Now I know that many have thought that they have experienced a little too much of Narnia these past few weeks but I recently re-read the whole Narnia series. (It helped my happy feeling going to see the latest in the Narnia series of films today) But there was one particular part of the final book that really touched me and got me thinking!!
In it Edmund and Jill have come back to Narnia, the last battle has been fought and the end of the world has come. Everything that was created in the beginning comes to an end and song ceases. The group that have been together in the book have gone through a stable door and found themselves in what is evidently paradise. Some (like the dwarfs) enter the dark stable but don't want to believe so all they see is a dark dirty stable! The group of people meet with a man who is from a different culture, throughout the stories they have evidently represented the more Eastern religions and serve a god named Tash. Unknown to this young man their god is an evil and unjust god...so when he finds himself in Paradise he is understandably confused.
He recounts to the group of people how he had met with Aslan and asked why he was allowed to be in paradise when he had been following a god he now understood was evil. Aslan tells him, "everything good that you did, even if you did not know my name, was done by me"
The message for me was simple and wonderful...it meant that we do not have to have grasped the full truth about God and the nature of God. How can we even possibly think that we could!! But even if we have it all wrong...if we have the right heart, then we are at one with the heart of God. Last month Christians celebrated Christmas, Pagans celebrated the winter solstice, Jews celebrated Hanukkah and Ashura is a Muslim day of fasting. Each one celebrating and offering themselves to God in a unique and wonderful way, each person within that choosing to worship, celebrate, believe and understand differently from the other. Each person seeking a 'God heart'.
Last night I had a dream about the importance of our God stories and I know that I want to share that message in my next sermon.....for a while in this blog I am going to try and find out some different people's God stories and share them here. I pray you enjoy them.
God Bless
