Youth Leader Guide

Young Life

Young Life is a faith-based non-profit organization that reaches out to adolescents from all walks of life wherever they are to introduce and spread the message of God’s love. For more information, visit: http://www.younglife.org/us

Introduction

You’re going to like this movie – and so are your teenaged friends. The visuals are stunning, the plot is engaging, and the experience will be breathtaking.

In this third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship, the Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.

Youth leaders have discovered that movies can be tremendous opportunities for education, evangelism, and outreach. People of faith like going to the movies! You can use this film to provide insights into Biblical truth. An opportunity for growth and education is being placed in your hands – right now, as you’re reading this! Get ready for an opening-weekend Narnia outing for Friday, December 10^th, Saturday, December 11^th, or even right after church on Sunday, December 12^th! This is a movie that you can feel confident to take teenagers (and their parents) to see. Kids love movies – they like popcorn, they like watching the big screen with a bunch of their friends – all the good stuff. A movie is a great way to reach kids, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a wonderful opportunity!

Getting Ready

No matter what sort of “group” you have – your whole church, a youth group, a Bible study class, a collection of friends, or even just your family – you should try to create some “buzz” for attending this film. Even in these media-rich days, it’s still rare that any group goes to attend a movie with the idea of formally discussing the film afterward. Here are some ideas to consider doing before going to the movie:

Poster: Go to the Dawn Treader website (www.narnia.com) or the official movie Facebook page (www.facebook.com/narnia) for some images from the film that you can download. Design and print a poster, then put it up in your youth room for one week with no fanfare. Just put it on a wall and let the group speculate what it’s for. Then, make a “We’re Going!” placard and put it on the poster. Finally, add “when and where” information to the poster.

E-cards: Send your group a link to the trailer and gorgeous shots from the movie in an email, text message, or Tweet. Use electronic communication to your best advantage.

Tickets: Show the trailer to your group and encourage them to bring their friends. The movie’s website can be your best friend. While there you can register for group ticket information.

Spiritual Themes

When C. S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia books, he intentionally stayed away from identifying anything in the stories with anything in Christianity. That’s not to say that there aren’t obvious tie-ins, but he was reluctant to make those connections for others. (He once wrote, “Some of the allegories thus imposed on my own books have been so ingenious and interesting that I often wish I had thought of them myself.”) We need to keep that in mind as we talk with students about this film. While there certainly are spiritual themes in the movie, we should do what we can to have the students discover those themes themselves rather than doing the thinking and discovering for them.

With that in mind, here are a few spiritual themes that you might want to be aware of as you prepare to use the film as a teaching and discussing opportunity.

The Spiritual Life

C. S. Lewis stated that his main focus in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was “the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep).” From birth, Reepicheep wanted to sail to the end of the world and find Aslan’s country. We can see in his fervent desire to participate in this quest a picture of the Christian’s spiritual longing for Christ and heaven.

Redemption

Eustace Clarence Scrubb. If anyone deserved such a name, it’s him. Insufferably pretentious, lazy, and self-centered, in his eyes he can do no wrong. Yet, when his inward character causes him to become a dragon (imagine!), he has to learn the value of friends, family, courage, and cooperation. Only Aslan could remove the dragon skin from him and restore him as a boy. There’s a LOT we can learn from the example of Eustace, which is why the Bible Study (included later) focuses on him.

Self-Image

Lucy is probably about the age of your younger middle schoolers. She is becoming aware of beauty and its charms. When faced with the temptation to make herself beautiful, she learns the lesson of what real beauty is.

Faithfulness

Caspian, faithful to his vow to make right what his predecessor had done, learns to surrender his will to Aslan’s. He will receive the Narnian equivalent of “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Purpose

At the end of the story, Aslan tells Edmund and Lucy that they will never again be in Narnia. When they lament that they’ll never see him again, he explains, “In your world I have another name. You must learn to know me by it.”

Bible Study

There are three main issues that you will be talking about in this session:

Tolerance – Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Reepicheep, and the entire crew of the Dawn Treader have to put up with Eustace. He’s “that” kid – there’s one in every youth group – who is obnoxious, knows it all, disdains others, and generally makes life miserable for everyone. You know the type. She’s the girl who won’t eat the meals provided at camp because it doesn’t meet her standards. He’s the guy who inserts himself into every conversation in an attempt to prove that he’s smarter than everyone else. She’s the one who complains to her parents about every imagined slight that she experiences – and you have to spend hours on the phone with those parents explaining what really happened. He’s the guy who sleeps in each day of the mission trip, wanders off when there is hard work to do, and invents reasons that he can’t exert himself. Sound familiar? The Bible has surprisingly clear and helpful instruction about how to handle “that” kind of person.

Cooperation – As a boy, Eustace had no friends. His pretentious selfishness has created a situation where he was more at home with his books and his collection of insects than he was around other people. He was on a path that would lead to ever more isolation. While in the form of a dragon, Eustace began to learn the value of friendship, and even experienced the joy of cooperation. He learned the satisfaction that comes from helping others.

Redemption – Eustace got himself into a situation that he couldn’t get himself out of. He dabbled in what he shouldn’t have, and discovered to his dismay that he had become outwardly what he was inwardly. When he finally saw himself as he really was, he discovered that he needed the transformation that only Aslan could provide. The account of that transformation in the book is exquisite. The redemption of Eustace had a real effect on not only Eustace, but on the others too.

Introduce the Discussion

Say something along these lines: “We just saw a movie — The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — that had some very good messages. If you’re like me, you’ve been thinking about Dawn Treader since we saw it together. I’d like us to discuss the movie a bit more, and take a look at how it could teach us some important issues for our own lives.”

Bible Study 1 – Tolerance

When we first encounter Eustace in the film, there’s not much to like about him. He is weird. He is a disdainful, selfish, obnoxious know-it-all. He goes out of his way to antagonize his two cousins who must live in his house during the war. When they get aboard the Dawn Treader, he makes everyone else miserable with his complaining, threatening, and whining.

In one scene just after getting on the Dawn Treader, the revived Eustace (thanks to the drop of magic cordial that Lucy gave him, but he doesn’t acknowledge it) threatens to contact the British Consul and having Edmund, Lucy, Caspian and Reepicheep arrested for kidnapping. He blames them for holding him against his will (even though they saved him from drowning) in “the most unhygienic quarters.” Reepicheep asks Edmund, “Is he always this chipper?”

Do you know a “Eustace” type of person? (Don’t say who it is!)
How do we usually treat that kind of person?

Read About It

Hand out the worksheets, and read Proverbs 24:4-5 aloud to the group:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.

Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Explain that these two Proverbs seem to contradict each other, but they are actually a good lesson on how to deal with people like Eustace. Encourage your students to take notes as you make these observations:

1. Don’t Play His Game – To “answer a fool according to his folly” in verse 4 is to bandy words with him and descend to his level. A “fool” likes nothing more than to get someone engaged in a meaningless squabble. When we get sucked into dumb conversations, we become like the person we’re talking with. Avoid becoming entangled in one-oneupmanship conversations. Sometimes a fool shouldn’t be answered at all. That’s what Reepicheep did – he changed the subject and spoke with others instead.

2. Rise Above The Situation – In verse 5, to “answer a fool according to his folly” is to say the right word at the right time, to expose his lack of wisdom and truth to others and to himself. We are not to sink to the level of a fool (verse 4), but instead respond with a kind of wisdom and grace that is beyond what he has. When we do that, we show him that he isn’t as wise as he thinks he is. That’s what the second half of verse 5 means.

3. Engage Instead Of Ignore – These verses assume that we get involved in the situation, not ignore or walk away from the “Eustace” person. Tolerance does not mean that we merely put up with those that are difficult to be around, but that we become involved with them and help them to get beyond their irritating ways. Christians should be compassionate and see past the foolishness of the behavior to see the potential in each person. That’s easier said than done, for sure! Notice how Reepicheep and Eustace became friends over the course of the movie. That’s an important illustration of true tolerance, compassion, and hope!

Talk About It

Discuss these questions:

What is your normal response to a “Eustace” type?
Think back to your last encounter with a “Eustace” – how do you think you would have handled it differently now that you’ve learned these two Proverbs?

Bible Study 2 – Cooperation

The wind has died to calm. The crew takes turns doing the hard work of rowing the Dawn Treader; they are hoping to make it to Ramandu’s Island before they run out of food and water. Eustace, now a dragon, flies over the boat. He hears the complaints of the crew, and the threats: “If we don’t find land soon, I’m going to eat that dragon.” Reepicheep, who sits on Eustace’s head, reassures the dragon, “Don’t worry. I won’t let them eat you.” Suddenly, Eustace wraps his enormous dragon tail around the ship’s prow and tows her through the water. The crew cheers, and Reepicheep praises his new friend.

When have you experienced the thrill of cooperation?
Why do you think some people try to “go it alone” rather than let others help?

Read About It

Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 aloud to the group:

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

An old Jewish saying goes like this: “A man without companions is like the left hand without the right.” When we first encounter Eustace, he is a solitary boy and does not want others in his life. He has no friends. He prides himself on his intellect and, amazingly, his hygiene. He has never done a thing to assist someone else – his self-preoccupation doesn’t allow for such actions. But, as a dragon he begins to see, experience, and empathize with the plight of others. Grabbing the Dawn Treader with his tail and pulling the boat through the water might be the first unselfish thing he has ever done.

Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, got it right in these verses. We need each other. We are better together than we are apart. Although we sometimes think that getting a job done is easier by working alone, we are always better off working in cooperation with others. Always!

Talk About It

Have the kids discuss questions like these:

How does the concept of cooperation work in a situation where people are trying to get noticed?
What kind of sacrifice is required to cooperate with others?

Bible Study 3 – Redemption

Edmund asked Eustace, “So what was it like when Aslan changed you back?” Edmund answered, “No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it myself. Then he came towards me. It sort of hurt – but it was a good pain, like when you pull a thorn from your foot.” Later, Eustace says, “I think I was a better dragon than I was a boy, really.”

Eustace is an excellent example of the transformation that we each much experience. The only way he could change was to have Aslan remove his dragon skin and emerge as a real boy.

Have you ever tried to make a change in yourself? How well did it work?
Why is making significant change so difficult to do?

Read About It

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 aloud to the group.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone,
the new has come!”

Encourage your students to take notes as you explain the three points this verse makes.

1. God Makes Us New – When a person becomes a Christian, he or she goes through the kind of transformation that Eustace experienced when Aslan removed the dragon skin to reveal the real boy in Eustace. A “new creation” is not a reworked “old creature” – it is something that hasn’t existed before.

2. We Can’t Do It On Our Own – What Eustace said is true, “No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it myself.” We cannot make significant changes in ourselves. That kind of transformation can only be done from the inside out – and only God can do that. No matter how hard we try, we cannot change who we are. But, God can!

3. Everything Changes – What used to define us is no longer there. The “old” has gone, this verse says, and the “new” has come. Note, though, that there is one part of us that doesn’t change: our bodies. God does not miraculously make us more attractive, intelligent, or talented. The transformation that we experience happens on the inside – we become new people, even though we have the same body. And, our relationships with others change too. Everything changes when God makes us new!

Talk About It

Generate some discussion about this subject, starting with these questions:

How would you describe the change that God has made in you?
When do you most notice that you’re no longer the “dragon” you once were?

Conclusion

Review the three issues that you covered in this session: Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, and Reepicheep teach us to have tolerance for those who are unlovable; Dragon Eustace shows us that cooperation is satisfying; and Eustace experienced the kind of redemption that everyone needs.

Ask for volunteers to share any prayer requests they might have to help them implement these concepts into their lives, and close in prayer.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Student Worksheet

Tolerance

Do you know a “Eustace” type of person? (Don’t say who it is!)
How do we usually treat that kind of person?

Read About It – Proverbs 24:4-5

Don’t ________________ His ________________

________________ Above The ________________

________________ Instead Of ________________

Talk About It

What is your normal response to a “Eustace” type?
Think back to your last encounter with a “Eustace” – how do you think you would have handled it differently now that you’ve learned these two Proverbs?
- When have you experienced the thrill of cooperation?
- Why do you think some people try to “go it alone” rather than let others help?

Cooperation

Read About It – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Talk About It

How does the concept of cooperation work in a situation where people are trying to get noticed?
What kind of sacrifice is required to cooperate with others?
Have you ever tried to make a change in yourself? How well did it work?
Why is making significant change so difficult to do?

Redemption

Read About It – 2 Corinthians 5:17

________________ Makes Us ________________

We ________________ Do It ________________ Our ________________

________________ Changes

Talk About It

How would you describe the change that God has made in you?
When do you most notice that you’re no longer the “dragon” you once were?

Operation Narnia

Youth Leader Guide