A few years ago, my step-mother, Barb, and I went to an antique store. Barb had just had knee surgery, so I was pushing her in a wheelchair, winding our way through stacks of books, magazines, old toys, chipped plates and glasses and faded and worn furniture.
This particular antique store had numerous, large, oak wardrobes. As we came up to each wardrobe, I stopped, opened the doors, peeked inside and closed the doors again.
“What are you doing?” Barb asked.
“Just checking,” I said.
My fascination with wardrobes began when I was little, when my dad bribed me to read The Chronicles of Narnia. Even though I was a reader, the idea of talking animals seemed babyish to me and at ten-years-old, I was far too sophisticated for that sort of thing. But after I devoured the first book of the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in one sitting, the bribe became inconsequential. The books were their own reward.
For many Narnia fans The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the one to read first. In the novel, four children discover a fantastical land that they can only enter through an old wardrobe. While in Narnia, the four children go on to meet and to fight for Aslan, the Christ-like lion at the center of the series.
When I was looking online for a church to attend, I found Hope Episcopal. There were many things that drew me to Hope, but it was the rumor of a Narnia-themed library that pushed me through the doors.
When I first visited with Hope’s rector, Pastor Debbie, she ushered me into a room off of her office to sit. After a few minutes of chatting, I blurted out, “Is it true you have a Narnia-themed library?”
Pastor Debbie smiled. “Would you like to see it?”
As it turned out, I had walked past it at least a half dozen times and never noticed. Apparently, a lot of people walk by the library, thinking it’s a coat closet.
In order to enter Hope’s library, you must walk through two enormous, intricately designed wardrobe doors. Once inside, you’ll find a secret treasure, shelves upon shelves filled with books not only by C.S. Lewis, but also recently updated with Kathleen Norris, John Eldredge and Madeleine L’Engle. It is a library that begs to be used. The windows overlook the water and the wooden shelves and paneling give the room richness and warmth.
If you are thinking about going to church for the first time, don’t ignore the little things, like the promise of a library. Try every door and let yourself explore.
