I’ve come at last,’ said he. ‘She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The Witch’s magic is weakening.’ And Lucy felt running through her that deep shiver of gladness which you only get if you are being solemn and still.
In C.S. Lewis’s timeless novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the arrival of Father Christmas symbolizes the weakening of the magic of the White Witch—the weakening of evil in the world. As the everlasting winter finally wanes from Narnia, the arrival of Christmas, like the sun breaking through eternally gray skies, proclaims hope.
Hope marks the beginning and the first week of Advent. The Light of the World breaking into the proverbial darkness of history (and the literal darkness of the shepherds’ sky) has been celebrated for thousands of years, and it’s still worth celebrating.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices” as the old hymn puts it—and in its words we can imagine the “deep shiver of gladness” running through Lucy as she hears about evil’s grasp on the world finally relenting.
Jesus Himself says this when He quotes the prophet Isaiah at the beginning of his earthly ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Our victory over sin was secured by Jesus’ death and resurrection—but His birth, His arrival into the world, and His divine incarnation also sent a message of war to evil and a message of hope for humanity. It’s no accident that C.S. Lewis uses Father Christmas to signal something similar for his fictional world of Narnia.
Throughout this Advent season, we’ll be looking at the culture (the songs, movies, social media trends, etc) we’ve come to associate with Christmas, as a means of reminding us of the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love we find in the story and truth of Christmas.
Here’s a question you could use to kickstart—or continue—a conversation: What’s something about Christmas that makes you hopeful?