Thursday, December 30, 2010

How will it be different? A thought for the New Year

One of the great disappointments in the recent cinematic retelling of Voyage of the Dawn Treader is how the producers, writers and directors managed to miss the whole point of Eustace's person-to-dragon-to-person transformation. In Lewis' story it is one of the great images of personal and spiritual transformation. Eustace turns into a dragon because as a boy he is pretty much of a dragon. No one wants to be with him. He breaths fire. But it is through his encounter with Aslan that he is given the chance to become truly human. To do so, however, he must be willing to be stripped. He must shed his dragon skin layer by layer. He tries it himself but he can only do it so far. Aslan must take it from there. The great lion digs his claws into him and strips him to as "smooth and soft as a peeled switch". The stripping is unbearably painful. And then Aslan throws him into the water and the immersion really smarts. But soon the pain starts to go away and he realizes that he has become a boy. He is a new creation.
We get none of this in the movie. In the movie the dragon Eustace on his own becomes a hero. He puts himself to good use and helps to save the imperiled ship and crew. It's only after becoming mortally wounded that Aslan rewards him by roaring him back to himself. No stripping. No clawing. No waters of baptism. Just a quick roar and he's done.
I wonder if our passing into the New Year comes with the hope that things will change for us like they do in Hollywood. A quick roar, a little special effects and presto ... it's all different. The New Testament doesn't suggest it works that way. Aslan wants to change us layer by layer until he gets to the bottom of our "dragonness". And then only through the waters of baptism can we claim our true identity -- child of God. New Year's Day can be the beginning of all that. A time to reclaim our baptism and to put ourselves into the hands of the One who wishes to change us, layer by layer. Will it hurt? Of course. But if losing our dragonness is the result, it might be worth it. A good resolution to make and to keep.
Happy New Year!

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