What Lucy Saw
| Aslan is on the move. What? Springing to mind surprisingly, years since my childhood devouring of Narnia books. I don’t remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my children. (Likely, Jubal had that pleasure 🙂 But yesterday I caught a glimpse. A forgotten email from five months ago received an unexpected response. After months of busy, separate lives without communication, I reached out to a friend. Surprising coincidence!? She had dreamed of NCF the night before. What, what, God? New faces, old friends, and children suddenly playing together. One Sabbath while Jesus was going through the grainfields…. On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught…. Luke 6:1,6 (NRSV) Jesus is on the move. Through fields, from town to town. It sounds good. May it be so! We long for Jesus to come- to dine with us, to teach us, to heal us. But his presence does not always bring peace. He is not safe. He upsets the status quo and undermines power structures. They were furious and began talking with each other about what to do to Jesus. During that time, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night long. Luke 6:11-12 (CEB) In the first book, Aslan’s presence thaws eternal winter and gets him killed. Until deeper magic upends the power of death. But my memory draws me to a different story of Aslan’s return. When only Lucy sees him. And each companion casts their vote- whether to follow her vision, or go the logical direction. Lucy was an unlikely leader. The youngest. The least qualified. But Edmund remembered that she had been right before. And decided to trust. Even though he saw nothing. How do we know whom to trust? When someone says they see Jesus at work. Moving. A glimpse. Eyes that beckon us to follow. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles…. Luke 6:13 (NRSV) Outvoted, Lucy crying bitterly, she had no choice but to follow the others. Or did she? Aslan later suggests that Lucy could have followed him alone. She had a choice. And then she had an opportunity to make another choice. As did the others. It wasn’t easy, for any of them. Reading again this passage from Prince Caspian, I tremble at the power. Of the goodness of Aslan. Of our choices. Of our chances to choose again. The courage needed to follow. The ways things become more difficult when we don’t. The faithfulness of the King. Jesus is on the move. Again. Do you see glimpses? Of his goodness, of his thawing hearts and minds, of his healing. May we have the courage to get up and follow. May we choose Jesus, again and again. -Renée |
| Bulletin: 9/8 Order of Service: 9/8 Sermon: JESUS. The Messenger is the Message (Hebrews) Support NCF’s ministry |