Hillsong Chuch

Turning Our Feet Toward Home

‘The journey homewards. Coming home. That’s what it’s all about. The journey to the coming of the kingdom. That’s probably the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist – the purpose of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our feet toward home.’ (Madeleine L’Engle)
One of my first encounters with Jesus was not through the church or the Bible but through the Narnia books. C.S. Lewis wrote them hoping that children would accept Jesus more easily later because they would recognise him from the stories. As a child I remember being captivated by this world that could be accessed in the most unexpected ways but most of all I loved the lion Aslan. I identified with Lucy’s reaction on first hearing about him.

‘At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.’

There were other writers too who had a similar effect on me: George MacDonald’s ‘At the Back of the North Wind’, Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’, G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories. I didn’t realise that any of these writers were Christians but I loved their books and I loved the world and the values that they portrayed so beautifully.

One moment in ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ had a particular impact on me.
'It isn't Narnia, you know." sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"’

Lucy had been told that she could no longer return to Narnia because she was growing too old. This devastated her but then Aslan said something strange and wonderful.

‘“But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan. "Are you there too, sir? said Edmund. "I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

I remember thinking ‘If only that were true. If only there really was a truly good, powerful, loving being like Aslan in my world.’ It was a few years later that I discovered that his name was Jesus.

We are creative beings made in the image of the Creator God. How can we help people to discover Jesus through our stories, our songs and our paintings and find their way home?

Amanda Fergusson