A Sense of Magic

For the past few weeks I have been presenting the gospel through The Chronicles of Narnia. Some of you may be very familiar with them. You may have read them growing up or even read them to your own children. They are wonderful stories. We love them as children because they are set in the fantastic realm of Narnia where normal everyday children become Kings and Queens and rule by love. It is a world not without evil, but a world where good triumphs in the end. It is not a world where everyone lives “happily ever after,” but it is a place where true joy can be found.

I think one of the reasons children are so drawn to such stories is that they connect with the sense of magic and wonder hidden within their pages. Sadly, when we grow up most of us forget about the magic of our world. We go to college and get jobs and raise families and quickly encourage our children to grow up.

There is a reason Peter Pan never wanted to grow up.

In our world, growing up means leaving behind the magic and wonder of childhood, but I don’t know if that is for the best. One of the passages that I am constantly trying to wrap my mind around is Mark 10:15 where Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” There are many aspects of children that Jesus is evoking here to illuminate how to receive the message of the Kingdom, but one in particular that we often overlook is that children still believe in magic. In part, this passage means to call us back to a time when we would check the wardrobe in our grandmother’s house to see if a different world lay beyond its walls.

Whenever I read The Chronicles or see Aslan on the big screen, tears come to my eyes. Part of it is nostalgia for another age, another world, but mostly it is the reminder that magic is real. Not the fireball and lightning kind of magic, but the power of a loving God kind of magic.

I would like to posit that our world is one just like Narnia, that our world is one with magic and a sense of the fantastic. That our world is where good triumphs over evil and where true joy can be found, where we are called to be Kings and Queens and to rule with love. We must only look to the truth in our situation (that we are loved unconditionally) and refuse to believe the lie (that we are worthless) and a world of infinite possibility emerges and welcomes us in for the feast.

The Difficulty of Inclusion

I am a Christian with beliefs ranging from moderate to conservative, but I am also under 30, so the postmodern heritage I have grown into also frees me up to be less exclusive than many other conservatives I have encountered.

That said, the issues raised by full inclusion of all faiths and lifestyles into the church are more difficult for me than for some others. While I try to make room for all beliefs, sexual orientations, etc in my life and worship, I find that there is an underlying truth to the whole picture founded in the person of Jesus and that just any old belief simply won't cut it. Call me old fashioned, but I believe in the uniqueness of Jesus and his work in the world. I am very attracted to ideas of inclusion, I wonder if Jesus' death was sufficient for all regardless of whether we have heard the name of Jesus or said the sinner's prayer, but I can't help but feel it dishonest to claim inclusivity while holding to a firm belief that Jesus is the only way.

There seems to be different views of what it really means to be inclusive. I take it to mean the Kingdom of God and the invisible church, may be a little bigger than conservatives appreciate. This seems to be different from the inclusion of ideas that seems to take precedence in the church. I think that there is much to learn from other faiths, people, ideas, and struggles, but only as far as it leads us deeper in the knowledge of God. So often it seems like there is an agenda to the message of inclusion and I fear that it will lead us astray from what we started out seeking in the first place.

Can the church include all sides while encouraging actual conversation between differing parties? I understand that Pat Robertson will not be sitting down to tea with Bishop Spong anytime soon, but can we learn from both sides, or is our "inclusion" just a cover for our own political leanings?