Friday, December 9, 2005 -- Opening Day Edition

Good Morning!

Remember that Will Willimon, who is the Bishop for the North Alabama Conference, is going to preach at the 11AM service -- actually, we will only have one service on this Sunday. Bishop Willimon is the author of over 50 books, and by all accounts, he is a terrific preacher as well.

Our movie time on Sunday is 2:15P. Right now, I have purchased tickets for eight -- the Harbargers (2), the Douglases (3) and the Waters (3). If anyone else is coming along, and would like me to buy tickets ahead of time, let me know today. Or, if you would like buy your tickets yourself, go to www.ravemotionpictures.com and look at the Patton Creek location. Make sure you select the correct date, then the correct show time, the web site is a bit tricky.

Today's Overview - Chapter 16- What Happened About the Statues and Chapter 17 - The Hunting of the White Stag

Once Aslan returns to life, he vigorously begins to attack the Witch's work on all fronts. He takes Susan and Lucy to the Witch's castle on his back in a ride through the sky. Once there, he breathes on those turned to stone by the witch, bringing them back to life. They all then go to the battle field, where the Witch's army is about to battle Aslan's army. The battle isn't going well when Aslan arrives, but his reinforcements turn the tide. Aslan himself kills the witch, and the Witch's army surrenders and/or flees. Lucy uses her gift from Father Christmas -- the healing potion -- to tend to those injured in battle, starting with Edmund, who was one of the most gravely injuried.

Later, the prophesy is fulfilled in that Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy are crowned kings and queens of Narnia, and they rule for many years.

After many years of ruling, the kids generally forgot about their previous lives in England. But one day, they are out hunting in the forest for a special animal, when they find there way to the lamppost that had been their first landmark in Narnia years ago. They pass the lamp post and find themselves back in the warddrobe, and as they pass into the warddrobe, they immediately are returned back to their ages when they entered the warddrobe, except that they can still remember all their years in Narnia. Even thought years had passed in Narnia, time had only moved a few minutes ahead on the other side of the wardrobe. The children tell the professor all about their adventures, and he tells them that they will not be able to go back to Narnia through the wardrobe, but they do have other adventures in Narnia.

So, as the story winds down, you have the final battle between good and evil, and good triumphs, though not without considerable danger and hardship and hard fighting. Our study asks us about our own experience -- as believers we are engaged in an ongoing battle, sometimes vs. our own nature, and sometimes with external hurdles and temptations and challenges. Our call is to fight the good fight, and to be encouraged and directed and sustained in that fight through attention to our daily relationship with God, and by encouraging and praying for each other.

The final scriptures for this unit are about the glory to come for us as faithful believers, which is another way that we should be encouraged in our fight.

Today's Scriptures

1 Peter 2:9, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Revelation 22:1-5

Today's prayer request: Those around us who are not Christians

There are those around us who are not Christian, and we need to pray for these people to find their way to Christ. Think about one specific person that you feel is not a Christian, or not involved with a church, and pray that God reaches out to them. Note that you may be the one who God sends to talk to them.

Today's class member prayer:

Nicole McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Good Morning!

Remember that Will Willimon, who is the Bishop for the North Alabama Conference, is going to preach at the 11AM service -- actually, we will only have one service on this Sunday. Bishop Willimon is the author of over 50 books, and by all accounts, he is a terrific preacher as well.

If you look around some, you should be seeing some of the PR about the movie opening. It is interesting how some people involved with the movie (actors, directors) are backing away from the Christian themes. Some are substituting "religious" for Christian, and some are even saying that the movie is just spiritual, rather than Christian or religious. C.S. Lewis backed away from it a bit as well, but only from the idea that he set out to write a Christian story for kids -- he simply said that those elements just came into the story as he wrote it - but he never disowned the Christian elements of the story.

It is just interesting how those who are deeply immersed in the culture of Hollywood feel the need to distance themselves from anything that remotely feels like an embrace of Christianity.

Today's Overview - Chapter 15 -- Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time

The story moves out and up from its low point. As Susan and Lucy keep watch over Aslan's body, they notice that the hundreds of mice are biting at the ropes that the Witch had used to bind Aslan to the Stone Table. At dawn, they are awakened by a loud rumbling noise, and when they look to the Stone Table, it has been broken in two and Aslan is gone. As they look at the broken table, Aslan comes to them and tells them about the Deeper Magic that the Witch did not know -- that if anyone willingingly was killed in the place of a traitor, then the Table would crack and Death would start working backward.

So this is the story of Christ -- someone who was without sin, who willingly took on the punishment required of others for their sins, so that they might not have to face it themselves. I think that one of the things that we will take away from the movie is the idea of sacrifice. We understand the substitution of Jesus for us, but I think what the movie will bring to the front a bit is the idea of how much a sacrifice that was. We will see it in Aslan's humiliation and death, and we should remember how much love Christ had to have for us to sacrifice as he did.

The scriptures today talk about the atoning work of Jesus

Today's Scriptures

John 3:16-17, Romans 3:23-26, Hebrews 9:14

Today's prayer request: Those around us who are not Christians

There are those around us who are not Christian, and we need to pray for these people to find their way to Christ. Think about one specific person that you feel is not a Christian, or not involved with a church, and pray that God reaches out to them. Note that you may be the one who God sends to talk to them.

Today's class member prayer:

Matt Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay