"…God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures. Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection." C.S. Lewis

I do not know that I could understand my understanding of Christianity apart from an old Anglican Saint whose birthday is today.  C.S., Clive Staples (His friends called him Jack) Lewis was born on this day in 1898.  He has come bounding back into influence in the past several years with his “hero” status in John Piper’s Desiring God and with the recent re-interest in his Narnia Chronicles that are being brought to life by Walden Media.  His nicotine habit, producing a smoke ring that would make Santa Clause jealous, and yellowed teeth coupled with his super intellectual and awkward appearance probably are not the images many look for in someone who would reveal Jesus to them.  But this “most reluctant convert” had a great deal to say, a knack for saying whatever it may be, and a few of those things are quite worth listening to.  Other than my insistence that you run and read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe immediately, regardless of age, I thought I would share a few particular insights of Jack that have meant volumes to my personal faith. 

Incarnation

“The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. “

Lewis actually wrote an introduction to Athanasius’ volume On the Incarnation that is worth reading, but this particular insight from one of his World War II radio addresses that is memorialized in Mere Christianity is one that I always think of this time of year for advent.  Somehow in this witty quip I believe is part of the power of the “kenosis” of Philippians 2.  The emptying of God, and His putting on of flesh (John 1:14) we can get at just a little bit if we could try to wrap our minds around this whole slug thing.  Lewis was not afraid to go here in his thought, and I think it quite helpful to let our imaginations run with his long enough to realize there is no way that we could  really “get the hang of it.”

Celebration

“we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”

This insight from Lewis in his Reflections on the Psalms is one of the most helpful thoughts I think he could have shared.  We must delight, and we must celebrate.  He prior to this rattled off a list of all those things that we delight to enjoy and praise from lovers to favorite teams, but none could encompass the great deal of delight that we must have in God, and that is ultimately reflected in the language of the Psalms.

Transportation

“Further up and further in.”

Last but certainly not least,  Lewis has probably done more for me in my thinking of heaven than any other source I can think of outside the Bible itself.  All the business of The Last Battle, coupled with The Great Divorce (as well as myriads of other thoughts and comments throughout other volumes) merge to make for quite a robust vision of Heaven. The idea that heaven is more real than anything else we can imagine, with all the brightness and color, delight, and realization that Jesus himself is the light, that we see, work, and do and enjoy is all wrapped up in this neat package.  Heaven for Lewis is not a whispy Spirit world, it is real, and is more real than we could ever imagine or anything we could experience. We will talk, we will recognize, and we will find their our ultimate desire, and find that He really was worth it after all. We will never get enough as we go “further up and further in” and we will find that it is only the beginning of the first chapter of the real story.

Thanks Jack, and happy birthday.

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963)

Now another point.  There is one bit of advice given

to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews

in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian

teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern

economic system has completely disobeyed.  All

these people told us not to lend money at interest:

and lending money at interest—what we call

investment—is the basis of our whole system…I

should not have been honest if I had not told you

that three great civilizations had agreed…in

condemning the very thing on which we have based

our whole life. 

                   – C S Lewis, Mere Christianity (NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952), 80.

C S (Clive Staples) Lewis was born this date, 11/29/1898, at Belfast, Ireland.  He eventually became a Christian (Church of England).  He was a scholar, a writer, and a professor at both Oxford (1924-54) and Cambridge (1954-63).  His writings have become “modern classics” Screwtape Letters (1942), Miracles (1947), Mere Christianity (1952).  And even his allegorical The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) are classics to multitudes of children.  Lewis died 11/22/1963 but most Americans were so taken up by another death we did not notice the passing of one of the greatest modern writers.

Adam J. Copeland

First Presbyterian Hallock, Minn.

Nov 29, 2009

Advent Hope

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Talk about a full day marking many things. This Sunday we celebrate the first Sunday of the church year which is also the first Sunday of the season we call Advent. Advent means “coming,” and today we begin our preparation for Christ’s coming at Christmas.

Today also marks the Sunday closest to Thanksgiving, when we gathered as a nation to loosen our belts and watch football…and also remember the many people and things in our lives for which to be thankful.

Today is also the first Sunday in the official holiday shopping season. Added to that, later we have a Commissioning service and Family Advent Night. As if that’s not enough, the Vikings plays the Bears at 3:15 and there’s an all new Desperate Housewives on ABC tonight.

But believe it or not, we gather today less to anticipate Desperate Housewives, than to look through the lens of scripture on all that today brings and listen for God’s word to us.

In their letter the Thessalonians, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy emphasize two main ideas. The four verses before us today are a sort of a summary of those two points: (1) you’re doing really well, and we thank God for that, (2) let’s make it even better. The writers sort of sound like my high school chorus teacher who always said, “Good better best, never rest until your good is your better and your better is your best.”

Sound like a message for today? Well if we’re thinking about today as the first Sunday of the new church year — the first sunday of Advent — then Paul and his buddies’ hit the nail on the head. After all, at New Year’s we look back at the previous year, and we look forward to the next. So on this first sunday of the new year, let’s give that a try.

When they opened up the letter the Thessalonias read, “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?” That’s pretty high praise. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are getting at a deep gratitude, an overflowing attitude of thankfulness. It’s not the inward-looking kind of thankfulness — thank you God for making me so awesome, or thank you God for the good I’m doing — but a thankfulness focused on others. “How can we thank God enough for you…” they write. The writers give thanks for God working in the lives of others.

Hopefully, this week of Thanksgiving, you’ve already taken some time to mark your thanks for the blessings in your life. That’s an important and positive practice — to be thankful for your gifts. If you haven’t done so, at the next meal you have with someone, before you eat, trying going around the table and inviting everyone to say what they are thankful for. It’s a healthy and important practice for us all, and especially for us Christians who can direct our thankfulness to God.

But at their Thanksgiving dinner, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy don’t sit around the turkey and say how God has blessed them, they say they’re thankful for what God is doing outside their small circle, even in Thessolonica.

This year, I’m thankful for what God is doing all the way down south at a small church in Tennessee. The congregation had lost contact with the surrounding community so, last high school football season, they started hosting a Fifth Quarter event at the church with pizza and games (and no drinking) for anyone from the high school who wanted to attend. It turned into a huge success; some Fridays they had nearly a hundred students show up. I’m thankful for their Christian witness in that small Tennessee town.

It’s a good practice, as Paul shows, to consider and express our gratitude for things going on beyond our immediate sphere. That’s something we can easily forget, even at Thanksgiving. But we don’t have to totally skip over the things near us. So, I wonder, what are you thankful for in this community? I’ll tell you what I’m grateful for.

I’m thankful you had a relatively short stint without a called pastor last year. I’m thankful you stayed a strong congregation while searching. I’m thankful God has now called us together. And I’m thankful for the welcome Megan and I have received. I’m also thankful for the overall openness and attitude of discernment in the congregation, that it’s a place with a strong history and eager to build upon that foundation as well. And I’d love to hear how you all are thankful for the past church year, and I bet we’d all find out some interesting things if we shared with each other.

But New Year’s celebrations aren’t only about looking on the past with grateful eyes, but about looking forward too. Remember all those New Year’s resolutions you made eleven months ago? Or maybe you’d rather not remember all of them because you didn’t quite keep them? Maybe we can treat this new church year in similar ways. Looking back with thankfulness, but also looking forward to a grand year ahead.

After thanking God for the great things going on in Thessolonica, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy write, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may God so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

They don’t just look back with thanks, they look forward with anticipation. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love….and be prepared for the return of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

What do you hope this next church year will bring you, this congregation, and the world? What new resolutions would you like to make?

So often resolutions are about self-improvement or aesthetic goals. But Paul isn’t writing about any 10 Steps for Success program. He’s definitely not writing about weight loss or physical fitness (not that these are bad resolutions, mind you). Rather Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy stay much broader and more challenging. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love. Resolving to increase love? Abound in more love? Geez, that’s a resolution that’s a bit tricky to measure, don’t you think?

Increase and abound in love. What are they thinking? Love isn’t just something you can increase on a whim. I have a friend who has low iron level so her doctor told her to eat more leafy vegetables, especially spinach, and that should take care of it. Love isn’t like that, there’s no love additive you can buy at Cenex to make your love increase. So if we resolve to increase and abound in love, what are we to do?

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity has a great suggestion. He writes, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.” C.S. Lewis seems to think love follows loving actions; we increase and abound in love by acting in loving ways.

Ultimately, the love Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy speak of isn’t love for its own sake, but love grounded in the love of Jesus Christ. That’s, ultimately, where our love stems from — and on this first sunday of Advent that love comes with an extra helping of hope. For it’s not our love alone that’s going to save us. It’s not our love alone that will right this world and set us free. It’s not our love that can do anything by itself.

On this first sunday of the church year, we look forward to the love that God will bring at Christmas, for in Christ there is hope for the new year. In Christ we are promised love, peace, and justice over all the earth.

I used to think of Advent as only about anticipating Christmas day. I spent four sundays hoping to celebrate the beauty of Christmas again, hoping to celebrate the amazing fact that God came to earth in a little baby, born for us. And when we reached the 25th I could sing Christmas carols and open presents and celebrate Christ’s birth. That is what Advent is about, but it’s only part of what we look forward to in the new year.

Advent hope is also about the hope beyond Christmas and the incarnation — Advent hope that Christ is coming again, once and for all, to make all things new. Hope that Christ is coming to do away with pain and hunger and climate change and war. Christ is coming again.

So on this first sunday of the new church year, let’s resolve to increase and abound in love, but also to collectively hope for that day when love incarnate returns again. On that ultimate day, Black Friday sales, Desperate Housewives, and Vikings games will all fade away, for love will be born again forever. Amen.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. – Dr. Seuss

Friendship is born at that moment when 1 person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one. – C.S. Lewis

It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. – Oscar Wilde

เรื่องแรกเป็นภาพยนตร์ที่สร้างจากหนังสือการ์ตูนของฝรั่งเศส ของ Jacques Tardi เรื่อง Aventures Extrodinaire d’Adele Blanc-Sec จากการกำกับของ Luc Besson ที่เป็นทั้งผู้กำกับและโปรดิวเซอร์ผู้อยู่เบื้องหลังหนังบู๊แอ๊คชั่นหลายต่อหลายเรื่องแม้กระทั่ง องศ์บาก จากบ้านเรา!!

Aventures Extrodinaire d’Adele Blanc-Sec ภาพยนตร์ชื่อย๊าวยาว จะนำคุณย้อนยุคไปสู่ปี 1912 กับการผจญภัยของนักข่าวสาวสวย Adele Blanc-Sec (นำแสดงโดยนักแสดงสาวชื่อดังของฝรั่งเศส Louise Bourgoin) ในการเดินทางรอบโลกของเธอ ที่แสนหฤโหด เช่น โจรร้ายใจบาป นักวิทยาศาสตร์ผู้บ้าคลั่ง ลัทธิปีศาจ มัมมี่ปีศาจ แม้กระทั่งไข่นกยักษ์โบราณ ที่จะสร้างความสุดระทึกและลุ้นไปกับหญิงสาวใจกล้าหาญอย่างสนุกสนานหรรษาทีเดียว!!

และแล้วก็มาถึงบทสุดท้ายของภาพยนตร์แฟนตาซีไตรภาค ของตำนาน Nania จากหนังสือขายดีของ C.S. LEWIS ที่มีชื่อตอนว่า Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ชื่อไทย อภินิหารตำนานแห่งนาร์เนีย 3 : ผจญภัยโพ้นทะเล

เรื่องราวมีอยู่ว่า ระหว่างปิดภาคเรียน Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) กับ Lucy Pevensie (Georgie Henley) จำต้องไปพักอยู่กับลูกพี่ลูกน้องชื่อ Eustace Clarence Scrubb (Will Poulter) ความเกเรของ Eustace ทำให้ Edmund และ Lucy แทบคลั่ง เด็กทั้งสองปลีกเวลาอยู่ตามลำพังในห้อง คุยกันเรื่อง Nania ดินแดนลึกลับส่วนตัวของพวกเขา พลางมองดูรูปภาพเรือลำหนึ่งซึ่งคล้ายเรือของ Nania ขณะที่ Eustace เข้ามาระรานเด็กทั้งสองในห้อง จู่ๆเรือในรูปภาพก็เริ่มโยนตัวขึ้นลงตามกระแสคลื่น ลมเริ่มพัดแรง แต่เป็นลมที่พัดออกมาจากรูปภาพ พริบตาเดียวกรอบรูปก็หายไป เด็กทั้งสามถูกคลื่นกวาดลงทะเล และตะเกียกตะกายขึ้นเรือลำนั้นได้อย่างปลอดภัย เด็กทั้งสามเข้าร่วมผจญภัยในเรือกับพระเจ้าแคสเปี้ยน ตามหาสหายทั้ง 7 ฅนของพระบิดาซึ่งสาบสูญไปในระหว่างการเดินทางแสวงหาแผ่นดินใหม่โพ้นทะเล มุ่งหน้าไปจนสุดทิศตะวันออก อันเป็นดินแดนแห่งอัสลานและที่สุดสิ้นแห่งโลก!!

Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader นี้เป็นการย้ายค่ายจาก Disney เป็นค่ายยักษ์ 20th Century Fox กำกับโดย Michael Apted จาก The World Is Not Enough มานั่งเก้าอี้แทน Andrew Adamson จาก 2 ภาคแรก โดยโดดไปนั่งเก้าอี้โปรดิวเซอร์แทนในภาค 3 ภาพยนตร์มีกำหนดฉายในปีหน้า 10 ธันวาคม 2010 โน่น!!

ที่มา :: FirstShowing

Foram divulgadas as primeiras imagens oficiais do filme “As Crônicas de Nárnia – A Viagem do Peregrino da Alvorada”, terceiro filme baseado nos livros do irlandês C.S. Lewis.

Estrelando George Henley, Skandar Keynes e Ben Barnes, o longa deve chegar aos cinemas em dezembro de 2010. Mas se engana quem acha que ele já está todo pronto. As últimas cenas do filme, dirigido por Michael Apted, foram gravadas ontem, dia 27, na Austrália.

Nessa história, Lúcia e Edmundo, agora na companhia do primo Eustáquio, retornam à Nárnia enquanto o rei Caspian navega em busca dos sete fidalgos que foram mandados por Miraz para explorar o oceano oriental.

Fotos: Facebook da Fox

On November 29:

800 Charlemagne arrived in Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III.

1832  Louisa May Alcott, American novelist, was born.

1849  Sir John Ambrose Fleming, British physicist, was born.

1893 Elizabeth Yates became the first woman in the British Empire to win a mayoral election when she became Mayor of Onehunga.

1893 Ziqiang Institute, today known as Wuhan University, was founded by Zhang Zhidong.

1898  C. S. Lewis, Irish writer, was born.

1910 The first US patent for inventing the traffic lights system was issued to Ernest Sirrine.

1913  Fédération Internationale d’Escrime, the international organizing body of competitive fencing was founded in Paris, France.

 1917  Merle Travis, American singer/guitarist, was born.

1929  U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.

1932 Jacques Chirac, French President, was born.

1933 John Mayall, British blues musician, was born.

1944 The first surgery on a human to correct blue baby syndrome was performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.

1945 The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was declared.

1961 Mercury-Atlas 5 Mission – Enos, a chimpanzee, was launched into space.

 

 Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others. but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not self-denial as an end in itself.

O estúdio Fox Walden divulgou as primeiras imagens de As Crônicas de Nárnia- A Viagem do Peregrino da Alvaroda, terceiro filme baseado nos livros de C.S. Lewis. Veja as imagens abaixo (clique na foto para ver em tamanho maior):

Na história os três irmãos,  Edmundo (Skandar Keynes) e Lúcia (Georgie Henley), juntos com seu primo Eustáquio (Will Poulter) e o Príncipe Caspian (Ben Barnes) viveram mais uma aventura. Dessa vez eles tentam descobrir o que aconteceu com os sete fidalgos que foram enviados para desbravaor o oceano oriental por Miraz, tio de Caspian.

O elenco conta ainda com Arthur Ange, Shane Rang,Gary Sweet, Bruce Spence e Liam Neeson. O filme tem direção de Andrew Adamsom.

As Crônicas de Nárnia- A Viagem do Peregrino da Alvorada estreia em dezembo de 2010.

To commemorate the last day of principal photography of C.S. Lewis novel The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader, the Chronicles of Narnia Facebook page posted three official photos from the film.

The Dawn Treader is the third book in the C.S. Lewis series, The Chronicles of Narnia. In the enchanted land of Narnia, Edmund and Lucy, along with their cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb join King Caspian on a sworn mission to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia. The new and dangerous quest takes them to the farthest edge of the Eastern world on board the mighty Dawn Treader. Sailing uncharted seas, the old friends must survive a terrible storm, encounters with sea serpents, dragons, and invisible enemies to reach lands where magicians weave mysterious spells and nightmares come true.

Returning to Narnia are Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), Georgie Henley (Lucy) and Liam Neeson (Aslan). Newcomer Will Poulter will play cousin Eustace.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader hit theaters December 9, 2010 in Australia and December 10, 2010 in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdon.

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
I can only conclude that I was not made for here
If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary,
then of course I’ll feel nude when to where I’m destined I’m compared

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me

Am I lost or just less found? On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?
Is this a soul that stirs in me, is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?
‘Cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become

For we, we are not long here
Our time is but a breath, so we better breathe it
And I, I was made to live, I was made to love, I was made to know you
Hope is coming for me
Hope, He’s coming

Dan has introduced the overall concept of this series, so I won’t repeat his comments again. I will note that in my case, several of my choices could be replaced by other very similar people that I read around the same time as those figures, but ultimately this whole exercise is on the arbitrary side and is for fun, so here goes!

1. CS Lewis. In the early half of my high school career I started to read Christian apologetics and study the Bible, and one of the first major apologists I came into contact with was CS Lewis. I think, as I look back, that God especially blessed me. Lewis was an exceptional man and Christian scholar, and had gifts beyond that of apologetics. However, one of the main things I learned from Lewis which has stuck with me since those years was that Christianity was really true: that there was good reason to believe it, and that it claims to be the correct description of reality (both nature and history). Lewis’ classic Mere Christianity was seminal for me in this stage of my growth.

2. Cornelius van Til. Outside of American and/or conservative Presbyterian circles, van Til is often known for his acerbic criticisms of Karl Barth, but for me he will always be synonymous with the recognition that ultimately our covenantal loyalty to Christ must control everything else in our thought and life. He was the founder of one of the more popular versions of presuppositional apologetics, which attempted to mount a kind of Kantian transcendental argument for Christianity: that the Christian system was a logical prerequisite to all thought, period. I have since come to recognize that van Til’s apologetic is more helpful as an agenda rather than as a single argument, but still am appreciative of van Til for first introducing to me to the “biased” nature of all thinking.

3. John Frame. I feel Frame’s influence continually on me in my theological method. Unlike many today, Frame has articulated a philosophically sophisticated biblicism: Frame always keeps front and center that for Reformed theologians, scripture is always the ultimate standard in every area of human life. In addition, consciously and unconsciously I have sought to emulate and follow Frame’s intentionally irenic and evangelically ecumenical project: to always try to put the most charitable construal on any opponent’s comments that one can, and to always try to anticipate and incorporate their perspective into your own.

4. Peter Leithart. Leithart is perhaps the biggest influence on me in many ways. From him I have learned to see the centrality of the church and the sacraments to God’s plan and God’s kingdom for and in history, and to be cautiously but truly “For Constantine” in philosophical and theological disputes over the relevance of religion and the church to society and the state. In many ways, Leithart has put flesh on idealistic “worldview” thinking I learned from van Til. As well, I have learned from Leithart how to read the Bible in a whole different way: instead of reading the Bible simply to confirm my Reformed heritage, I have come to love the Scriptures for their internal complexity and beauty (especially in the typological patterns suffused throughout), and I have come to absorb Leithart’s project of trying to get Christians to “speak Bible” (rather than try to translate the Bible into other idioms, instead try to “fit the world into the text”). More than any of the others on my “5″, I hope gets more of a hearing in the wider Christian community in days to come.

5. Dallas Willard. Willard filled in a gap emphasized less in the above four: personal spirituality and moral development. While I’m sure the above four men would agree that these things are necessary, I have not found anyone who writes with so much wisdom and clarity on the formation of the soul into the image of Christ, and how practical that process really is meant to be. Further, through his work I have come to appreciate the charismatic and pietistic wings of the church in a way that would not be natural for the Anglican and Presbyterian theologies of the above four.

I wonder what the demographic would be if we knew what percentage of blog writers/readers were readers of other types of literature. I have been looking at some recent surveys about reading and it seems that the percentage of Americans that are reading is increasing for the first time in years–while that first appears as good news it does not mean we live in the midst of a group of serious bibliophiles. Most of the reading seems to be taking place in the fiction market and while there is certainly good fiction available, the success of “blockbusters” like Harry Potter (of years past) and the Twilight series does not bode well for the future of serious works.

For the time being let’s assume we at least have a significant interest in reading. As the polling data indicates what we are reading does make a difference–Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book indicates that “the error of assuming that to be widely read and to be well-read are the same thing.” So what does it mean to be “well-read?” It obviously does not have to do with reading a lot of books, but with reading the right books. It was C.S. Lewis that pointed out that if a book is not worth reading many times it is not worth reading once. So what books are worth reading many times? Sets of books like The Harvard Classics or Great Books of the Western World are a great place to start. Find sources you trust and find recommended resources. There is a great list in the the appendix of How to Read a Book.

One of the important things to remember is not just to read books you are comfortable with–good reading should stretch us. Returning to Adler in How to Read A Book, “Good books are over your head; they would not be good for you if they were not. And books that are over your head weary you unless you can reach up to them and pull yourself up to their level.” That moves the question to a different level–Is the reading of the important books worth the effort? Those books are not going to be found on any bestseller list. In fact, the books that are worth our time are ones that we may have to search for. If I can return to C.S. Lewis for a moment–he has an important statement regarding what has become known as chronological snobbery–”the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited. You must find why it went out of date.” New is not necessarily better–just the opposite may be true.

I you are a reader I would be very interested in some of your own recommendations.

Pastor Jeff

“No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work’s sake, and what men call originality will come unsought.” – C S Lewis, from “Membership” p. 175 in “The Weight of Glory” 1949

I have always had a fondness to read old books; books written by godly men of the past. They have never been disappointing; have always been very encouraging, very convicting and edifying tied to the scripture. I have a big love for the writings of the Church fathers, the Reformers and the Puritans. The heavenliness and godliness of their writings is highly captivating. It always wonders me as to how they operate on a really different plane than our contemporary authors. It is no rocket science to conclude that it would do us a whole lot of good, if we can drink deep from their writings.

So much for some introductory comments on reading books of old. I recently came across an insightful introduction by C.S.Lewis to the book by one of the Church father “Athanasius: On the Incarnation”. Talking about our contemporary reading priorities and reluctance to take the old text from the original author, he raises this “Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about “isms” and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said.” and goes on to suggest that “firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.”

Here is the gem of his advice “But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old.” He goes on to give the strong reason for this advice “And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light.” How true! Is it not better to go with proven stuff? How much adulteration has happened to the truth due to the fondness for novelty in Christian literature and often unaware to the author of the novelty?

Here is the wit of Lewis on this point “If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why—the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point.”

So, how can we safeguard ourselves from this “The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity (“mere Christianity” as Richard Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books.”

How do we practically implement it? “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.” I would like to add to this thought in conclusion that we probably have to rethink about this advice from C.S.Lewis. Now that corruption of the truth has grown both intentional and unintentional, more so of the former than the latter, it is a good rule to read at least three old books to every new one.