Ironically, I am watching a film set in Afghanistan right now as I think about this.

Christians who are open about their faith face pressure from family, society and the government.  Believers usually try to stay under the radar and do not meet together publicly because of concerns for safety. In June 2010 the deputy secretary of Parliament called for the execution of Christian converts after the baptism of Afghan Christians was shown on TV. As a result, many Christians went into hiding. In August 2010 several Christian aid workers were killed by the Taliban.

 The government in Afghanistan regularly burns Bibles. I mean no particular point with this, I just don't remember this being on the news. One mad American pastor threatens to burn the koran and there are protests all over the world. (Rightly, he was completely wrong to do what he did).

We need to pray for the small band of brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, that they can show that not all Christians are full of hate and that they are protected from those who would persecute them.

This may be a bit of a rambling post but I hope you will stick with it. I was talking with my wife this morning about Harry Potter of all things. She and I disagree about it. I like it, she doesn't. It's really that simple.

We got onto the topic of films and what we would let any children that we may have watch. I personally would never let my children go to a cinema to see a film that I thought was inappropriate for them. However, what we noticed was that films we saw as young adults, films which were considered more grown up then are quite tame these days. When did this change? I hear words on the television before nine o clock (the supposed watershed) that I never heard on the TV at all when I was growing up. The standard of some pop performances in TV is also scandalous. I do not want to sound like an old fuddy duddy but it is certainly something worth thinking about.

Society today seems to get its morals from wherever it wants to. There is a pick and mix attitude towards our social behaviour.

I will say that there are many things which are getting better though. Fair Trade is an excellent idea. Products not tested on animals are now a lot more common. Responsible farming, kind environmentalism, ethical buying and many other things make the whole consumer business much better. Society is democratic and encourages equality in everything we do and surely this is commendable.

Is this enough though? Can society really go on living in a way which encourages thoughts about where we source our food etc but which removes traditional values and replaces them with a belief that all ideas must be treated with equality.

Moral relativism is, in my opinion, a danger. The idea that there is no truth is a misnomer. All things cannot be equally true, it's simply impossible. If I say that it's wrong to hurt someone and someone else says that it is ok to hurt them then we cannot both be right. There has to be some moral truth and we need to see what this is. We as Christians know that the ultimate in terms of truth is Jesus himself. What he says is the truth and we need to do our best to follow this.

Now many people say that they think Jesus was a great moral teacher and had a good deal to offer the world. Everybody knows that his great moral law was to say 'treat others as you would like to be treated yourself'. This is the "Golden Rule"that can be found in almost all religions and forms the base of many people's ethical life. It is sometimes transmuted as do as you like as long as you don't hurt anyone else, it's admirable to follow these words of Jesus. The problem is, this is not what he says at all.

So what does he say? Matthew 22 says


 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”


All to often the first half of this is left out. It's not the done thing these days to follow the whim of some God and He is left out of this. However, we cannot leave Him out of this. He is the first thing and the last thing. We need to realise that loving God with our whole heart and soul and mind is the first commandment. The second is to love your neighbour as you love yourself.

This modern world where pornography is normalised and allowed on our TV screens, where abortion is for some a method of birth control, where traditional values such as marriage and family are sidelined in the name of equality and where anything goes, is a world that does not love God. If we did, we would never do some of these things. Life would be sacred, we would want to live in  loving and steady relationships and we wouldn't need to objectify anyone else.

That is the problem with the modern ethical standards, they aim high and almost hit their targets at times. However, they are aiming for the wrong thing. By aiming at the second of the two commandments that Jesus gave us, they may think they are doing the right thing but they miss the most important of the commandments.

We, as Christians, need to ensure that we remember that before loving our neighbour and loving ourselves comes loving God.

We all know that there has been terrible persecution of Christians in Pakistan (as well as minority Muslim groups as well let us not forget) but it seems that it may be getting worse.

There are moves afoot to close down the department for religious minorities and share their responsibilities with the provinces. This will remove national protection from persecution and could lead to more (spurious) blasphemy allegations and the increased levels of mistrust and hatred that will lead to more persecution.We need to pray that those who are not in the religious majority in Pakistan are protected.

It's not just religious groups who are having their place on the national agenda moved, the article I have read points out that lots of groups are. Please pray that God will be in this situation and bring peace to those who need it and protection for those who need that too.


Changes to Pakistan's Religious Minorities Ministry

There has been a huge increase in the number of believers in Iran and we praise Jesus for this. Sadly, there has been an increase in persecution too. Iran is ranked as the second worst sate for the persecution of Christians. According to Open Doors

There was a sharp increase in the number of Christians arrested at the start of 2010. Although some were later released, pressure on the church remains high. Many of the approximately 350,000 believers from a Muslim background live in fear of harassment by the government. The regime lost credibility following the turmoil of the 2009 elections, and in an effort to distract attention from continuing protests against it, it is increasingly lashing out against Christians.

 We need to pray that Jesus protects those of his new believers who are being persecuted. Also pray that more and more people will see the light and be transformed into Christians with a relationship with the risen Christ. Amen

Leader: Kim Jong-il
Population: 20 million (400,000 Christians)
Main Religion: Atheism/traditional beliefs
Government: Communist dictatorship

Nowhere in the world is Christian persecution so fierce. Christians have to hide their faith; Christian parents can't even share their beliefs with their children until they are old enough to understand the dangers. Owning a Bible could get you killed, or sent to a harsh labour camp. In 2010 hundreds of Christians were arrested. Some were murdered, others sentenced to labour camps. Despite the risks, the church is growing: there are an estimated 400,000 believers.

This is the worst place in the world to be a Christian. Some might argue that it is the worst place in the world to live. It is a very strange and obscure country and we really need to pray that God moves in this land. There may be over 50,000 believers in the huge prison camp system. We know that some people escape but even then they find huge problems adjusting to the freedom of the countries they find themselves in

About 100,000 Christians die each year for their faith. The number is staggering. No other religion in the world loses so many people simply because of their faith. These martyrs deserve recognition and they deserve praise but sadly they largely go unnoticed in the West. Dying Christians rarely make the news and when they do there sometimes seems to be a palpable sense of 'well they shouldn't be a Christian in a non-Christian country should they?' (an interesting point I have often found is that the media in Britain will happily describe countries as Muslim, Hindu of Buddhist but not Christian, at least not without some sneering). These faithful brothers and sisters will be praised and will have a special place in heaven but what can we do today? I would like to raise some attention to the people who are suffering for having faith in Christ.

In my next series of posts I shall be including information on the top 10 persecuting countries as taken from the open doors website. Please read and pray about these situations.

Have you ever done that thing where you try and think of somewhere in the Bible to read? You know, hoping that some passage will come to you and you will be inspired. I tried it just now and came up with the number 12. Psalm 12 for me then.

Well, I don't know if you have read it (I imagine that you are a lot more holy than I am and you have read them all) but it's certainly a good old fashioned psalm.

Here are the words

For the director of music. According to sheminith.^[b] A psalm of David.

 ¹ Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore;
   those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
² Everyone lies to their neighbor;
   they flatter with their lips
   but harbor deception in their hearts.

 ³ May the LORD silence all flattering lips
   and every boastful tongue—
⁴ those who say,
   “By our tongues we will prevail;
   our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

 ⁵ “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
   I will now arise,” says the LORD.
   “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
⁶ And the words of the LORD are flawless,
   like silver purified in a crucible,
   like gold^[c] refined seven times.

 ⁷ You, LORD, will keep the needy safe
   and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
   when what is vile is honored by the human race.

At first I was a little worried that I would not have a clue what to think about this but upon reflection it is an interesting and indeed helpful psalm. Lately I have been noting the number of times that people in the Bible say 'I am the only holy one left lord' and thats simply not the case. Take Elijah when he runs from Jezebel. He moans to God (twice!) about him being the only one left and God gently tells him that he will see off God's enemies but ends with the warning not to touch the other seven thousand who did not desert Him. So I wonder if in this psalm the righteous have truly left or if this is a case of David whining again about how unfair the world is. In our world, yes there are a lot of unfaithful people but we need to remember that there are some who are faithful to us and to God. We also need to remember that when someone is unfaithful to us, we have the ultimate source of faithfulness right there with us. 

What I really liked about this psalm was where God promised to rise up and defend the poor and the cheated and as David says, what God says is 'flawless'. I am not sure of the veracity of this (as it did come from a Dan Brown novel) but when artists used to make a sculpture they would fill any flaws and dents in with wax. Anything that was flawless was 'without wax' or in latin sine cera. God's word here is flawless, without wax and therefore sincere. We can trust God because He says we can. His word is flawless and we need to remember that.

The message of psalm 12 for me is twofold, there are unfaithful people in the world (but God will sort them out) and God will deal with the poor and the plundered. I wonder how He will do it. Perhaps He will ask me to do some of it.

Prayer

Father,

Thank you for your flawless Word

Thank you that you know my innermost groans

Guide me in your path

That I may do you will 

And help the poor and the plundered.

Amen

I love this song so much and Robin Mark sings it in a way which makes me shiver every time I listen to it.

Who says the seed in the rocky ground is always bad eh?

I remember quiet times. I once had one. I think it was back in 1998.

I don't know about you but I really struggle with the task of reading my Bible and praying through it. There are just too many distractions I find. Perhaps that is the enemy getting in the way. That or my stomach at least. I shall try for one today at work as the place is shut due to strike action (go brothers and sisters!) and we have no kids in.

I shall read a psalm.

Earlier this year I had a look at the gospels of Mark and John and created some word clouds based on their content. I will now post the pictures from Mark's Gospel starting with chapter 1. Please do comment on what you see. What stands out for you? Are there things that make you think?

I don’t like this one as much as the others. There I have said it. It is the one which doesn’t excite me and the one which scares me the most. That having been said, it is still an astounding story and a fitting end to the series that Lewis wrote.

This story centres around King Tirian of Narnia, a descendent of King Rillian. The other main Narnian characters are Shift (an ape) and Puzzle (Shift’s witless friend and virtual slave). Shift finds a lion’s skin and convinces Puzzle to pretend to be Aslan. This leads to a set of circumstances whereby the king is faced with an invasion of Narnia by Calormene. Puzzle becomes the unwitting tool in a conspiracy between Shift and the Calormenes and the scenes where he appears as the lion become transformed into a grotesque scenario where a new religion is formed. There is an amalgamation of the worship of Aslan with Tash the Calormene god. This Tashlan is portrayed as a vengeful and hateful god to the Narnians and they find themselves increasingly at the mercy of the puppet master Shift. He himself is manipulated by the Calormenes. Tirian mobilises the last of his faithful followers to have a last stand battle against the enemies of Aslan and Narnia. They begin to lose the battle but all is ended when the Great Lion himself comes back to Narnia. We then see the end of Narnia and the end of all things. Standing at a doorway the characters turn around and see Aslan’s own country, their new home forever.

Try talking about this without mentioning the end times. It's very difficult but I think for me the main theme is the mixing of religion. What really corrupts in this book is the nonsense that two very different religions with very different gods could ever mix like this. Tashlan is an abomination and those involved are right to oppose him. Lewis often wrestled with the subject of comparative religion and he always stood in Christianity's corner. There was to be no watering down of the message of Jesus for him. This book is a clear warning of what could happen to those people who do water down the message.

This book doesn't mince it's words and one of the most important messages is the fact that it makes a lie of one of the most well known and well loved statements in the series. Up to this point we see it oft repeated that 'once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia'. In this book we see that this is not the case. Susan does not make it into the new Narnia. The message is clear, our salvation as Christians is not cemented in. It can be lost or rather ignored by individuals. Lewis makes it plain that we need to keep focused and not change with the times as Susan does. It is a stark warning and one that needs heeding.

The series ends with a magnificent scene. The great hero Reepicheep beckons us to come farther in and we end with the revelation of the garden at the centre and we see all the old heroes again looking young and alive finishing with the great King Frank and Queen Helen who were crowned at the end of the Magician's Nephew. Bravo Mr. Lewis, a wonderful series of books.

This is for me the most exciting of the books. I simply adore it and there is one chapter in particular that really speaks to me. It is the story where I think Narnia begins to end. This is the first time, for me, that the country feels old. I imagine that this is because it is the first time when there are so many old things in it and when time is of the essence.

The story introduces us to a new character, Jill Pole. She is a pupil at Eustace’s school called (rather wonderfully) Experiment House. She is being bullied and is offered a shoulder to cry on from Eustace. There is definitely a lack of trust here as Jill knows what he used to be like but eventually they manage to escape and end up in a magical land. Through a series of unfortunate events, Jill alone is faced with Aslan who commands her to follow a mission. She is given a set of instructions to remember and sent on her way to catch up with Eustace. The mission is to find the missing son of King Caspian. The Prince Rillian disappeared some ten years ago and the King is gravely ill and dying. Jill and Eustace team up with a marshwiggle called Puddleglum. One of literature’s greatest unsung heroes, Puddleglum is a miserable old so and so but a character with love in every atom of his being. They fluff the instructions and everything goes wrong until in one glorious chapter they find the prince, almost lose their opportunity to save him and then are faced with the great enemy herself. Almost seduced into the thrall of this enemy they are saved by the thoughts and actions of Puddleglum and the timely application of his foot to a fire. Suffice it to say, it all ends well. Lewis is clear though that it needn’t have all turned out that well nor should it have been that hard either.

The heart of the message of this book is that if we follow what Jesus (Aslan) tells us to then things are much simpler. There is also the fact that there are so many distractions on the way. Jill and Eustace are constantly waylaid because they are not looking in the right place. Their minds are not focused on what they should be focused upon. The instructions given by Aslan are, rather bizzarely, incredibly clear and clouded at the same time. If Eustace had been there all the time with Jill it would not have been anywhere near as hard for them. The message for Christians is to try and keep your focus. Keep thinking about what Jesus wants us to do. Without wishing to denigrate the struggles of others, what this books says to me is that God will make sure that what He wants will happen anyway. What he values and uses is us. We have the opportunity to help develop what He wants and to help bring his Kingdom about. He doesn’t need us to but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

There is a darker message too. Here we see the wiles of the enemy. The Lady of the Green Kirtle is a deadly enemy. She is very clever, very quick-witted and very capable as well. She almost convinces Eustace and the others that Narnia is in their imagination and they almost given in. What this says to us is that we need to be careful. Our enemy is just as cunning and just as clever. He may try to convince us that what we believe is wrong. Maybe he will use some very clever people using very clever words (or talking about the flying spaghetti monster) but if we stand firm and hold on to what we know (not what we can prove because in the key moment it’s not what Puddleglum can prove but what he knows and believes that counts).

I think that this book has a huge amount to offer the reader and the Christian. It’s scary and adventurous and I enjoy it so much every time I read it. There was no competition for the picture that most makes me smile in this book. Pauline Baynes illustrates Puddleglum fishing so beautifully.

Now the film of this one was a travesty. Utter complete devastation was what I felt for most of it. It was the first time in ages I nearly walked out of the cinema at a film. The book itself is a delight. I can still remember the feel and even the smell of the copy of this book in the village library.

The story is a journey to the utter east to recover seven missing lords sent out to sea by king Miraz. Caspian made the promise and is now carrying it out. He is joined by Lucy and Edmund and their obnoxious cousin Eustace. The story is centered on two characters. Eustace and Reepicheep. Eustace is an awful character who goes through a complete transformation upon realising how bad he is and after meeting Aslan. Reepicheep is following his destiny and trying to find the land beyond the eastern horizon.

Some of the more obvious themes here are redemption, baptism and fellowship. Eustace really is a horrid character. He lies, cheats, bullies and is an abject coward. He hates his family and the others without any just cause. They treat  him well and he throws it all back in their faces. He becomes the worst thing in the world and realises just how far he has sunk. He then finds out more about his companions and in particular the one he thought was the worst. He finally makes friends and finds out that he is useful to society. Is it too late for him? No, of course not. At his lowest point Eustace meets Aslan and goes through a baptism like process becoming a much nicer person. A person who loves and knows that he is loved. He becomes braver and more daring (although not perfect as the book points out).

We see a very close bond develop between the people on this voyage. They go through a lot together and there is the close knit nature of their living situation as well. Lewis portrays this group of characters well and we see that there is tension and difficulty amongst the good things. Eustace cannot cope with this because of his modern upbringing and he struggles with unconditional friendship. As the story develops the group face dangers which they can only overcome together. They find their greatest threat at the time when they are most alone.

Lewis spins a great yarn and this book, perhaps more than any of the others, stands alone as an adventure story (maybe HB does as well) but it should not be discounted. There is much here for the Christian to learn from and remember. Christ is as evident in these pages as in any of the other pages of this series of books.

My favourite picture in this book is the picture of Eustace as the dragon. At his lowest ebb, needing help he cannot imagine, there is hope in the near future.

This was the second book I read and it is one of my favourites. I was heartily disappointed with the recent film which removed one of the best aspects of the story. In this story we see a patently not ready boy make it to be king. In the film the boy was gone, to be replaced by some hunk with many years of experience under his belt and a clear set of leadership skills. Shame on you filmmakers!

The story picks up a year after the events of LWW. We see the four children setting out to go back to school and they are mysteriously called back into Narnia. They. however, do not recognise it. It is overgrown, deserted and scary for them. Meanwhile we know that Narnia has no talking animals any more, it is ruled by a cruel race called the Telmarines. The only hope for Narnia rests in the young boy called Caspian. He escapes an assassination attempt and goes into hiding with what he discovers to be the remnants of Old Narnia. The dwarfs and talking animals (my favourites in this being the Bulgy Bear and of course the wonderful Reepicheep) join Caspian in a war against the evil king Miraz (who usurped the throne after Caspian's father died). The Pevensey children hear the tale and journey to Caspian and on their journey they learn that they are not as correct about things as they think. Lucy is the first to find Aslan and tries to convince the others but they don't believe her, preferring to trust in their own instincts. Eventually Aslan returns and all is right again. Caspian becomes king and the children return home (two of whom will not return).

Again there are numerous Christian themes in this book and I don't have the time or the inclination to name them all. For me the main one is the theme of trusting in Jesus. We see Peter and Susan and Edmund as well as Trumpkin (although he is more of an atheist character really) believing that they know best. Lucy trusts Aslan and follows him off the cliff. This helps her to share the message and leads to a gradual change in the others around her. The sad thing is, that if they had trusted Aslan straight away they would have been through a lot less difficulties. We see aspects of talking the talk but not walking the walk too. When the horn in blown some say that it will bring help but they don't really believe. What this book shows us is that it is important to have faith. Help will come (it was promised to Susan that whenever her horn was sounded help would always come).

Then there is the theme of faithfulness. Caspian's nurse and his tutor never give up hope. They keep the old traditions alive and trust that it will be ok again. Dr. Cornelius has undergone some collaborative processes in his time but his hope and his belief remain steadfast. This is an important message for us in our secularist world. We need to hold fast in the face of the onslaught of new atheist teaching. We need to be the ones who say you are wrong, this is the truth and this is what we believe in. In the words of Martin Luther, 'here I stand, I can do no other'.

Finally there is the theme of loss. Peter and Susan find out in this book that they will not be back in Narnia again. They have become too old and they need to find Aslan in their world. This is the key message for the children who grow up with these books. Aslan lives in our world and we can find him. This is perhaps the greatest thing Lewis ever did. He showed young children what Jesus was like in the form of Aslan and he points to his real identity. As a young boy I read these books and wanted to meet Aslan. As I grew up I was blessed enough to find his real identity. Meeting Jesus changed my world.

As a picture, I have chosen the one which shows the children having returned home. I sympathise with Peter here.

This is probably one of the least known and understood of the seven books. It could be seen as a space filler really. At first it doesn't seem to have a purpose or a message as deep as the others. However, I would say that this book contains the central story arc from the Bible.

I am a big fan of Doctor Who and particularly enjoy the hidden story arcs in the new series. There was Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Vote Saxon, The Silence Will Fall and some others. The Bible also has a story arc but God isn't as subtle as some of the writers of Doctor Who. It screams out from the pages of the Bible and it is here in the Horse and his Boy.

The story s simple enough. A poor boy from Calormen escapes to Narnia with a talking horse. He finds a young girl trying to do the same and together they race to the North to stop an invasion of Narnia's neighbour Archenland. Along the way they find out more about each other and they discover wonderful things. Shasta (the boy of the title) finds out that he is not a poor peasant child but the son of King Lune and future monarch of Archenland, chosen to save his people. Aravis finds out that she is not that nice a person and becomes someone much less tiresome. Bree and Hwin the two horses lose some of their fears and some of their stupidity (particularly Bree) and all find rest and shelter in the land they had been dreaming of.

So what about the Christian themes in this book? Well, the four main characters travel through a desert to escape a life of slavery. This is Our Story. The Bible is all about our journey from slavery (Egypt) to freedom (the land of Israel which lies north of Egypt across a great desert). On every step of the way we can look back and see God's guiding hand as can Shasta and Aravis. We see that we are led through difficult times to the safety and comfort of our new home.

Deeper meaning than this is evident though. We see that Aslan had a hand in every aspect of Shasta's life. He guided the abducted baby to safety and protected him before the desert. He guided him over the narrow path and made sure that he was able to fulfill his destiny. We may not recognise Jesus as being with us all the time but He most certainly is. He cares for every aspect of our lives and He wants us to be safe, secure and happy.

It's not about predestination though. Shasta never had to do anything that he did. It was all free will. He could have stayed in the shack. He could have stayed in Taashbaan and he could have stayed in the hermitage. He did not. He took the difficult paths and did the difficult things because that was what was right. Sometimes, we as Christians need to remember that we have a choice. Sometimes we have to choose between doing what is right and what is easy. Shasta makes the right choices (guided so amazingly by Aslan) and it all works out well in the end.

Perhaps my favourite part of this book is the conversations that Aslan has with Aravis and Shasta. Here we see that it is all about them. They have no right to know about others and what will happen to them. They should not judge nor should they worry about that. Aslan takes care of all people and I know many Christians who need to learn this lesson. Yes we need to care for others, God wants nothing less. However, we have no right to assume things about people. We each need to work on our own story with Aslan. Our walk with Jesus is ours and we have no concern in the walk of someone else. They act differently? Have different beliefs? Think differently? Tough, what goes on between them and Jesus is their affair. We can help  and guide but ultimately the story is theirs and theirs alone.

This is a book about growing up and losing what we had as children in order to get at what is real and true. In an echo of 1 Corinthians 13:11 we see all four characters lose their inhibitions, their wrong beliefs and their childish worries when faced with the Great Lion. In meeting Jesus we see the ultimate reality and nobody will escape unchanged. Lewis, though, shows that the joys of childhood are not lost. The characters after their encounters with the risen Aslan (this is post  Stone Table) are happier than they were at the start of the book and they live happily ever after. A masterpiece of adventure story-telling.

Need I retell this story? Surely this is one of the most well known of Christian books. Once there were four children, whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Words which excite me still, even after having read them dozens of times.

(Interestingly, this book also contained my first experience with a cultural misunderstanding. In the wardrobe room Lucy sees only a dead bluebottle on the windowsill. When I grew up dead was a way of adding emphasis. Hence dead blue was really blue. So I didn't realise till much later that the object was a deceased fly. I used to think it was a really blue bottle. Weird eh?)

The story is a simple one. A child stumbles on a land in the back of the wardrobe. This land is oppressed by an evil queen. She tells her family about this wonderful place but nobody believes her. Her brother also finds it but is seduced by the darkness on offer from the evil queen and becomes quite beastly to her. Eventually they all get in and it becomes a story of betrayal and of finding the truth. It is the quintessential battle of good versus evil. There is redemption and love, sacrifice and faith and joy (literally) unbounded. The death of Aslan on the Stone Table hurts me to write about. I don't think I have ever found a passage in a book so pregnant with desolation and pain. I still read those chapters with a heavy heart even though I know that He will rise from the dead on the very next page. Finally it is a story of the restoration of how things should be. The natural order is reapplied and all live happily ever after.

Lewis never meant Aslan to be an allegory of Jesus. He wanted to tell the story of Christ's sacrifice but as animals would is Jesus were to have been one of them. Right at the heart of the story (indeed of the whole series) is the fact that Aslan goes willingly to his death to buy the freedom of someone who does not know. Edmund did not ask Aslan to do it. In fact, he had betrayed the Lion but still he padded to his death on a macabre execution table. This is just what Jesus did for me. I betrayed him and still he went to his death.

Even if this was where the story ended it would be a magnificent tale (witness the fabulous scene in Disney's Jungle Book where Baloo is though dead and Baghera says 'greater love has no man than this; that he lay his life down for his friends' and then we see the awesome sight of Baloo's eyes opening and he sniffs and says 'he's cracking me up'. I defy you to find a better scene in a Disney film) but it doesn't. Aslan returns from the dead. He is alive and well just as was always predicted. This echo of Christ's resurrection stirs me today. Because He is alive there is hope that everything will be alright now. It's all ok and we needn't worry about anything. The long dark night is over. The sun (Son) has risen and a new day has begun.

Moreover, this is a story not about Peter or Susan really but largely about Lucy and (arguably) mostly about Edmund. This is his story. He is beyond redemption in some parts. He hates his family and has abandoned them. He has (albeit unknowingly) sold them into slavery and he has caused pain for Mr. Tumnus. Yet he is the most transformed by his encounter with Aslan. The others find strength and courage from their meeting's with the lion but Edmund is transformed into the old Edmund. He becomes the hero that it was obvious that he would become. He almost dies trying to save people he had no knowledge of nor any care for mere pages before. Through his encounter with Aslan, Edmund becomes the best of all. He never forgets what has happened (in PC there is a wonderful moment when the others are excited about finding their gifts from LWW and Edmund must surely have felt stung that he had none) but he is not burdened by it any more. The redemption of Edmund is something we can all find hope in.

In Prince Caspian we find out a little bit extra about this book. It is only a tiny aside but it reaches out and punches you in the guts if you let it. When Aslan lay bound to the Stone Table mice began to eat the ropes to free him. In his most desolate and destroyed state, these creatures who had been forgotten when Aslan gave the power of speech to the animals take care of him. The lowliest of Narnia's animals are rewarded for their love of Aslan with the gift of speech. For me, this says that it is never too late. I am sure that some may find this a spurious point but I love it. Aslan never forgets the service done to him by the least of his subjects and the rewards are magnificent.

There are other themes worthy of discussion but I shall leave it at these for now. These are what scream out at me.

For my picture, I have chosen the resurrected Aslan. The joy on the faces of the girls and of Aslan is wonderful to behold. Well drawn Pauline Baynes.

The first in my series of posts about the Chronicles of Narnia and already faced with a dilemma. Which order to write them in? The official reading order (MN, LWW, HB, PC, VDT, SC and LB - The Magician's Nephew, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and his Boy, Prince Caspian, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the Silver Chair and the Last Battle), the order in which I read them or the order in which they were published? I think I shall go with the reading order, that should make more sense so here goes.


The Magician's Nephew is the story of the creation of Narnia. There is the simplest of the themes of Christianity in it. We see Diggory Kirk and Polly Plummer becoming friends in a London which seems Edwardian and dark. Together they embark on an adventure that takes them to a couple of different worlds using magic rings invented by Diggory's uncle Andrew (the Magician of the title). On one of these journeys they awake a mighty queen of a country called Charn. She travels with the children to London and they eventually manage to trick her into a dark place where there is nothing but the solid ground upon which they stand. Slowly light appears, then a magnificent lion and then plants and animals and everything a young world needs. The Lion is Aslan and he is a creature of majesty and power. He calls animals forth from the ground and he causes trees and flowers and all sorts of plants into existence. He breathes and gives life. The queen is an evil presence and this new world of Narnia needs protecting. Diggory and Polly are given a mission and they follow it as well as they can. Eventually they give Aslan the item he wanted (an apple of all things) and Narnia is protected. Diggory goes home and is able to save his dying mother.

It's probably not the greatest summary of the book in existence but I think that it suffices.

There are lots of Christian themes in this book. Yes there is creation but if we look at it closely we see that right at the heart of creation is Aslan. The Son of the Emperor Overseas. This is a wonderful echo of the opening of John's Gospel. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. At the start of Genesis it says in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. This message which is backed up and expanded upon by John is at the heart of the Narnian creation too.

More than creation though, we see that through the selfish acts of one man evil enters the world. Diggory didn't have to ring the bell in Charn, he could have walked away and Narnia may have been the perfect world that Aslan intended it to be. Sadly it was not. Jadis is an evil presence who casts a shadow over the books that will follow. From her comes all of the evil that we see later in the chronicles. Yet, even here there is hope. Aslan protects the country from her for as long as is possible with a tree that she cannot go near and this is a wonderful example of the loving protection that God offers us. But, there is even more. In the next book (LWW) we see that there was a deeper magic from before time began. Before Aslan called Narnia into being he knew that there would be a problem. He foresaw that someone who was innocent (and as we learn only He is innocent) would have to die in the place of someone else. There was no Plan B. This was Plan A. Aslan created the world of Narnia knowing that one day He would have to die to save it. Is there a more Christian theme than this?

I hesitate to use the word finally as I am sure there are lots more themes to chose from but the last meta-narrative that is established here is the fact that although the creatures can think and talk and do all the things we can, Man must have dominion. It is not good for the country to be ruled by any other than a Son of Adam and a Daughter of Eve. This is a direct retelling of the Genesis commission. We are responsible and we have duties to fulfill. We cannot exploit the resources of this world without going against the wishes of our creator.

For each of the reviews I am going to include one of the wonderful illustrations done for the books by Pauline Baynes. I find these pictures to be sublime and no reading of a Narnia book would be complete without them.

I found this today http://www.nakedpastor.com/category/comics/ and wanted to share one particular picture which I think is hilarious

I think I shall return to one of my favourite pastimes soon. As a child I loved to read. I was often in the village library, devouring books. The Asterix ones and Tintin ones were some of my favourite. However, it was the Narnia Chronicles which changed my life. Those books sang to me like almost no other has. I still get a thrill just thinking about the wardrobe, the walk through the mist that Shasta faces, the wood between the worlds, Aslan's How and so many other things. I know the stories of Diggory and Polly, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy and Eustace Clarense Scrubb and Jill Pole so well. Lewis wrote with such gentleness and love that they are a fitting tribute to him. I would say that these books inspired my reading style. To this day, if I find a book I like, I then start to read every book by that author to get as much out of them as I can. I have read all the books by Lewis that I could access. I did the same with Patricia Cornwell, Louis de Bernieres, Terry Pratchett and Tom Clancy.

So, what I intend to do with my next seven posts is to write a short piece outlining what I see as the key Christian messages to be taken from these books. I am sure that you will have heard of them before but you never know

Something I have been listening to a lot lately. An amazing piece of music

A wonderful adaptation of a classic hymn. Well done Mr. Mark.

I found this on another blog and I hope to link to it tomorrow when I'm at my computer. Rowan Williams was sent a copy of a letter from a Six year old girl from Scotland asking 'Dear God, how did you get invented?'. The letter was sent to other church leaders and not many answers came back but Rowan wrote this. Enjoy

Dear Lulu,

Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It's a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

'Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn't expected. Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I'm really like. But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!'

And then he'd send you lots of love and sign off. I know he doesn't usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lots of love from me too.

+Archbishop Rowan

I have had a very busy day adding posts to a blog I have set up for work. It is looking really good I think and I am enjoying it. Having some spare time on my hands I thought I would share some more musings.

As I am writing this, I am thinking of Hezekiah the king. What makes a good king? I loved the idea of the New Monarchy when I was a student and the ideas that the relationship between King and Subject was a lot more complex than most people think was an intriguing one.

It works like this. The King would make promises and his subjects would make some as well. The King would promise to Lead his people, to Legislate for his people and to Love his people. The People would agree to Follow the King, to follow the law and to fight for their king. I think that sometimes, as we call Jesus/God our king, we forget what it means.

Hastily ducking the sharpened chunks of scripture that some will try and throw at me, I want to point out that there is nothing that says God has to make these promises (nothing He does is dependent on us, I am not that liberal in my theology).

God does though. He promises to lead us. He lead the Israelites in the desert and He will lead us. He has certainly legislated. His law is not the proscriptive thing that many people think it is. It is, instead, better to view it as guidelines to protect us from what will hurt us (mainly ourselves to be honest!). This Law is well known and well attested. It is also certain that He has loved us. John 3:16 sums it up better than anything I could do.

And what do we do? Do we stand and fight for our leader? Is he the head of our army, leading us on into battle? I don't think many in the church see it this way. As to following the law. Ha! I wish I could but then if we could Christ would not have had to come. Do we follow where He leads? I try to but sometimes I cannot see him and I start to freak out.

This has made me think that I should do a little more writing, I shall look into it and see if I can find some examples of the perfect King...

Today the BBC religion and ethics department's message boards closed down. I have only been posting on it for a little while and it was rather frustrating. My impression of the BBC has always been that bit biased against Christianity. I have seen them criticise the Bible and suggest it is wrong. I have seen them portray Christians as sword wielding maniacs cutting the head off innocent Muslims (a programme called Bonekickers) and as for their showing of the Jerry Springer Opera, that was a dreadful thing. In the same time I have not seen them treat the koran and Islam in the same way.

This having been said, even Muslims come off badly when it comes to the secularist and atheist agenda being pushed on the British state television broadcaster. Whatever the likes of Dawkins and Hitchens say is treated as a wonderful snippet of amazing news. Christians are inept and unintelligent compared to them. The Big Questions (a series on Sundays occasionally) is a prime example. As far as the host of this programme is concerned all that Christians believe in can be summarised in the following list:

1: Homosexuality (bad, which is the exact opposite of precisely every person in the intelligent world)
2: Abortion (always bad even in the most desperate of circumstances)
3: Women Priests (against if you are Catholic or Evangelical, in favour if youare liberal but then you don't believe Jesus was real)
4: A literal six day creation ending in 4004 BC.

Of course any Christian reading this will realise that this is not the case and will no doubt recognise the way we're treated by many.

So back to the Message Board. The moderators of it were always quick to hide comments they deemed offensive (quite a lot of which were simple Christian comments) and it was full of atheists with their usual childish ranting and puerile arguments (I actually saw one write 'aw diddums' in response to a point they couldn't counter) but I liked them. It sharpened my skills of answering for my faith. It made me laugh. It made me realise how weak some Christians are at handling difficult questions.

I think I will find some other way to occupy my time but I think it's sad that the BBC cannot afford to keep it open (really BBC? Even after you take £140 from every household in the UK?). Good luck to all who contributed to it and I hope that some of them found out a little more about Jesus from it. I think I shall pray about that tonight.

Time for bed now. I shall try an be more profound tomorrow...

Here are a series of studies I wrote about the book of Phillipians

Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness - Through the Book of Phillipians in 4 Easy Studies

Aim: the aim of these studies is to work through the book of Phillipians, giving praise to God and using the Bible to inspire our worship and witness. Each session will contain a time of welcome, a time of worship and a time of Bible Study.

Welcome: try to have the group arrive nice and early, good coffee and good biscuits can do wonders! Be sensitive and try to ensure that all members of the group are at least spoken to in the days leading up to the meeting. They may not be able to make it but they should feel that they are a part of the group at all times.

Worship: this is twofold, there should be praise for God and a time of prayer. Spend some time either playing worship songs and singing along or use already recorded songs and sing along to them. Music should lead us into a closeness with God that will transform our time with Him. At the end of the session, before we go out we should try to sing/listen to one of the songs from the earlier worship.

Word: there is a section of scripture to read each week Each one comes with questions that can be discussed or the discussion can dissect the Word in any way the Spirit leads.

Witness: each session comes with a challenge to try and complete in the weeks between the studies.


Session One: The Good News and the Good Life

Welcome: spend some time simply chatting and discussing what has happened during the last week. Have some good refreshments in a comfortable place. Conversations should never be forced but try to discuss the following: 1 thing to be thankful for in the last week, 1 thing to look forward to in the next week, 1 thing that has made us feel bad in the last week. Spend at least half an hour doing this, its vital that we come to worship the Lord in a mood of relaxation and comfort.

Worship:
Suggested song list:

Anthem of the Free
Blessed be your name
Seeing and singing
The Heart of Worship

All of these are from M Redman

Final Worship: Blessed be your name

Prayer time - if people have a list of things they would like to have prayer for that is wonderful, otherwise a time of open prayer will be wonderful. Use chapter 1 v 6 as a focus for prayer.

Word:

Read Philippians 1

1: Is there something that makes you happy every time you think of it? What is it? Why does it make you happy?

2: What does verse 6 mean? How does it effect you?

3: Read verses 9-11: how does knowledge and insight help love to develop? How does it result in discernment and purity?

4: Philippians is one of the most cheerful of all of Paul’s Letters. He is, however, in prison falsely accused. Yet he still advances the gospel. Would we? Why/Why not?

5: Why might some people preach the gospel out of spite and envy? Have we got any examples?

6: is Paul suggesting that people can be led to Christ through false preaching?
7: Paul cannot seem to decide between living and serving Christ or dying and being with Him. Are they both positives for us?

8: What is Paul’s ultimate motivation for living and dying? Is it what we would choose?



Witness:  Here is a challenge to be tried during the next week: we all have people who are special to us and have a special place in our heart. Choose one (possibly a non-Christian) and tell them they are special, tell them what your hopes are for them and how you are praying for them.

Final Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer

Session 2: The Light of the World and How to light it up


Welcome: start with a discussion of the challenge from last session. How did it go? What was it like? What has been good this week? What has been difficult? What would you like to achieve in your relationship with God this week?

Worship:

The Greatest Day in History
Name above all names
Jesus Saves
Living for your Glory

All by Tim Hughes

Final Worship: Living for your glory

Prayer time: focus on chapter 2 verse 10. Bow your knees to Jesus and pray to Him. Pray to the God who became human and who knows exactly what its like to be you.

Word: Read chapter 2

1: What does it mean to be ‘like minded, of one spirit and purpose?

2: Who is more important than ourselves?  What would happen if we truly cared for them as much as we care for ourselves?

3: If we were like Jesus is described here, what would happen to our interests and wants and needs?

4: How did Jesus become like us? What does this mean to you?

5: What does Paul mean in verse 12?

6: Do we always do things without grumbling or arguing? (v14) Why should we? Why don’t we?

7: How are Timothy and Epaphroditus good examples for us to follow? Who in our church are we looking up to?

Witness:  This week, consider being a light in the world. The focus is to stop the grumbling and be a servant. Find one person (more if you wish) whom you can serve in some way this week. Do it without grumbling and do it in a way that Jesus would have done.

Final Prayer: The Grace (2 Cor 13:14)

Session 3: Being the best and winning the race

Welcome: This week try to talk about the times we have been closest to God. Where were we? What were we doing? Who were we with? What makes us feel thankful?

Worship

The wonder of the Cross
Yesterday, Today and Forever
Everlasting Arms
Everyone under the sun

Final Worship: The Wonder of the Cross

All by Vicky Beeching

Prayer time: Focus on verse 8 ‘Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as rubbish. All I want is Christ’ CEV. Pray to this wonderful Jesus, the Jesus who had nothing to make him special but was and is the most special person in all of history.

Word: Read Philippians 3

1: What dogs does Paul refer to?

2: What does it mean to put no confidence in the flesh? Can we give examples?

3: Why does Paul consider religious righteousness ‘rubbish’? What does this say about us? What rubbish do we need to put aside?

4: How do we get the true righteousness Paul talks about?

5: Paul is in prison so what is he straining towards?

6: In what ways should we follow the example of Paul? Who else can we follow as an example?

7: Read verses 18-19, is Paul referring to people inside or outside of the church?

8: How will Christ transform our bodies?

Witness: This week put aside one thing that you rely on. Give up something that gives you comfort and do without it for one day. See how it affects you.

Final Prayer: Read through John 17: 20-26

Session 4: Thanks, Thanks and More Thanks

Welcome: Have a meal, the Bible is full of meals, we in the church don’t seem to have them any more. Share food together and enjoy each other’s company.

Worship:

In Christ Alone
Be Thou my Vision
I The Lord of Sea and Sky
Thine Be the Glory

Final Worship: In Christ Alone

Prayer: focus on chapter 4 verses 6-8, focus on what is familiar to us in Christ, what is true, right, holy and proper. Pray to the God who cares for us.

Word: Read Phillipians Chapter 4

1: Why does Paul tell the readers to rejoice?

2: The people of the letter are suffering, how are verses 5-7 a model for prayer in suffering? Is Paul telling them to thank God before or after He has answered their prayers?

3: What does the last part of verse 7 mean?

4: How does Verse 8 help us? Do we think of the good things when we are in difficulty?

5: How would learning to be content in everything change our lives and the lives of those around us?

6 How does what Paul says about giving and ministry support differ from what we often hear today?


Witness: Try to share the message of verse 8 with someone who is having difficulties this week. Listen to them talk, share their thoughts and then talk through what has helped you through difficult times in the past.

Final Prayer: Read through Phillipians 4: 19&20

If the Gospel was to be made into a film by a Hollywood producer Acts 2:47 would be a fine place to stop it. The story is of course in Three Acts. Jesus is born and grows up in the prologue. In Act 1 he starts his ministry and teaching. In Act 2 he gets into a lot of trouble and is put on trial. In Act 3 the hero dies only to be brought back to life and leave his followers in one happy large group, ready to face the world filled with the love that Jesus left. That’s where we are in Acts 2:47 but its not quite that simple.

Luke doesn’t use this part as the end of his story, in fact it is much more like the beginning. In this passage we see what it is that would transform the church from a tiny number of believers into the biggest and most wonderful movement in history.

Luke starts this passage with a description of what the young church was doing. It shows us what is often known as the four pillars of the church. The four things upon which successful churches and discipleship groups should use. They are Teaching, fellowship, breaking bread together and prayer.

I am of course bound to say this but teaching is really important. It is one of the most important of the four pillars. Without this teaching of the apostles it would have been easy for the believers to slip back into the culture they had ‘been rescued’ from. This would be the same for us. Without good teaching and regular teaching then we can easily fall into the prevailing culture of our world.

Likewise we need fellowship. This isn’t something that can be just ignored. Without good fellowship we cannot really hope to have a living and vibrant faith. We learn from the Bible but we learn from our friends as well.

The disciples were continuing to break bread together as well. This was not simply taking communion for communion’s sake it was much more about remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is something that we need to do as well.

Prayer is a powerful part of any successful church.  There are many famous quotes about prayer such as this one from John Wesley I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.

Now I would like you to imagine a world without these things. No teaching about Jesus, none of his teaching. No fellowship of believers breaking bread together. No prayer. The world without these things would be immeasurably worse off. No moral code for us. No Mother Teresa or John Paul II. No Christian charity and no hope.

Wonderfully this didn’t happen. Instead Jesus did live and die and then come back to life. His followers did use these four pillars to base their community upon and what a community they built.

The early believers we have read about didn’t even have a name. They were variously called ‘the people who had been with Jesus’, ‘The witnesses to the resurrection’, people who were filled with the Holy Spirit’ and those who were being ‘rescued’. They might not have had a name for themselves but we have a perfect word for them in modern English. They were a family. In a family nobody thinks this is mine and that is yours. They share everything. In First Century Palestine it wasn’t unusual to have several generations and branches of a family in the same trade and business. This close nit community was what the disciples helped to create. The early Christians shared everything. They had a common purse, they sold their excess property and they put everything into the communal pot. They even called each other brothers and sisters (Paul uses the term brothers 99 times in his letters alone). They even managed to do this after Pentecost when 3,000 people were added to their numbers. More and more people became believers every day and they were all part of this family straight away.

What then is the challenge for our church today? Its simply to be a church more like this early church. Through church history there have been many examples of groups and denominations who wanted the same and some have said its impossible to do this but I think that it depends on what aspects of this very early church we want to get back to .

Obviously we can’t live in each others houses (well not all of us can). We cannot share our money or anywhere near as much as the early church but there is still lots we can aspire to.

We can meet together. We can meet together for teaching and Bible study but it shouldn’t stop there. We can meet together just for coffee too. We can meet together just to be together.

We can look after each other, This is something that many people in society seem to have forgotten. We have heard recent stories about people who have frozen in their houses and have been left undiscovered for days. It wouldn’t have happened in the early church. Who isn’t here today? Are they ill? How can we find out? Looking after each other doesn’t mean nursing and popping over with some extra food. It means knowing what other people need and helping to meet those needs. That’s one of the great things about small groups. We can get to know things about our friends and loved ones. We know when they’re not well or not happy or in need.

The early church was welcoming and we need to be as well. Its hard to walk through that door at the back. Can you remember what it was like the first time you came in? I can. It was very welcoming and friendly. We need to be welcoming. Not everyone knows where to sit in church. Someone who comes in to the church should be made to feel welcome and not like an outsider. Perhaps they don’t know what to do, or where to sit. Maybe they don’t know when to stand up or even if the coffee at the end of church is for everyone. If we are going to be like the early church and make people feel welcome we have to make them feel welcome.

Being in a small group is wonderful. We have some excellent teaching and spend a great deal of time in prayer and fellowship. I cant

What the Bible doesn't tell us

A little piece based on a small passage in Luke 4. Apologies for the mishandling of scripture. Hope you don't mind.

Jesus taught in their synagogues. He went to the synagogue I'm Nazareth as he usually did. It was his turn to read from the scripture so he opened it up to the point in Isaiah where it says

The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to people (provided that they're under the age of 18 if we are talking of any new initiatives requiring staffing or funding)

To bring new sound systems so that people who are not in our synagogues can hear the message clearly

To spend weeks and months talking in meetings and more meetings to decide what we need to be discussing in future meetings

Then he sat down and all the people said 'what did he say?' for lo they did not have a good sound system and were determined to spend a year's salary on a new one.

I know that a couple of days ago I spoke about flippancy within our conversation but I feel that sometimes there is a place for it.

I have seen so much lately of the church trying it's best to share the gospel. This is wonderful and so fantastic that I am sure that God is utterly delighted.

My question for this post is whether or not our values are the right ones. Take one church I know for example. Their missional heart is obvious and it's such a joy to see. Problem is, most of their mission is aimed at young people. What of the elderly and the housebound? What of the unemployed and the sick? I know that young people are important but not to the detriment of other groups surely?

Then there are the other churches who have plenty of money and are spending it on what? New sound systems, better TV screens, cooler computers and efficient office equipment. The truth is that these monies could be spent on alleviating poverty, solving injustice and furthering the Kingdom. Why don't they?

I used to be on a PCC and by crikey it was an education. Hours spent in meetings and Jesus never got a look-in. Why should we as Christians spend so much time doing this? Jesus has given us clear instructions about what we are to do and we don't need committees to see what it is. Scripture is clear. Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly.

Perhaps what we need to do is to remember what Jesus really said in this part of Luke.

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour. "

This is what we need to proclaim and we need to do it to people of all ages and all classes and we don't need fancy sound systems or interminable meetings. What we need is the grace of God and the Holy Spirit and as Christians we have these things.