Thanks Aslan (and Clive)


I enjoy reading to my kids. Last year, I tried reading The Hobbit to Adam (age 6). We got about halfway through it, and I could tell he was losing interest. So Tolkien was shelved for C.S. Lewis.

We started with The Magician's Nephew, which was good - but didn't contain as much adventure to capture a young boy's attention. We still finished it. We have now been reading the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. Adam has engaged with this book so much, that he now claims it his favorite.

Last night we read the section where Aslan is killed, after negotiating his life with the White Witch, in order to spare the life of Edmund. Adam was stunned that Aslan would do that, especially since Edmund had been so bad earlier in the story.

He also couldn't figure out why Aslan just didn't kill the witch and all her followers, and make everything ok.

I spent the next 10 minutes explaining that this was his plan. For some reason Aslan chooses to sacrifice his life for the life of Edmund. This is what love us, to sacrifice for the well being of others. Adam sat in silence for a long time, and then said... so the lion has to die?

Yes - the lion has to die in order to save the life of someone who didn't deserve forgiveness or a second chance.

We didn't continue our conversation further into more technical theories of the atonement. I was just happy that the seed had been planted in my son's mind.

Also, we haven't finished the story - I can't wait to hear what Adam has to say at the resurrection of Aslan.

So, thanks Clive, for using your literary skills to write a grown up story for children. Your words connect the mind of a 6 yr. old boy in Metro Vancouver to the Grand Story that the Master Story Teller is still writing.

Additional note - every Monday and Wednesday morning, parents are allowed to come into the classroom and read to their kids. This morning Felicia went in. She was about to start reading, when Adam informed all the other boys sitting in a semi-circle, that "the lion dies". One boy said - yeah - in the lion king, the lion dies. Adam retorted -

"No, Aslan dies, so that others could live."

The kids sat and digested that in silence.

Comments

Paul said…
That's funny coincidence, we been reading the Narnia series with our oldest boy (7) he loves the series!
6:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whine and Geez

Image
Last night we hosted a wine and cheese party for our floor. Out of the 11 other people that live on our floor, 5 came over. It was really fun. We had 3 kinds of cheese, crackers, red wnd white wine, baklava, fruit and other goodies. It was really great getting to know some of the folks on our floor. We have always talked about doing it so it was nice to finally pull it off. One of our neigbours is a concierge at the 4 seasons. She said one of the oddest guest requests was a guest from Texas who wanted 100 A&W ketchup packets. He said he really liked their ketchup - I guess. Finished " Joyful Exiles " so unfortunately no more excerts for you - buy the book. Have moved on to " A Grief Observed " by C.S. Lewis . This might seem like an odd choice - I'm not really grieving the death of anyone or anything like that. I just have a personal goal of reading everything Lewis wrote. In the past few weeks I've finished Miracles and Mere Christianity (sorry - I got ...
Read more

Coaster goes up (a little)

Image
Unused photo from the Globe and Mail shoot. So, last night and all day today I was on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Quite auspicious surroundings for church council/pastors meetings! there were stunning views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and the downtown buildings. The meetings were lengthy, exhausting and a lot of work. Basically, FBC has been on a year long journey of crafting its vision statement and core values - we did it with the assistance of a coach from Outreach Canada. We are coming down the home stretch and needed to hammer out everything for presentation to the congregation. Today was the first day that I have begun to feel lighter and ready to resume the work. Although still feeling wounded from this whole mess, I'm ready to limp on. It's true: Sunday,Monday - elation at finally reaching a goal of holding a first@night service in a trendy nightclub - excitement at getting press coverage - even thoug...
Read more

Oh no, Dr. Montgomery!

Image
"Healthcare in the heart of Yaletown - if you can afford it" For the past 6 years I have had the same physician: Dr. Brian Montgomery. We are quite close and I call him Brian. He knows me inside and out (literally). This is the longest period of time I have had the same doctor. We have quite a good relationship. I've invited he and his partner over to our place, but we've never been able to sync our schedules up. Well, I am sad to say our professional relationship is over. Brian will no longer be my doctor. I made the decision earlier this evening. As I was watching the news, Brian's face all of a sudden popped up - His clinc - the Mainland Clinic - is now going to start charging its patients to make appointments. The fees are going to be $30/appt. or $75 for the year to become a "member" of the clinic. The only motivation I can see is obviosuly money. The physcians obviously decided that the amounts they were billing the government was not enough. I hol...
Read more