FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Why is it that I sometime feel more spiritual, closer to God, when I am out in the wilderness than when I am sitting in a church ? The ancient Christians talked about the two books God has given us to know him - the book of Nature and the book of Scripture.  C.S. Lewis believed that much modern thought cuts us off from the book of nature - the mystery and beauty of the created world, and thus from a way of sensing God's presence.  It is not that science is bad, it is that we miss so much when it is the only way we are able to see the world.  This is a God-bathed world  haunted by the presence of the One who was, and is, and shall be.  But such mystery  will never show up in a scientific analysis.

When King Miraz finds out that young Prince Caspian believes there is much more to this world than meets the eye, and that Caspian believes the old stories that say Aslan (the Jesus Christ of Narnia) came long ago and will come again  - he takes extreme measures to try to stamp out those thoughts.  "Modern" Narnians viewed those old stories as nothing more than Nursery School tales.  Dr Cornelius is the tutor that rescues Caspian and teaches him the truth - the old stories were not myths at all, but rather an account of what actually happened.  Life is richer and wilder than Miraz (and perhaps we ?) could ever imagine.

Lewis wanted to return to a full bodied Christian faith that involved the whole person - mind and body - a faith that included both solid doctrine and room for the earthy, the mysterious, and the wild.  The view of nature C.S. Lewis was trying to convey in Prince Caspian is found in our scripture for today.

 

 

 1st Chronicles 16:31-36
 Let the heavens rejoice,
let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations,
"The LORD reigns!"
Let the sea resound,
and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant,
and everything in them!
Then the trees of the forest
will sing, they will sing for joy
before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
Give thanks to the LORD,
for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Cry out,
"Save us, O God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name,
that we may glory in your praise."
Praise be to the LORD,
the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.