Though, as my bio states, I’m sold out to the Kingdom of God (in other words, Christian), I find that an “in-your-face” approach isn’t always the best way to express it. It’s about presenting the beauty of the message in an inviting way, which hopefully draws them closer to view more of that beauty. That expression may not appear to be Christian at all, simply because it’s done without the traditional trappings and paraphernalia that they’ve come to associate with Christianity - which, to be honest, I also find tiresome at times. The only thing forcing them to stay should be their own fascination with the products of my artistic imagination. Though at some point, they may realise that they’ve been “preached to” without knowing it, it should elicit a response like, “Okay, that’s one way of looking at it,” or something similar. At any time, they should feel that it’s okay to leave without feeling like my religious sensibilities have been hurt – without even a hint of, “You step out that door to a Christless eternity!” They know the invitation is always open to come back later for more. .
For that reason, my books tend to be targeted to secular audiences. Once you get into them, you will detect Biblical themes. Some are more obviously Christian from the start, just not “in-your-face” with the message
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were both Cristian authors. Lewis was more obvious about it in his narratives, though his style was still not “in-your- face”. Tolkien was more subtle. Reading Tolkien, one comes away with the awareness that the world can be changed by the small and insignificant, and that kindness and compassion are forces more powerful than military might and raw energy. No wonder the Hippy culture of the sixties loved it!
I’m sure both Lewis and Tolkien would love my cat. Now, we don’t have a cat in our house as my wife is allergic to animal hair; I’m talking about the feline character in Rats in the Cellar.
You’d think that putting a cat into a story about rats would indicate a dangerous situation (even if “rats” is only a metaphor). C.S.Lewis threw a lion in with a group of children. By the lions own admission, he wasn’t even a tame one. So, what could go wrong in my story?
Plenty. In the first chapter, the cat gets Oscar lost in the multiverse. Later, the cat leads the boys in and out of places that are definitely not child-safe. Once, he darts across a busy highway at a blind curve, with Oscar following. “Not a safe thing to do unless accompanied by a wise cat.”
Of course, the cat knows what he’s doing. Sometimes the seemingly safest places to be are actually the most dangerous and vice versa.
The cat can also purr. As I said in my previous email, the purring generates a change of mood, and sometimes induces mental images. When the cat curls up next to Oscar at night, Oscar dreams that he can purr. He dreams that he’s purring for his young cousins, who are going through an especially traumatic period, and the purring does for them what the cat’s purr does for him.
But boys can’t purr. That thought crosses his mind the next day when he just happens to find himself with the same young cousins. The four-year-old says, “Mummy tried to kill daddy.” The two boys talk about how Daddy punched Mummy in the nose, and how Mummy went at him with a knife, before the police came and took her away. Then the seven-year-old (the oldest of the four), can’t handle it any more.
“It’ll be alright,” Oscar tries to comfort her.
“No, it won’t!” sobs Becky. “You’re just saying that!”
Oscar knows she’s right. The situation is hopeless, and all he can give are empty words.
Later, as the boys are fighting and things are out of control, he remembers the dream, that he’s purring to the children.
Boys can’t purr. But, they can sing.
Oscar’s favourite school activity, when school isn’t closed, is voice practice. The music instructor, Boz, gives the boys singing lessons, developing their male soprano voices.
Their favourite song is one Boz wrote himself.
Remember what I said about characters named Boz appearing in any of my stories; it’s me making a cameo appearance. However, in this case, the only thing he and I have in common is that we wrote that song.
The song is based on the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor… etc.
As Oscar is standing in the room with the two boys fighting over the toys, the four-year-old bouncing on the settee, and Becky not on speaking terms with the world, he remembers the song.
He begins singing it, and that begins to make a difference. It actually does have the same effect as the cat’s purring.
Here’s the quote from the book:
As he sang, he knew that so much of it might have sounded like a pipe dream, what with all that was happening, the war, the riots, the actual hunger and poverty, even the state of these kids. But this wasn’t the hollow sounding “It’ll be okay” that he told Becky earlier. Somehow, as he sang, he knew each word was meant to be.
Somehow, so did Becky. So did her younger siblings. The whole mood changed. The cat has bestowed on Oscar the gift of singing. That’s how I portray faith - Kingdom of God faith.
That was just Oscar, singing it solo. Later in the book, the many instances of Oscar make for a whole choir. How much more hope would that bring?
The cat knows that.
The song itself is based on a tune that I composed when I was 17. Though I’m by no means a professional in that field, I did manage to create a Midi file, using Muse-Score, and then I created a YouTube video showing the lyrics as the music plays. If you want to listen to it, you can find it Here
Again, you can download the books here…
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