plans. From the beginning of time, God knew that at just the right time, He would send to Earth a redeemer and savior. Just as there were prophecies in Narnia, so there were prophecies among God’s people of Israel. Listen to these words from the prophet Isaiah
(READ 35:1-10).
When Jesus was a grown man and beginning his time of ministry, his cousin John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he was truly the one they were waiting for - in other words, the Messiah, the Savior. And Jesus referred to this prophecy from Isaiah in his answer: “Go and tell John”, he says, “what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (John 11:4-5, NRSV). Jesus confirms that the wonder of God’s purposes and plans, both for Jesus himself and for the entire world, are about to be fulfilled!
Now what would Christmas be like without gifts? It’s hard to imagine Christmas without presents under the tree, isn’t it? In the same way, it’s hard to imagine God working out His plans and purposes without the wonder of spiritual gifts. In Narnia, Peter and Susan and Lucy receive gifts from Father Christmas - gifts that are, as Father Christmas says, “tools, not toys”! (2, chapter 10) They are gifts for battle, gifts for warning, and gifts for healing - gifts that later become important during the great battle between good and evil. Edmund isn’t present during the giving of gifts, but later receives the gift of courage from Aslan himself - a gift that is also of great import during the battle with the White Witch.
We, too, receive gifts from God - we talk about those spiritual gifts quite often here at Salem. Listen to these words from the letter to the Romans (READ Romans 12:3-6a). We all have gifts, both natural and spiritual, that we are meant to use for God’s glory, according to the wonder of His plans and purposes for us.
The second area of wonder I want to explore this morning is the Wonder of God’s Love. How is it that God loves us, no matter how often we mess up, how often we turn away from him, how often we neglect to do what he has asked us to do? God’s love is truly a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Any earthly love that we experience pales in comparison! Over and over again in Scripture we hear God’s love proclaimed and affirmed - in Psalm 36 it says, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies (Psalm 36:5, NIV) and the apostle John proclaims “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:16b, NRSV).
The ultimate expression of God’s love is what we celebrate at Christmas. As John says in his first letter to the churches, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10, NRSV). Jesus is God’s gift to us, a gift that shows us the wonder of God’s love.
In the Narnia stories, the Great Lion Aslan is a similar expression of God’s love. Aslan is the son of the “Emperor-beyond-the sea”, and he comes to Narnia as a redeemer, healer, teacher and leader. Aslan brings new life to Narnia, as with the help of the children and the good creatures of that world, he defeats the power of the White Witch. And then he leaves Narnia. Mr. Beaver had warned the children that this would happen - “He’ll be coming and going,” he had said. “One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” (2, chapter seventeen)
It is this thought that leads me to the third wonder for us to explore this morning - the Wonder of the Continuing Story. The story of Narnia, the story of Aslan, doesn’t stop with the great battle between good and evil - it doesn’t stop with the crowning of King Peter and Queen Susan and King Edmund and Queen Lucy. The story continues! As the professor reminds the children when they find themselves back in England at the end of the book - “Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia!”. And let me remind you that there are six other books in the series for you to explore!
But how does the wonder of the continuing story apply to us and to Christmas? Well, this is the truly wonderful thing about being a Christian and knowing the Lord - our story continues beyond this life and all the experiences of this life. Because of God’s promise of eternal life, we know that we will live on beyond the experience of death. We know that we will go to that resting place that God has prepared, and when the time is fulfilled, we will live in the new heavens and new earth that God has promised. Listen to these wonderful words from the book of Revelation (READ 21:1-7).
Christmas, you see, is only the middle chapter in a story that continues into eternity. The story of Jesus began in a time we can’t imagine and continued through the creation of this world and the calling of a special people, Israel. In the fullness of time, Jesus started a new chapter of the story by becoming human, living and dying for our sakes. And the next chapters of the story are being written as we share God’s love with the world by telling them the good news about Jesus, and as we wait for Jesus to come again. For he will come again, in a time known only to God - and then that will be, in a sense, our second Christmas! For once again Jesus will come to set us free, to defeat Satan’s power once and for all, and bring us to the new heaven and new earth. Can you grasp it? Doesn’t it take your breath away?
As we come to this last week before Christmas, I invite you to take some time to truly look at and think about and feel deeply what wonderful things God has done! Discover the Wonder of God’s Plans and Purposes - Discover the Wonder of God’s Love - Discover the Wonder of the Continuing Story. This week, dear friends, Discover the Wonder of Christmas!
Let us pray:
O God of Wonder, God of Life, God of Love, we thank you for Christmas. We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus. We are so grateful for the wonderful things you give us, for the wonderful world you have created.
Forgive us, we pray, for all those times we close our eyes and our hearts to the wonder around us. Forgive us for growing cold and stressed and preoccupied. Forgive us for working so hard to make a perfect Christmas that we miss the true wonder of the season. Help us, Lord, to become as little children, to come to you as freely as they do, so that we might discover the wonder of your plans and purposes for us, the wonder of your love, and the wonder of the continuing story. Thank you, Lord, for the wonder of Christmas.
And we thank you once again, Lord, for inspiring C. S. Lewis to write the Chronicles of Narnia, and for giving the movie makers the courage to bring it to the big screen. We pray that those who read the books and see the movie will be drawn closer to you.
We pray these things in the name of our own lion, the Lion of Judah - the Promised Savior - Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
RESOURCES:
1) Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary © 1980 by Lippincott & Crowell, Publishers.
2) C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe © 1950 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
