16 March 2018
The magic of Narnia provides inspiration for Christmas services
The new Chronicles of Narnia film, to be released 9 December,will set the scene for Christmas worship across the country.
The connection between CS Lewis' Narnia stories and the ChristianGospel is well known and they beautifully illustrate the Christianstory. Because of this, the organisation MethodistChildren haswritten a service for use by churches throughout Britain focusingon the theme of gift giving and receiving that is central to TheLion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Churches are encouraged to explore this theme by engaging with thejourney of Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan as through the wardrobethey enter a world of ice and snow where it is always winter, butnever Christmas. Congregations are asked to consider what the worldwould be like if Christmas never came and are reminded of theimportance of the gift we are given at Christmas, past, present andfuture.
Doug Swanney, Children's Work Development Officer, comments that'Christmas is a time associated with presents and giving and thisservice aims to highlight Jesus as the great gift of God for oursalvation. But it's not just for Christmas Ð it's ideal forinclusive worship at any time of the year and the format is soflexible that it can easily be adapted to suit differentcongregations and styles of worship.'
The service can be found in the children's workers section of theMethodist Children's website (