December 2025

Our Voice
Don Leonard

I’ve been a fan of science fiction since my teenage years, and have enjoyed the stories from the sci fi masters that are both imaginative and reasonably plausible. I have also been a huge fan of C.S. Lewis, who is probably more famous for his children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia, but who was also the most popular and incisive Christian apologist of the 20th century. Incidentally, a Christian “apologist” defends the Christian faith by using reason, logic, and scripture, and certainly does not “apologize” for it. Anyway, last year I decided to merge these two interests by reading C.S. Lewis’s “Perelandra,” the second book in his Space Trilogy, and was intrigued by its Christian themes. 

Perelandra (Venus) is a beautiful, Eden-like planet covered by a sweet-water ocean with floating raft-like vegetative “islands” where the Queen of the planet, and her husband, live a carefree, innocent, and naked existence. The Queen is human in physical appearance except for her green skin. There is one geological feature on this planet called the Fixed Land which the Queen and her husband are forbidden by divine command to sleep on. Dr. Elwin Ransome is sent from Earth by spiritual forces to Perelandra to counter some kind of attack not explained to him. He soon finds out that the attack is in the form of the demon-possessed Professor Weston, sent by “Dark Forces,” and also from the “sinful” Earth, whose goal is to entice the Queen to spend a night on the prohibited island. The Tempter (Weston) tells the Queen stories of heroic defiance and introduces her to such vanities as clothing, makeup, and mirrors. But before the Queen may respond, Ransome battles the Tempter, first with arguments, and then physically as they engage in a great cosmic battle between good and evil, but Ransome prevails and destroys the Tempter, and the planet’s innocent, sin-free existence is saved.

I think we can see that this is an allegorical treatment of the Garden of Eden story in Genesis and the resulting Fall of Humanity, with Perelandra as the Garden of Eden, its Queen as Eve, her husband as Adam, and Weston as Satan or the Serpent. Ransome is a new character who prevents what happened to Earth from happening to Perelandra by destroying the Tempter. That fate, as Genesis tells us, is expulsion from a carefree world and the emergence of sin, suffering, and death in our lives. Yeah, the book is heavy at times with the theology, etc., but I found it a fascinating take on the Garden of Eden story, and it made me want to read his other two books in his Space Trilogy. 

Greetings, Rev.

I hope you all had a meaningful Thanksgiving weekend. (I was busy raking, thanks to this new gift!) I also hope that you've put away your Halloween decorations by now-- hey neighbor, I'm looking at you! Ready or not, it is December already! Where did the year go??

Last month kicked off with a special Sunday of celebration and remembrance of those who've passed away last year. It was made more special by the many family and friends of our now-heavenly members who accepted our invitation to join us for worship. The final part of service involved a procession out onto our Memorial Garden, where we re-dedicated to God our heart and our hands for its upkeep. We were only a few months removed from exactly 25 years since its initial dedication (August of 2000)!

November 15th was the date of a subtle gesture of remembrance of Rev. Jim Elliott. Organized by the Marple Tree Commission of which Rev. Jim was an active member, a tree planting was held in New Ardmore Avenue Park.

On Sundays, the theme in November was the season of thanksgiving. After we examined our hearts for reasons to give thanks to our Lord, we decorated our Christmas tree with our own expressions of gratitude. (See our ornaments!)

This Christmas, I pray the Spirit of God fills every corner of our hearts with his truth and grace.
Merry Christmas!