I want to have tea with C.S. Lewis

Hospitality as fortification for facing life in a wondrous but dark world

I can’t remember when I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, but I must have been very young. That story, and the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, has always had a special place in my heart.

When I open one of the books and am drawn into the world of Narnia, I can’t help but feel a little bit like how the Pevensie children must have felt upon returning to Narnia in Prince Caspian. Like I’ve been away far too long and am finally home.

So it makes sense, then, that when I’m asked the question, “Which literary world would you want to live in?” my answer is Narnia. Narnia feels like home to me, as much as a literary setting can feel like home. I don’t know what it is about how C.S. Lewis wrote Narnia, but there is something pure and good about it. Even when Narnia is in the grip of the White Witch’s curse, that goodness is there. You can see Narnia for what it was meant to be.

Of course, to enter into Narnia through that wardrobe would be a wondrous, magical experience, enough to capture the imagination of almost any reader, young or old. But there is a much deeper magic about Narnia that goes well beyond those first astonishing steps through the wardrobe. And we get our first glimpse of it, I think, in the cozy home of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver.

If you are picturing the scene in the 2005 movie, you may be wondering what I’m talking about, and rightly so. In that movie the Pevensie children are put off by the humble offerings placed before them in the Beavers’ home. The little fish on their plates are clearly not appetizing, and the children look like they are struggling to be polite during a forced visit to their awkward but well-meaning aunt.

But in the book! Oh, in the book it’s a much different picture.

In the book, the Pevensie children are greeted enthusiastically by Mrs. Beaver, and soon the girls are helping to set the table while Peter goes with Mr. Beaver to catch fish. And while the meal is being prepared, the children are longing for the dinner to be ready. And they are anything but put off by the meal of fried fish and buttered potatoes, with marmalade rolls for dessert and a nice pot of tea to top it all off. Here’s a short excerpt:

There was a jug of creamy milk for the children (Mr. Beaver stuck to beer) and a great big lump of deep yellow butter in the middle of the table from which everyone took as much as he wanted to go with his potatoes and all the children thought—and I agree with them—that there’s nothing to beat good freshwater fish if you eat it when it has been alive half an hour ago and has come out of the pan half a minute ago. And when they had finished the fish Mrs. Beaver brought unexpectedly out of the oven a great and glorious sticky marmalade roll, steaming hot, and at the same time moved the kettle on to the fire, so that when they had finished the marmalade roll the tea was made and ready to be poured out. And when each person had got his (or her) cup of tea, each person shoved back his (or her) stool so as to be able to lean against the wall and gave a long sigh of contentment.

When the meal is over, and everyone is content and full-bellied, Mr. Beaver says to the children, “…now we can get to business.”

And what a serious business it is! After all (spoiler alert for the rare reader who may not be familiar with the story), the Pevensie children each have a role to play in freeing Narnia from the White Witch’s curse and will eventually take their places as kings and queens of Narnia.

It is a good thing, then, that their “business” in Narnia begins with an act of hospitality. That shared meal is a fortification, at least for three of the Pevensie children, against the difficulties that are to come.

C.S. Lewis does something similar in the third book in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength. There’s a lot of dining in that book, but it’s the shared meals between friends that have the most impact. Here is a group of unlikely friends working together to save the world, yet they take time to sit down and share a meal or a pot of tea, and even remember to enjoy their time together, to laugh together, to let themselves forget, just for a few moments, the darkness pressing down on them.

So often in books (and movies) mealtime is glossed over, skipped entirely, or used as a plot device to increase tension. And that’s kind of how it is in life for many people, or so I’ve heard. People are often too busy to sit down at the dinner table or to gather around the family room sharing coffee or tea and stories. Those moments are reserved for special occasions. That’s what you do on Thanksgiving or Christmas or at a BBQ on the Fourth of July. But not on ordinary days. Certainly not every day.

But it should be. After all, as wondrous and magical as the world is (not unlike Narnia), darkness is always looming. Sharing meals with family, friends, and even strangers is just one small way of equipping ourselves and each other to face it.

There’s another shared meal in a story, I believe the most important meal ever described in a book. When Jesus broke bread with his disciples on the night he was betrayed, he wasn’t merely warning his disciples of the challenges ahead, he was fortifying them against those challenges. Of course, they didn’t realize it at the time. How often do we recognize the significance of a shared meal? Sometimes a shared meal seems like little more than “chewing in a circle,” as my son sometimes jokes.

But when I think about how C.S. Lewis wrote about shared meals in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy, and all the times the Bible describes Jesus sharing meals with those he loves, I’m reminded that hospitality is one of the best ways we can show love to one another and to fortify each other against whatever challenges may come.

I believe that C.S. Lewis understood that we need that kind of connection with other people and that his characters would need it too. And that’s why I’d love to have tea with C.S. Lewis. But only after I break bread with Jesus.

---

I’ve had this post saved in my drafts for a few months because I couldn’t quite figure out how I wanted to end it. But with the beginning of Holy Week it all seemed to come together. I wish all of my fellow Christians a blessed time celebrating the resurrection of Christ!

And for anyone reading this, if someone invites you to an Easter service or meal, I hope you will consider saying yes!

Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash

More books in which shared meals have an impact

• Very Rich by Polly Horvath - The author uses food to great effect in this book, though it’s a much different effect than what I described above

• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

• The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

• Baker’s Magic by Diane Zahler

Can you think of any you’d add to this list?