The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

My husband is out of town. I am blogging more. I am reading more. I am sleeping less. My house is a little messier. I have spent the last few days catching up to my daughter by reading the second and third book of The Chronicle of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen. I enjoyed these two books more than I did the first one and I am not sure it is because they are better written. I think it is more because I spent the season of Lent reading deep books that required a lot of concentration and which stimulated a lot of after-reading thought. I like that sort of thing, but my brain was ready for dessert. Neither book required much thought.

In the second book, The Search for the Red Dragon, the stories main characters have to save Peter Pan and the children of the Imaginarium Geographica. The third book was, in my opinion, the best of the three books I have read. The Indigo King features an altered time line a la It's a Wonderful Life or Back to the Future. Someone goes back in time and interferes with Arthur Pendragon from becoming King Arthur thus creating an alternate current reality -- a reality where England is not England, is ruled by a despot king who apparently can never die and is overrun with giants and mythical creatures. The Imaginarium apparently no longer exists. Its absence is not really explained in the book, but theoretically, it would be easy to wipe out a land based upon human imagination in an environment in which books, reading and creativity do not flourish.

After reading the first book, I was concerned about how the author was going to continue to carry off a series which featured much beloved writers as the main characters. Apparently, so was the author:

After Here, There Be Dragons was published, and the real identities of John, Jack and Charles became common knowledge, I realize that the challenge I faced with The Search for the Red Dragon was to be able to continue their story and still keep the characters (who were based on well-known and much-beloved authors) fresh and interesting. ~ Author's Note that appears at the end of The Search for the Red Dragon

And, that is the one thing that is bugging me about this series. It is apparent that the author of this series is a fan and respects the fantasy writings of John and Jack. I haven't read Charles Williams, but I suspect if I did I would find illusions to Williams' writings in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica too. But, it doesn't appear to me that he has the same respect for these men's spiritual views. The best example I can give is the third book. There is a scene in the third book in which Lewis, Tolkien, and Hugo Dyson are on a walk. Lewis credits his conversion from theocracy, the belief in a higher power, to Christianity to these two men. The book is supposed to be speculation regarding what happened to convince Lewis that Christianity was true. And, the book does a dismal job of presenting the Christ of the Bible. Joseph of Arimathea, a saint venerated in both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church, is transformed into the man who hides Christ's children in the Imaginarium. Lewis is converted to Christianity because he meets a descendant of Christ.

But, perhaps Lewis would be less annoyed with the portrayal than I am. Because, he knew that God cannot be made less by man's ponderings and story telling.

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. ~ CS Lewis quote

The fourth book comes out in October 2009. I have preordered it. Because, while I find the stories on one level brain candy, on another level a way to talk to my child about how the world presents Christ. It allows us to ponder, "Who do you say that I am?" She is loving them and reading them over and over.

Great Lent: Journey to Pascha

This is the second year I have read this book. I am a bit of a hands-on, visual, experience it learner. When I read this book last year, I flew through and really understood Chapter 1 (about 30 pages). Then I began to struggle, not with the individual ideas the author was writing about, but with visualizing the big picture.

From a comment by DebD on this blog:

I would love to know what you thought about Schmemann's chapter on Presanctified though. I remember when I first read it I was so confused.

I guess I will I am less confused then last year. I don't think I can experience Lent in the same way as my Orthodox friends do, but I found as I read Great Lent: Journey to Pascha, my mind kept picking up parallels between what I do in my home and what I was reading in the book. My thinking has advanced from learning facts about Lent to seeing application.

During Lent, the Orthodox church reads the entire books of Genesis, Isaiah, and Proverbs. Because our family celebrates Passover, I generally study Exodus and contemplate the freedom we have because the Lamb of God was slain. Isaiah portrays the Messiah as a suffering servant; it contains prophecies of Christ's crucifixion. Genesis would also be a good choice. Not only does Genesis tell the story of God's good creation, the fall, the promise of a Savior and the story of sin's repercussions, Genesis is the story of a bride -- the perfect story for studying while preparing to remember Christ's passion! At Calvary, Christ paid the bride price for the church. When we drink the wine and eat the bread of communion, we accept Christ's offer of marriage. We begin the process of cleansing ourselves during unleavened bread. At Pentecost our engagement is sealed. We become betrothed to Christ. Finally, the fall festival speaks of the marriage of the Lamb. Perfect!

My mother heart responded to this quote about the Prodigal Son:

"A man who has never had that experience, be it only very briefly, who had never felt that he is exiled from God and from real life, will never understand what Christianity is about." (page 21)

How often do I interfere with my children's ability to understand Christianity because I hold on too tightly to the reigns? Since becoming a mom, I have had to expand my understanding of what it means to sin. I had always understood sin to be a list of bad behaviors a person engages in. I have come to know that very good things can be done from wrong motivations. I cannot judge a man's heart. I have come to know that behavior doesn't trump motives. Still, my children are not developmentally where I am; they haven't been following Christ as long. They haven't had my life experiences. They gain an experiential knowledge of sin the same way Adam and Eve did -- by choosing sin. Sometimes the limits I set are too controlling. I worry about the financial and emotional costs and the just plain inconvenience of their sinful choices. But, the focus of my worry is rarely eternal. If I had an eternal focus, I think I would leave more wiggle room for sin. I would allow my children the freedom to make bad choices so that I could give them the gift of learning how to deal with sin in their life. Most importantly, I would allow them to experience God's forgiveness.

The church very often, if not always transposes the past into present. Thus on Christmas Day, we sing, "Today the Virgin gives birth..."; on Good Friday, "Today stands Jesus before Pilate..."; on Palm Sunday, "Today He comes into Jerusalem..." (page 80)

This is very similar to what is done during a Passover Seder:

• Why is this night different from all other nights?
• Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
• Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

The Passover Seder is not supposed to be celebrated as a memory of a past event. It is actually a re-creation of a living event. Each person at the Seder should understand that they personally came out of slavery. This is why I understand that when I celebrate and recreate the Last Supper, I am with the apostles on the night before Jesus died. I eat the afikomen, the broken body of Christ, and drink the Cup of Redemption in the real presence of Christ. Schmemann calls this the "presence of the absent." (page 82)

Perhaps, it is easier to understand transposing the past into the present, by observing Rembrandt's The Raising of the Cross. Rembrandt understood what so many have forgotten, he was there when they crucified Christ. He painted his own face on the soldier who was lifting the cross. Christ's defeat of death means that we are victorious too. In a way it seems a little sad that we need to put so much physical and spiritual work into the season of Lent. Every year, I have strayed and need to be called back to the cross -- reminded of my own victory.

Meditations on a Theme: A Spiritual Journey

I have finished all but one of the books in my Lenten reading plan. Since our family tradition honors Passover and our church is on the Western church calendar, my Lenten preparation is over. I didn't finish
All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible by Herbert Lockyer. I will just save it for this months reading.

Bloom's Meditations on a Theme was a delight. If I were in a liturgical church, I might not have enjoyed it as Lenten reading. The journey that Bloom is contemplating is a pre-Lenten journey designed to prepare the Orthodox faithful for the physical and spiritual discipline of Lent. If my research is correct, the sermons outlined in Bloom's book begin 5 weeks before the beginning of Lent.

This is the first step, which we must accept and which we find so difficult to accept: we must face our true situation, not consoling ourselves with the thought that we have some sort of life within us that can replace divine life. We must accept that we are in darkness as far as the light of God is concerned. And then we must do something about it. ~ An Introduction to Lent

On humility:

"This is the only means we have of releasing ourselves from the fear of public opinion, from the subservience which frustrates our finding the courage and the opportunity to reform our lives, since we have chosen human values as our criterion. As soon as we have freed ourselves from that we are left with our conscience alone, wherein the voice of God sounds freely, declaring us the judgment of God and enabling us to begin to live fully and in freedom."(page 69)

While contemplating the story of the Prodigal Son, Bloom gives perhaps the best description of the gospel, the good news, that I have ever read.

And in this he discovers the true nature of repentance, for true repentance blends together the vision of one's own evil and the certainty that there is forgiveness even for us because true love can neither falter nor be quenched. When there is only a hopeless vision of our own faults, repentance remains unfulfilled; it brings remorse and may lead to despair."
(page 78)

Finally, on March 29, my adult Sunday school teacher gave the message at church. His proof text came from Matthew 22:15-22. I had read that story and Christ's admonishment to, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s," many, many times. I had always read the story in the physical. I missed the spiritual understanding that I am to give unto God that which is in God's image. When my Sunday school teacher talked about this, I wondered how I could miss so obvious a spiritual connection! The same week I read:

"What bears the image of Caesar is his own, what bears God's own image, belongs to him: Give to each what is his -- the money to him who coined it and impressed it with his sign, but your whole self to him whose image is imprinted in you; we are God's as completely as the tribute money is Caesar's." (page 91)

I just love when I get the same message from more than one source. It feels like a confirmation.

The Valley of Vision

The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions was on my reading list for the month preceding Passover and First Fruits. As the title implies, it is a book of prayers. The prayers are short; most are less than a page in length. I kept this book in the front pocket of my purse along with a pair of reading glasses. Whenever I found myself out and about with extra time, I pulled it out. It was the perfect book to bring along when I had to pick Marissa up from work and wait for her to get off. It was also the perfect book to read during this season of preparation.

Christ died on Passover. This is the day that God commanded that the Israelites remembered how God miraculously saved them from slavery in Egypt (Leviticus 23). Do this in remembrance of me -- Christians are commanded to remember this night too. Each of us has been personally brought out of our slavery to sin, death and the world. The time of preparation reminds us of the feelings, life and consequences we had while we were enslaved. It is a time to remember that there is still tyranny and enslavement in our world today.

"Keep me in the freedom of experiencing thy salvation continually."

It is a time to remember what we were saved from:

Keep me ever mindful of my natural state,
but let me not forget my heavenly title,
or the grace that can deal with every sin.

It is a time to prepare to celebrate Christ's sacrifice and resurrection; a time to remember that we have died to our old life.:

Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life
for I wish to be as dead and buried
to sin, selfishness, to the world;
that I might not hear the voice of the charmer,
and might be delivered from his lusts.
O Lord, there is much ill about me -- crucify it,
much flesh within me -- mortify it.
Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern.

March Summary

I read only four books this month. I have started more books, but I keep getting sidetracked, putting a book down, picking another one up and growing my to be read book pile. I know that this book will probably not appeal to the masses, but the book that spoke most to me was Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities: A Guideline for Service Providers, Families & Congregations by Erik W. Carter. I wrote a review of this book on my personal blog.

My reading took a detour this month when I read Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen. My virtual friend DebD had reviewed it on her blog. When I mentioned it to my oldest daughter, she could hardly wait to read the first book. She loved it! She bought and devoured the second book and is waiting to get the third book in the series through an inter-library loan.

I don't know if I liked it or not. I think I liked the idea for the book a whole lot better than the final product. In the book the main characters are commissioned to protect an atlas of previous authors' imaginations. The main characters are famous authors whose own works are known to have filled generations of readers with wonder. As I read the book, I recognized almost every single idea as having come from another work of fantasy. There seemed to be no original thought. Although his story was stretched almost beyond recognition, the biblical Noah was included as a fantasy character. And, the discussion on heaven seemed to conclude that our world is heaven. I suspect this was only meant to apply to fantasy people, characters who live on eternally in our imagination. I sure don't feel that I am in any kind of heaven.

As I did in last month's summary, I am going to tell you about the best thing I saw on DVD. We don't have cable and can't even pick up local channels. But, we do use our membership at Netflix to rent movies to watch at home. This month, my favorite was A Man Named Pearl, the story of a self-taught topiary artist, Pearl Fryar, living in Bishopville, S.C. The documentary of his life is rich with southern gospel music, offers a message of hope, and is inspirational.

On God:

"I don't think you can substitute the physical side of life for the spiritual side of life. And, we can call it whatever we want to call it for a different faith, but it's that belief in someone bigger than I am that makes life interesting to live."

On racism:

"There always going to be obstacles. The thing is, you don't let those obstacles determine where you go."

Now, go forth and fill your minds with new things!