Monday, November 28, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

 

Some news:

 

-- On this Saturday, December 3, we will be having a paintball outing with the youth.  Everyone who is interested should be at the church at 8:30AM.  Make sure to bring a lunch.

 

-- On Sunday, December 11, we will be going out to lunch and to see the new Narnia movie.  In the next week or so, we'll need to get a count on that, so we can order tickets ahead of time.

 

Today's Overview:  Chapter 7 - A Day with the Beavers

 

Link to the full synopsis of the book is available at our class website -- leapclass.blogspot.com.

 

The four children meet Mr. Beaver, who takes them to his home to meet his wife.  They have tea.  They learn three things at the Beaver's house -

 

-- that Mr. Tumnus most likely was taken away by the Witch's secret police to her castle, from which very few return -- the few reports of survivors say that the castle is full of those whom she has turned to stone.

 

-- that Aslan, the great lion is on the move, and that his arrival in Narnia would signal the end of the reign of the witch.

 

-- that the arrivial in Narnia of the children is seen as fulfillment of prophesy.

 

Two things happen while they are listening to Mr. Beaver.  First, when they hear Aslan's name, they have a brief mystical, spiritual experience.  Second, as they are listening to Mr. Beaver, they don't realize that Edmund has disappeared - he slipped off while Mr. Beaver was talking.

 

In our study, the focus is on the reaction of the children to hearing Aslan's name, and the comparison is made to the power of Jesus' name.  Our scriptures for the day are examples of how the simple mention of Jesus' name in some circumstances was accompanied by an example of the power of God.  These are three of the examples of reactions to hearing Jesus name -- some positive and some negative, depending on where people's hearts where.  In the story, it is a similar reaction -- as it turns out, when Edmund heard Aslan's name, his reaction was one of fear and horror -- apparently, he has fallen under the sway of the White Witch and his own desires.

 

Today's Scriptures

 

Acts 3:6, 16; John 18:4-6; Phillipians 2:9-11

 

Today's prayer request:      Christie and Andrew Peebles

 

Christie and Andrew are pregnant again, about ten weeks+.  We need to pray that they have a problem-free pregnancy.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Monica Harbarger

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay