Last week, I was waiting in the pick-up line at my son’s preschool, and I was actually early! (So I could read a book in the car without feeling guilty.)
Another mom got out of her car and came to my window to talk to me. She saw my book and asked, “Whatcha reading?”
“Oh, this is a new book called The World According to Narnia. It’s great,” I told her.
“What’s that mean?”
“What’s what mean?”
“What’s Narnia?”
I inhaled very slowly. Is there a person on earth who hasn’t heard of Narnia? “You know, the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Those four kids that go into the wardrobe…into Narnia.”
She gave me a confused look.
“Well, there’s a movie coming out next month called ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.’ You’ll have to go see it, and then you’ll know about Narnia.”
“OK,” she shrugged, and then asked if she could borrow a diaper. Moving on to more relevant topics.
So, there are people in the world who’ve never heard of Narnia!!
But you — my faithful blog reader — you’ve heard of C.S. Lewis and Narnia, haven’t you? Last weekend in Nashville, there was a whole conference devoted to discussion of his life and works. It was called Past Watchful Dragons, held at Belmont University. Here’s an article in the Belmont University News and another one in Christian Activities.
One of the highlights of the conference was a keynote by C.S. Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham, who served as producer/consultant on the upcoming movie and also has a new book out, Jack’s Life (Broadman & Holman). In his speech, he said, “We talk carelessly about faith and faithfulness because we believe in Jesus Christ. Well, so does the devil, but that doesn’t make him a Christian. I would like to think a faithful Christian is one who lives out his duty to Christ every minute of every hour of every day.”
When he was asked what Lewis would have wanted the audience to take from the Narnia books and movies, Gresham responded that he thought Lewis would want people to “look at themselves as if they were in Narnia. Who would you be? Where would we stand if we found ourselves in Narnia?”
Here’s another set of interviews with Gresham in Christianity Today — part one and part two.
Oh my! I could link around forever, but I try to limit myself to blogging only a few minutes a day, and my time is about up. Stacy Harp sent out a newsletter for reviewers, and I discovered a blogger who is much more up on things than me. Check out Aaron Earls at The Wardrobe Door. He lists this site as a good one for finding out tons of information about Narnia. You can email him from his blog.
I don’t know about you, but we’re counting the days until December 9 when “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” movie comes out. Can you believe it? We’re living in exciting times. Our kids are going to grow up, and this is what they’ll remember from their childhood — the Chronicles of Narnia. Sort of like how it was for many of us when we saw the first Star Wars movie — or E.T. Because you know what’s going to happen — this movie’s going to be a huge success, and that means there are six more to come. Year after year after year!
I admit, it’s going to be very weird seeing an Aslan toy in a Happy Meal box, and that will definitely come. But I do hope seeing the movie will make the stories come even more alive for those of us who have always loved the books. And after the movie is released on December 9th, we’ll probably never again hear the question, “What’s Narnia?”
Tomorrow, I’m reviewing a great new book by a scholar who writes in a way the rest of us can understand. It’s called The World According to Narnia — you can see a picture over there to your left. See it?
