CCC Gainesville | Blog
Thank you to the RUF students who joined some of our leaders for a work project at the church Saturday, June 14th, coordinated by Dan Doran. We were able to clean all of the windows in the church (inside and out), in addition to replacing some lights in the sanctuary using a scissor lift.
A special thank you to Comfort Temp for letting us borrow the lift!
A team of deacons and a pastoral intern also made progress on outfitting the building with WiFi. Thank you to everyone for your time and effort!
This summer, we are reading book two of the seven-part series, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a wonderful read. Come join the discussion June 30th at 9am! If you haven’t started the book, you still have two weeks to join in on the church-wide summer “one read“, and it’s super cheap on Amazon ($0.01 used).
I could list several reasons why you should consider reading this book, and why we should value any book discussion, but I will propose one simple argument: Stories are indispensable to our understanding of creation, and we can grow as readers (and as story tellers) when we work together within a story’s context. So how could this high fantasy work help us grow as adults? Consider Lewis’ preface to Lucy:
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather.
Reading literature takes time and a certain amount of attention that’s easily lost in our society’s pace. When we enter into a narrative, we are compelled to value the details – to retain small bits of information that convey larger themes and bear significance when threaded through the greater story. When I read, it’s generally shorter articles or essays based loosely around current events. Taking a step out of what’s current and diving into a timeless classic like this one can renew our ability to think creatively. Whether you read for pleasure, to satisfy a summer reading list, or not at all, take some time in the next two weeks to give The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a chance! There’s no reason to rush to finish before the 30th, but let the upcoming group discussion be a catalyst that pushes you into this story.
The thought of reading fantasy literature together might stretch you. I’ve thought to myself, aren’t these books for children? J.R.R. Tolkien, contemporary of C.S. Lewis and author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, among others, helped frame for me an appreciation of high fantasy in his essay On Fairy Stories:
It is true that in recent times fairy-stories have usually been written or “adapted” for children.
But so may music be, or verse, or novels, or history, or scientific manuals. It is a dangerous
process, even when it is necessary. It is indeed only saved from disaster by the fact that the arts
and sciences are not as a whole relegated to the nursery; the nursery and schoolroom are merely
given such tastes and glimpses of the adult thing as seem fit for them in adult opinion (often
much mistaken). Any one of these things would, if left altogether in the nursery, become gravely
impaired. So would a beautiful table, a good picture, or a useful machine (such as a microscope),
be defaced or broken, if it were left long unregarded in a schoolroom. Fairy-stories banished in
this way, cut off from a full adult art, would in the end be ruined; indeed in so far as they have
been so banished, they have been ruined.The value of fairy-stories is thus not, in my opinion, to be found by considering children in
particular. Collections of fairy-stories are, in fact, by nature attics and lumber-rooms, only by
temporary and local custom play-rooms. Their contents are disordered, and often battered, a
jumble of different dates, purposes, and tastes; but among them may occasionally be found a
thing of permanent virtue: an old work of art, not too much damaged, that only stupidity would
ever have stuffed away.
Shall we read it, then? Starting Sunday, June 16th, we’ve got two weeks to get started. I think you’ll find it a quick and enjoyable read. When we come together on Sunday, June 30th, at 9am (before corporate worship), Todd Best will lead us to explore the text through discussion. The adult education team will also have some news for us about what expect in the fall!
When: Friday, June 21st, 7-9PM and Saturday, June 22nd, 9AM-Noon.
Anyone interested in learning more about Christ Community, it’s ministries and mission is welcome to attend this class. This is a required class for anyone interested in pursuing membership. Please register online by June 10th or by calling the church office. Childcare is available upon request.
Register Online Here!
Summer is just around the corner. This morning as I packed my daughters lunch I sang out, “Only 7 more lunches to pack!” Many of you are preparing for long awaited vacations and time together as a family. Our family will be heading to the mountains in Tennessee to spend a week with grandparents and an aunt and uncle. We are planning other things to do as a family among them includes choosing the books we will read together. One of the books we are reading is Sally Lloys-Jones’ family devotional, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing.
This family devotional has 101 simple-yet profound thoughts on faith. It is perfect for bedtime, story time, reading in the car, at the dinner table, the breakfast table, in the park where ever. Each entry is short and yet filled with biblical truth. It can be a companion to the much loved Jesus Storybook Bible. Once again the author has joined up with the illustrator Jago to create a family devotional that is rich in word and image designed to do one thing: make the reader’s heart sing.
Quote from the foreword by Tim Keller:
Why has so little attention ever been given to the devotional lives of children? Of course we should be doing all the standard things: teaching them catechism, including them in family devotions, helping them to participate in worship. But encouraging a child to develop his or her own devotional life has been a missing piece that has direct effect on whether a child grows up with a balanced spiritual life or one that is dangerously one sided.
By that I mean that it is all too easy to concentrate on data-transmission to our children… Somehow, however, the experiential side of a relationship with God is often neglected, so that by the time children are teens, they are woefully lopsided-long on information, but short on experience of God’s presence… Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing may be the best, first introduction for children to have their own time with Jesus.
This book is available in both hardback and Kindle versions. I would love to recommend the hardback version so that it can be held by young children and the pages can be touched as they look though the beautiful images.
Enjoy your Summer!
One Read has begun. If you missed the announcement last week in the service, we introduced the VBS theme, Journey To The Lamppost, A Narnia Adventure. This VBS theme will be focused on the classic and beloved book written by C.S. Lewis, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Because people of all ages love this book we are doing an all church reading of this book. It does not matter if you don’t want or cannot be involved in VBS, this is not only a VBS event. A One Read is an event where a collective community reads a single book together. Many towns and cities across the US do this as a community. The concept of a One Read (also called, Big Read, One Book) was started by Nancy Pearl, a Seattle librarian. When asked about the birth of her idea she said, “It’s based on the idea of community. My idea was that people would come together who would never come together any other way. Literature brings them together because a book touches them.”
This is also our desire for an All Church One Read. That as a community we would be brought together, across ages and have conversations that build deeper community and relationships.
If you have never read the Chronicles of Narnia they are quick delightful books (7 all together) written by C.S. Lewis. Lewis created an imaginary world just around any corner one might stumble across. You never know when you might fall into a painting or wardrobe and find yourself having tea with talking beavers or sailing with a prince or fighting the worst beasts imaginable.
The Opus group will be reading not only The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe but also a few other delightful books written by Lewis between now and mid-July. Also this will be the topic of discussion for one of the evening womens bible study meetings this Summer. There are various groups gathering to discuss this book together, if you are interested in inviting some friends over to discuss this book or having a book club of sorts meet for a time to talk about the themes you might find please take this opportunity to do so.
Starting this Sunday there will be articles about Lewis, Narnia, Fairy-Tales, and the need for imagination at the VBS/Narnia table. We also have books at the table for sale for $5 if you would like to grab an extra copy for your self or a friend. These articles are designed to be helpful for group discussions, family dinner table discussions and gaining an understanding of Lewis and his writing of these books.
I am currently reading, C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Children. This is a delightful short book full of his letters to children about various topics. Many of which include answering their questions about the Narnia books. This is a great book to read along with the Narnia books because it allows you to answer, from the authors perspective, questions children might have about the stories. You will also find many of those letters posted weekly here on the blog, so be checking in for the different One Read resources we will post here.
Enjoy your Summer and we hope you stop by and pick up a book!
