After the movie, the sermon.
Hundreds of churches across the country are preparing services on the theme of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to coincide with the release of the multi-million pound Disney film next month.
Following the surprise popularity of Mel Gibson’s gruelling The Passion of the Christ, Church leaders are hoping to capitalise on the more predictable success of the Hollywood version of C S Lewis’s classic children’s tale.
While the hype is more muted than in America, there will be a flood of material promoting the Christian themes in the story of four children who stumble into an enchanted world through a dusty wardrobe.
Manchester Cathedral staged a Narnia day last month that culminated in an “Aslan worship event”, focusing on the Christ-like talking lion who is killed but comes back to life.
Churches Together in England, whose presidents include the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Wiliams, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is encouraging children to explore the film’s “deeper magic”.
