I come with joy, a child of God,
forgiven, loved and free,
the life of Jesus to recall,
in love laid down for me,
in love laid down for me.

– Brian Wren

One of my favorite series growing up was “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. As a child I did not fully understand these amazing stories, but after rereading them as an adult, I see deep spiritual themes in each of them. Perhaps one of the best compliments to a “children’s” book, is that it still has a story, meaning, and message for adults, too.

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” is, in part, an allegory for the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. The main characters of the story include Susan and Lucy, two sisters who have just watched the evil witch cruelly kill their beloved Aslan (the Christ character) in order to free one of their brothers from the witch’s domain. After watching his horrific death, the two girls have collapsed in sorrow, not knowing what to do next. Suddenly, with the dawn, the scene changes dramatically as Aslan is alive again!

“Oh, you’re real, you’re real! Oh, Aslan!” cried Lucy, and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.

“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that 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. And now—”

“Oh yes. Now?” said Lucy, jumping up and clapping her hands.

“Oh, children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began. Round and round the hilltop he led them, now hopelessly out of their reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge and beautifully velveted paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs. It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.*

I expect the girls’ response to Aslan’s resurrection is only a small measure of the joy the disciples felt on the when they truly understood that Jesus was resurrected!

Today as we go to our local church to encounter the risen Christ, may we come with JOY to meet our Lord, forgiven, loved, and free. May we encounter our amazing God in the songs we sing, the communion elements we share, the prayers we pray, and the Word we hear. And may our God of Hope fill us with all JOY and PEACE in our believing!

El Simchah Giyli- God My Exceeding Joy,

Thank you for the joy, hope, and peace we have as we believe in Jesus Christ, trust in him, and follow the way of the Spirit. Thank you for rescuing us from the dominion of darkness, bringing us into Christ’s Kingdom, and blessing us with the forgiveness of sins, redemption, and the inheritance you give us to be your holy people. Thank you for the ways you will speak to your people through the Word, Worship, Prayer, and Communion today. Fill us with all Spirit-led knowledge, wisdom, and understanding so that our lives please you in every way, bearing fruit and rightly showing the glory of the Lord to those around us. May our JOY overflow and bless you and those around us, we ask in Jesus’s name, AMEN.

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14 NIV)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)

*from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis