In the C.S. Lewis classic The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the four Pevensie children wander into the strange land of Narnia, a land plagued by a great curse. As a result of this curse, it it is always winter, but never Christmas.

The children take refuge at the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who tell them that the King, the Lord of the whole world, Aslan, is on the move. The Beavers quote an old Narnian prophecy,

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

When the children find out that Aslan is a lion, they ask, "Is he safe?"

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Of course, Aslan is the Jesus character of the Narnia stories, a way for Lewis to speak of God and bring elements of his character to light in the genre of myth.

Our God is good, all the way through. His love, goodness, and beauty endure forever.

And, in the face of pure goodness, true love, and radiant beauty, our pale and broken world is a dangerous place to be. The way of Jesus is always uncomfortable and treacherous in a world of counterfeit stories.

This comes into focus in our texts this Sunday as Jesus is ridiculed in his hometown, as he prepares his disciples for the rejection they will experience as they go from house to house casting out demons, and as Paul tells the story of his "thorn in the flesh."

Join us as we worship and are formed by the God who makes wrongs right.