Sacrographic Friday – The Wardrobe and the Holy Spirit

"It was the sort of house that you never seemed to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places".

I love the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  Honestly, there are too many things about the story that I love, to recount them all in this post.  This photo made me think about the Wardrobe.  In Lewis’ story, the four Pevensies  are evacuated from London because of the air-raids during WWII.  They are sent to the home of Professor Digory Kirke.  When in the house, the children become enamored with an old Wardrobe that, as it turns out, is a portal into another world – the world of Narnia.  In this, C.S. Lewis is brilliant.  He has found a way, through the mechanism of a children’s story, to create an experience that gives his readers a frame of reference for understanding the Gospel:  A land that has been cursed, subjects who live in fear and slavery, a Queen who rules by lying and manipulating the desires of her subjects, A  Great Lion who gives his life to break that curse, the Kingdom of that Great Lion vanquishing the curse by redeeming slaves and freeing the oppressed.  It’s just so great.

Sacrographic Friday – The Shadowlands

“See yourself in the mirror, you’re separate from yourself. See the world in the mirror, you’re separate from the world. I don’t want that separation anymore.”

C.S. Lewis often taught that the world in which live is a ‘shadowland’, because it is only a shadow of what is to come.  When I consider this photograph it makes me think of Lewis’ notion.

Sacrographic Friday – Two Kingdom Confusion

When I came across the painting above I had to chuckle at the notion that Kingdom of Darkness prevails. Sadly, there seems to be a lot Christians who operate as if this painting were an accurate reflection of the conflict.

(Please note that the graphic to the left is in high resolution so be sure to click on it to get a closer view.)

In the scriptures we are taught that there are two kingdoms that are presently in conflict – the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Christ.  Unfortunately, at best, we often see this conflict as a cosmic, “dualistic” battle between good and evil – like we see in Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Dante’s Inferno.  At worst, we view the Kingdom of Christ as puny in comparison to the Kingdom of Darkness, which we imagine as the preeminent imposing power on the earth, while satan, along with his demonic cronies, is seen as the supreme ruler of our present age.  Yet, nothing could be further from the truth.