First Sunday in December

The fog was still there, and pretty thick this morning, but it made for some pretty nice pictures of the wedding chapel as we pulled up to the church!

I told the kid actors to put on something festive coming in to church today, and here's what Santiago came up with:

Obviously, he wasn't wearing the box.  But the rest of the morning was fantastic, the start of our new series in Narnia.  We did a great message based on the first words Aslan spoke to Narnians, after telling them to arise.  He said, "Love.  Think.  Speak."  It was a message based on the first Chronicle of Narnia, "The Magician's Nephew."  It was a super solid service - for the skit, we all saw a visit from Father Christmas!

We imagined what he'd give everyone that would be useful in Narnia, and there were some funny answers there.  And that of course moved on to God's Word, which like High King Peter's sword is a two-edged blade, alive and active.  The morning was all about the power of words, and yes that certainly includes God's Word.  It was a really great morning in Narnia!

     It all started with a voice.  In the beginning of our story, Aslan’s sweet song brought Narnia to life, a place of so many adventures that would follow in “The Chronicles of Narnia.”  Of course, as we read this first amazing book, we can’t help but think of the story of creation told in the book of Genesis.  In the beginning of our own world, God spoke and creation was brought to life. And soon after, He created Adam and Eve in His image, and saw that it was good!  
     But what does it really mean to be made in His image?  Well, it simply means we are created to reflect His character. We are to be like Him, a light shining on this earth brighter than any lamp post.  Similar to our Heavenly Father, we speak… and like Him, we create too.  Yes, our very words create the world around us! And like we read of Aslan in this first story, our songs of praise can lift up, bring light, and create something beautiful.
     After Aslan’s song is done, his very first commands to the Narnians were simple:  “Love.  Think.  Speak.”  These are good commands for us too.  Remember that God created us in His image, speaking words that bring things to life.  This is why obviously before we speak, we should think.  And before even that, we should love.  
     Our Bibles tell us that without love, our words can be like a noisy clanging cymbal.  Even worse, thoughtless words can be as devastating as a spark that sets a big forest on fire.
     In this first story of Narnia, an evil queen discovers this for herself.  She sees terrible destruction to her entire world when she utters a deplorable word that she knows she shouldn’t.  But consider this:  our own world can be in danger too with just a few thoughtless words spoken without love.  
     The Bible says your tongue has the power of life and death. We’re reminded of this with our two characters Aslan and the evil queen, Jadis.  Aslan used his voice to create life, and Jadis used hers to bring destruction.  Each word we speak is like a seed that may seem simple, but has the powerful potential to either become something wonderful, or bring great harm.  What kinds of seeds are you sowing?
      Just as we saw with the creation of the world, God spoke seeds of good.  As we have been created in His image, we too should speak life.  As Aslan himself said, “Love.  Think.  Speak.”

Afterwards, we got back to get some rest before launching out on the rest of the day.  You know, sleep on the couch a bit because we're all so tired while Nana sits there and stares at us, that sort of thing?  Not creepy at all!  Meanwhile, Jingle was trapped too:

Anyway, the plan was to eat, go to a Christmas tree farm, fill out Christmas cards and watch a Christmas movie.  I felt like Buddy the Elf with my big plan!

But Maddie's classwork took the entire afternoon, so we eventually started a movie tonight, and that was that.  We did get to read tonight, and we said our prayers.  But it was pretty late, so we got to sleep quickly - tomorrow we start early again!