How to Defeat the Darkness!

Dear Crosswalkers, C.S. Lewis began the third book in his Narnia series, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" with these words: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."  Immediately the reader is drawn into a wonder filled story of fantasy that very much speaks of reality.  Leanna and I went to a special screening of the new Dawn Treader movie a couple weeks ago.  Admittedly, I have a bias toward these stories as I read them when I was in college and then again to my children when they were young.  Frankly, while I enjoyed the first two films of the series, I also thought they were flawed in their presentation.  This third film of the series is by far the best.  The special effects are great, the story moves along nicely, and the Christian message, while somewhat understated, is nevertheless there for the discerning moviegoer to absorb.  The story goes like this:  Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia in the splashy beginning of the film with their cousin Eustace.  There they meet up with King Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship “The Dawn Treader.”  Caspian is sailing to the Lone Islands in search of the missing seven Lords of Telmar.  They journey on an island hopping adventure, meeting dragons and dwarves as they get closer to the foreboding Dark Island.  Along the way, the kids face various temptations:  Edmund by greed and power, Lucy by beauty.  They must overcome the temptations, and the evil powers of the Dark Island, in order to journey on.  Eventually, their voyage leads them to the end of the world:  Aslan’s country!  (For those who are unschooled in the ways of Narnia, Aslan is a regal lion who is a Christ figure).  I highly recommend this movie, even though parents should be aware that some of the battle scenes on Dark Island may be too intense and scary for very young children. Meanwhile, in the real world, there are competitors for your entertainment dollar.  Some of these competitors remind us of the darkness in our world.  For example, the nominees to receive the most prestigious awards in the music industry, the Grammy Awards, were recently announced. Among the five nominees for Record of the Year is a song titled "F--- You," with the F-word, of course, spelled out and pronounced.  It is a song that also contains the S-word and the N-word.  Honestly, how does a song like this get nominated for the highest of awards in the music business?  Social commentator Dennis Prager says it’s because many of those in the entertainment industry are “dedicated to lowering that which is elevated, destroying that which uplifts, and to profaning that which is held sacred.” Adding to the decay is this news item:  A week ago, CNS News' Penny Starr wrote about an exhibit in Washington DC: "The federally funded National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitalia, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show's catalog as 'homoerotic.'" Other commentators reported on the vulgar and shocking nature of this exhibit, funded by your tax payer dollars!  Reacting to this news were Congressmen John Boehner and Eric Cantor, who strongly suggested the exhibit could imperil Smithsonian funding.  Apparently, Money talks!  The Smithsonian promptly removed the exhibit and I believe it is now featured in a private art museum nearby.  There is a lot of darkness in the world today.  But this darkness has always been with us.  It was there in the garden when the Tempter whispered, “Did God really say…?”  It was there on the first Christmas, where a hate filled King Herod slaughtered the baby boys in Bethlehem in a mad desire to extinguish the light of the world.  How do we overcome the darkness in our world?  This brings us back to the “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” where one of the characters gives this wise advice:  “To defeat the darkness out there you must first defeat the darkness within yourself.” This is possible only with divine help.  What are you feeding your soul?  This Christmas, let’s agree to focus on letting the light shine into our darkness.  This Sunday we will have a great day of worship.  Our series continues with “Christmas is a time to let go of our fears.”  Pastor Mike Jones is preaching in our 9:00 a.m. service on that theme, and in our 10:35 a.m. service the children are presenting a musical “MK Christmas.”  There is something for everyone this Sunday!! Love in Jesus, Pastor John Christie