"Surprised by Joy"

February 1, 1918 – C. S. Lewis reads G. K. Chesterton [ http://www.ccel.org/c/chesterton ] while hospitalized for trench foot. [ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trench+foot ]
“In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, [ http://www.macdonaldphillips.com/legacy.html]  I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.” C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy. [ http://www.cslewis.org/sitemap.html ]

Sometimes Christian conversion is spectacular. Sometimes it is a gradual realization of truth. In every case the convert is “surprised by joy.”

Acts 9: 1-19 - Saul’s Conversion
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Ephemera

January 31, 1919, C. S. Lewis was elected secretary of the Marlets Society, a select literary group at Oxford.

“If I am forgotten of all else, at least a specimen of my handwriting will be preserved for posterity.” C. S. Lewis’s comment upon his new office, based on his belief that the Martlets Society minutes were permanent University property.

For C.R.  -  Becky Wooley

“Define love,” she said,

knowing he couldn’t.
And he didn’t, though he tried,
not even to his own satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a super-evoluted animal,
another product of infinity and fortune,
could feel
anything more than reactions to chemicals released haphazardly
in his brain and body,
he must admit to a love
undefined, unevolved, primordial. NEVER.
But he knew he felt something more.

Define hope,” she said,
knowing he couldn’t.
And he didn’t, though he tried,
not even to his own satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a speck in the cosmos,
another organism destined for extinction,
could want
anything more than mentions
in equally ephemeral historical records,
he must admit to a hope
beyond death, beyond time, beyond history. NEVER.
But he knew he wanted something more.

“Define faith,” she said,
knowing he wouldn’t.
And he didn’t even try,
not even for her satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a self-sufficient child of the universe,
another deity in charge of destiny,
could need
anything more than reflections of his own image
to light the way,
he must admit to a faith in something,
somewhere, someone other. NEVER.
But he knew he needed . . .

[This poem was published in a slightly different form in the 1981 edition of “Pickwicker,” the literary journal of Abilene Christian University.]

Good Morning!

“What’s the matter with him this morning? He’s quite above himself!” C. S. Lewis’s comment upon Tolkien’s high spirits on the morning of January 30, 1945.

J. R. R. Tolkien was cheerfully enduring miserable ice and slush from passing cars, anticipating letters from his son that awaited him at home.

Christians have more than enough awaiting us at home to make this life secondary and joyful.

Romans 8:18-25
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Wisdom, Love and Fear

"'Charles Williams gave his first lecture at the Divinity School at Oxford on this day in 1940; he spoke on Milton.'
“'I have at last, if only for once, seen a university doing what it was founded to do: teaching wisdom.' C. S. Lewis, describing the second Williams lecture to Warren Lewis." Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog

“The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.”
― John Milton

Proverbs 9:10-12
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For through wisdom your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.
If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

Amazing Grace
‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace that fear relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear,
The hour I first believed.
 -- John Newton

I have nothing to add.

Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll

Birthday of Lewis Carroll in 1832.

'It's a cravat, child, and a beautiful one, as you say. It's a present from the White King and Queen. There now!'
'Is it really?' said Alice, quite pleased to find that she had chosen a good subject after all.
'They gave it me,' Humpty Dumpty continued thoughtfully as he crossed one knee over the other and clasped his hands round it, 'they gave it me — for an un-birthday present.'
'I beg your pardon?' Alice said with a puzzled air.
'I'm not offended,' said Humpty Dumpty.
'I mean, what is an un-birthday present?'
'A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course.'
Alice considered a little. 'I like birthday presents best,' she said at last.
Alice in Wonderland

“The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive.” G. K. Chesterton, Our Birthday. [ http://books.google.com/books?id=xqYiR3WO7RAC&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=G.+K.+Chesterton+%22Our+Birthday%22&source=bl&ots=zbgRduxpYp&sig=7ssoBniS45CoL-i7pYV9XbS134Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nAciT_PaFMyltwfMyoWiCw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false ]

This essay addressing philosophical differences with Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell and H. G. Wells, among others, is an affirmation of life and an acknowledgement of our dependence on God.

Acts 17: 25- 28 - NIV
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

The Socratic Method

“On this day in 1942, the first official meeting of the Socratic Club took place at Oxford. At this club, sponsored by C. S. Lewis, he often defended the Christian faith in lively debates.” Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog

"We never clamed to be impartial. But argument is. It has a life of its own. No man can tell where it will go. . .. In any fairly large and talkative community such as a university there is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into coteries where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form rumour that the outsiders say thus and thus. The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by group hostility. Each group hears not the best, but the worst, that the other groups can say. In the Socratic all this was changed. Here a man could get the case for Christianity without all the paraphernalia of pietism and the case against it without the irrelevant sansculottisme [ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/522646/sansculotte ] of our common anti-God weeklies. At the very least we helped to civilize one another." C. S. Lewis in his preface for the first issue of the Socratic Digest http://www.scriptoriumnovum.com/l/club.html

During our first campus ministry at Tarleton State University, my husband (a former athiest) and I decided to attend an organizational meeting of “The Atheist Club”. He was invited to speak at their second meeting. After that meeting, we spent several hours talking with one of the participants. The young man was baptized that night.

Acts 17:16-34
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Greetings

On this day in 1868, W. C. Davies wrote a sonnet in honor of George MacDonald.

Though, to my dull seeing, Truth’s clear light
Shines faint, far off in heaven—star-like, by night . . .
Yet will I trust in this: To thine eyes still
Both earth and heaven with Truth’s own beams are bright.

“There after until his death in 1898 he (W. C. Davies) was one of our closest friends. For love’s sake alone, he kept my father’s accounts straight and relieved him of much drudgery in proof reading . . .” Greville MacDonald in George MacDonald and His Wife.

Though W. C. Davies was apparently well written and worthy of note,  little information about him remains. What does remain is due to his association with George MacDonald.
Being recorded in history is often a matter of whom you know, but eternal life and eternal recognition are a matter of whom you serve.

Romans 16: 1-16, 22-27 - Personal Greetings
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings. Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

Eating the Shewbread

On this day in 1954, C.S. Lewis dined with Joy Davidman Gresham (his future wife) [ http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001188.cfm ] and Ruth Pitter (winner of the Queen’s Medal for Poetry).

“I’m not a man for marriage, but if I were, I would ask Ruth Pitter.” C. S. Lewis to Hugo Dyson. [ http://www.crlamppost.org/dyson.htm ]

At fifty-eight years of age, C. S. Lewis married divorcee Joy Davidman. Their unusual marriage is well-chronicled and mostly acknowledged as a “match made in Heaven,” but at the time it was widely regarded as a sin.
God’s regulations for sexual matters are given in 1 Corinthians 7 and elsewhere in the Bible and are an ideal toward which we should strive. Missing the mark is sinful, but God is our judge.

Matthew 12: 3-8
He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

1 Corinthians 7: 1, 2 - Concerning Married Life
Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband . . .
1 Corinthians 7: 8-11
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

That Submission Thing

On this day in 1954, C.S. Lewis named Dickens and Tolstoy as two of his favorite authors saying that both wrote well about affection.

“All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own fashion.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

God’s description of a happy family includes submission.
It is a given that all Christians are to be in submission to Christ.
In addition, Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Ephesians instructs all Christians to submit to one another.
He goes on to describe what that submission looks like.
He reminds the wife that her relationship to her husband should be guided by the given that we are all to submit to one another as to Christ and mentions that submission includes respect.
He gives the husband further instruction. In addition to submitting to Christ and other Christians, the husband is to dedicate his life specifically to the spiritual, physical and emotional welfare of his wife. (As the recipient of this sort of submission, I have no problem with the concept.)
To children, God, through Moses and the apostles, promises that the best way to “live well and prosper” is to obey your parents.

Ephesians 5: 21-33
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 6:1-3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Deuteronomy 5:16)

The Ultimate Quest

“Mr. Tolkien has succeeded more completely than any previous writer . . . in using the traditional properties of the Quest, the heroic journey, the Numinous Object, the conflict between Good and Evil . . .
[ Numinous: Of or relating to a numen; supernatural. Filled with or characterized by a sense of a supernatural presence: a numinous place. Spiritually elevated; sublime.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/numinous#ixzz1kBsurjjC ]
“At the same time most of us believe that the essence of the Good is love and freedom so that Good cannot impose itself by force without ceasing to be good.”
From W. H. Auden’s review of the Return of the King ; New York Times, January 22, 1956. [ http://www.nytimes.com/1956/01/22/books/tolkien-king.html ]

Isaiah 42: 1-4 The Servant of the LORD
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.”

Words Become Flesh

“Philology . . . the love and knowledge of words . . . It is well we should become aware of what we are doing when we speak, of the ancient, fragile, and (well used) immensely potent instruments that words are.” C. S. Lewis, Studies in Words [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_in_Words ]
Adverbs as a class have fallen out of favor and are approaching extinction in all but scholarly journals. In a recent critique session, my colleagues Xed four of them from my submission, saying: “They slow down the reader.” “They are unnecessary.” “Too many syllables.” “Show don’t tell.”
That last phrase is a death sentence for any word that attempts to describe action. “Don’t say, ‘The detective looked surreptitiously toward several onlookers.’ Say, ‘The detective looked toward several onlookers.’ The reader should be able to tell how the detective looked from the situation.”
Message received. Lose the extraneous verbiage. We have come to this pass due to the modern emphasis on writing for film and television, an entirely new language of motion and color and forced emotion. Too late to lament, we must adapt, move on and use our adverbs surreptitiously.

God is an avid practitioner of “Show AND tell”
John 1: 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

Eternal

Greville MacDonald, noted physician, author and first son of George MacDonald, [ http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00082.xml ] was born on this day in 1856. He would later, on the urging of Lewis Carroll, pose for Alexander Munro’s statue of a boy and a dolphin. http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/munro/1b.html

All four of the men named above are long dead. For a short while, works created by and about them will preserve their memories. But, if they died in the Lord, they and their deeds are eternal.

Revelation 14:13
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Photograph 2006 by Jacqueline Banerjee

Simplicity Itself

On this day in 1932, C.S. Lewis admitted to his brother Warren that he had begun to take Communion. Both brothers, having been raised without Christ, had become Christians.

C. S. Lewis and the Inklings were an educated lot who wrote volumes about Christian faith and practice, but the basis of their faith and salvation remains quite simple:

Romans 10: 9-11 NIV
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Transformation

J. R. R. Tolkien spent the night of January 17, 1944 in an air-raid post with Cecil Roth, a renowned Jewish scholar and historian. The next morning, Roth roused Tolkien from sleep so he would not miss Communion. Tolkien remarked of Roth’s gesture, “It seemed like a fleeting glimpse of an unfallen world.”
It is almost a cliché to mention the impact that the two world wars, especially the second, had on British literature. In the case of fantasies written by the Inklings, (Tolkien, Lewis, Williams) one should recognize the transformaion of earthly warfare and helplessness into Christian victory and glory.

1 Corinthians 15:44-49 NIV
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

1 Corinthians 15: 54-56 NIV
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Singing in the Dark

On this day in 1873, George MacDonald went to hear a group of freed slaves called the “Jubilee Singers” in New York. He wept with joy throughout the concert. After the show, while he and his wife were chatting with one of the performers, the lights went out and the singer called, “All the same color now!”
Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and His Friends

Even in the dark, we can sing and we can dream.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
"I have a dream today.
"I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
"I have a dream today.
"'I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.' (Isaiah 40:4-5)
"And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"
Martin Luther King, Aug. 28, 1963

The Last Syllable

“On this day in 1873, George MacDonald lectured on Shakespeare’s Macbeth to 500 students and faculty members of Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey." Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and His Friends
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time . . .”
Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5.

It is fitting that a writer should refer to the passing of time as the recording of syllables. When I write, time leaves to reappear much aged thousands of syllables later.

1 Corinthians 15:24-26 NIV
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 NIV
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Not Keen on Tolkien

“J. R. R. Tolkien’s writing became so popular that on this day in 1966 the New York Tolkien Society’s December meeting was described in the New Yorker. Among those present at the meeting was the poet W.H. Auden.” Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog.

The Hobbit, the prequel to Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy, was recommended to me at the height of its popularity by my very first beau. I did not read it. I’m not sure why, but I have some ideas. Since I categorized The Hobbit as fantasy, I associated it with fairy tales and childish things. And it was popular. That always made a book unappealing to me.
I lost the beau.
But The Hobbit is one of my husband’s favorite books. He read it and C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia to our daughter every night for years. I still have not read it. Maybe I should.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a woman, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Slithy Toves

On this day in 1938, J. R. R. Tolkien spoke on BBC Radio about Anglo-Saxon Verse.

An excerpt from Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll’s 1855 parody of Anglo-Saxon verse. (It is far better known than any real Anglo-Saxon verse.)

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsey were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

The popularity of Carroll’s parody speaks volumes concerning the difference between poetry and prose. Prose can be melodious, but it must carry meaning to be valid. Poetry, by contrast, can simply feel good on the tongue.
The Bible is full of magnificent poetry inspired by the Holy Spirit, but in the book of Acts the apostle Paul quotes from an unnamed Greek poet: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:28

Long Books

“Things need to be treated at length not in so far as they are great but in so far as they are complicated.” C. S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century. Quoted in Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog.

“‘You can’t get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me,’” said C. S. Lewis to Walter Hooper. In that case, Lewis should have been pleased with English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. A 696 page tome with a thirty-three page chronological table and ninety pages of bibliography, it taught him that a long book might be a joy to read, but it could be a burden to write.”
Donald T. Williams, PhD in a draft of an article for Lion and Logos: The Life and Legacy of C. S. Lewis, ed. Bruce L. Edwards, Jr.    doulomen.tripod.com/topics/DTWtopics_csl_ohel.pdf

When I think of the heady literary and philosophical discussions among the Christian scholars at Oxford who called themselves the Inklings (http://www.mythsoc.org/inklings/), my jealousy is boundless, but I don’t believe that I will ever read Mr. Lewis’ 696 page tome. Several things would stop me. I will list three: First, I am not familiar with Sixteenth Century literature, excluding drama. I am the grateful recipient of an excellent education, but my classical studies are limited almost exclusively to the realms of drama and rhetoric. Second, I much prefer Lewis' fiction. Third, a used copy on Ebay is $275.

Ecclesiastes 1:18- For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Good Fortune

“All fortune is good—whether be it harsh or be it pleasing . . .yet I know not who would dare to say so to foolish men, for no fool could believe it.” Charles Williams, quoting Boethius in The Descent of the Dove.

"Charles Walter Stansby Williams was most often associated with the Inklings (a group of Christian writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), Williams was also cited as a major influence on W.H. Auden's conversion to Christianity and he was a peer and friend of T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and Evelyn Underhill." From the website: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/

Tomorrow is another Friday the 13th. I have always claimed those as my "lucky" days. My thirtheeth birthday fell on a Friday the 13th in 1961. But luck has nothing to do with our lives as Christians. "All good things come from the father," (James 1:17) and our "fortune is good."

Romans 8: 22-28 NIV
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Not Guilty

“. . . I know that good is coming to me—that good is always coming: though few have at all times the simplicity and courage to believe it.” George MacDonald, the last page of Phantastes. Quoted in Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and His Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog.


When my daughter was an infant, I saw in her an innocence I could not comprehend. Nothing bad, nothing evil, nothing painful had ever touched her. Her face and demeanor shouted, “Good and only good is coming to me.” Since then, I have seen her suffer. I have seen her face full of fear and pain. I have seen evil touch her. I have seen her innocence fade.
How do we regain that joy, wonder, openness and courage? How do we maintain our innocence? We cannot remain untouched by pain and suffering. But we have an advocate who has declared us innocent and who cleanses us daily from all evil. We have a brother who has suffered and who shares our suffering. “Good is always coming.”

I John 2: 1-12
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

The Feline of Heaven?

“Francis Thompson symbolized God as the ‘Hound of Heaven,' pursuing on relentless feet. With me, God was more like a cat.” Joy Davidman Lewis, The Longest Way Round, in These Found the Way.

I much prefer cats to dogs, but for perverse reasons. I never feel obligated to a cat. If I ignore a cat, it does not whine or languish; it simply goes about its business. A cat’s demands for attention are frequent but not emotional; you can respond or not, they do not care.
Dogs on the other hand are invested. They need to feel affection and can go into a funk if they are ignored.
I would not attribute either of these attitudes to God, in toto.

Like a cat, God does not need anything from us, but He delights in our attention and will persist in giving it to us and seeking it from us. Like a blood hound, He is invested in our salvation, and has shown that He is willing to die to bring us home.

(The Devil, on the other hand, is definitely a feline: "a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I Peter 5:8)
http://www.houndsofheaven.com/thepoem.htm

Holy Days

“How do you make a day holy? By seeing that it is holy already, and behaving accordingly." Joy Davidman Lewis, Smoke on the Mountain.

The same is true of the Christian life. How do we make ourselves holy? We cannot. But we can “work out our own salvation.” (Philippians 2:12). In other words, we can recognize that God has made us holy and behave accordingly.
I John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Joy Davidman Lewis was the author/poet wife of C. S. Lewis. Their life together and the triumph they experienced through her illness and death are chronicled in the film and subsequent book, Shadowlands. http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001188.cfm

Mystery and Wimsey

“To the young people of my generation, G.K. Chesterton was a kind of Christian liberator. Like a beneficent bomb, he blew out of the Church a quantity of stained glass of a very poor period, and let in gusts of fresh air . . .” Dorothy Sayers, Introduction to The Surprise by G. K. Chesterton.

Dorothy Sayers’ was the classically educated daughter of a clergyman, a renowned Latin scholar and Christian apologist. Her prolific writing includes a number of mysteries some of which feature the sleuthing couple, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dorothy-Sayers/111945848823652?sk=info

I claim a slight kinship. I too am the descendant of numerous Christian ministers and am the author of a murder mystery that introduces a sleuthing couple, Grit Griffin and Grace Willis. I include Christian apologetics in most of what I write.

Ephesians 3:2-6
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

The End is Near

On this day in 1914, G. K. Chesterton and his friends spent four hours as amateur actors improvising a trial based upon Dicken’s unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chesterton played the judge.
Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog

“I wish Dickens had finished Drood and left others to begin it.” Leon Garfield, foreword to his own 1980 version of the Dickens mystery.”

When we leave this earth, we leave unfinished business. When Christ died he was able to say, “it is finished” because he had accomplished all that his father had given him to do. I pray that I will be able to accomplish whatever God created me to do before I go home.

Hebrews 9:27, 28
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

By Faith

“No, a glimpse is not a vision. But to a man on a mountain road by night, a glimpse of the next three feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon.” C. S. Lewis, in a letter to Sheldon Vanauken.

Bruce and I, like most of the nation, are not financially prepared for retirement. I would like to say that we have given so much of ourselves and our goods to others that we have not saved for our own future. To a certain extent this is true, but the main reason we have reached this pass is a combination of poor stewardship and acquisitiveness. I pray the next portion of our lives does not bring all of our misdeeds home to rest. I pray God sees fit to continue to bless us in spite of our poor judgment.

II Corinthians 5:7 – “We live by faith and not by sight.”

White as Snow

“Warren and C. S. Lewis attended Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ on this day in 1939.” Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog
Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at her widow sewing . . . And after a while she gave birth to a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony; and she named her Snow White. The Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tales, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

 My sister Paula was born with unusually large, blue eyes, rich dark hair and a beautiful voice. When she was quite young, maybe eight, she took vocal lessons and performed in a recital. She sang “Someday My Prince Will Come” from the Disney movie, Snow White. The song has a vast range and is difficult to sing even for adults. She sang it beautifully. She still has a lovely voice.
As children, my sister and I were trained to envy and ridicule each other. We have struggled to become friends as adults.


Matthew 18:21, 22 - New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Invisible

“There was once a little Princess who—”

“But, Mr. Author, why do you always write about princesses?”
“Because every little girl is a princess.”
George MacDonald, “The Princess and the Goblin”


As a child I was enchanted by this book, especially the edition with the illustrations by Jessie Wilcox Smith. I immediately recognized the invisible thread that leads Irene to rescue Curdie as the Holy Spirit who guides Christians. As soon as I finish writing my second murder mystery and return from Zambia, I hope to begin on the music to accompany the libretto I have written based on this children’s story.


John 16:7-13 New International Version (NIV)

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Sojourn

Tuesday, January 3, 2012


“Living with Lewis was like having one’s own private tutor . . . the whole of my time there he built up my confidence in myself and in my ability to think . . . I left the Kilns with deeper and more understanding, and with a belief that I was of value.” Jill Flewett Freud, in the “Canadian C.S. Lewis Journal.”

Ms. Flewett was a displaced child in Britain during WWII. At the age of 8 and occasionally thereafter, I was farmed out to relatives during my mother’s illness. Unlike Ms. Flewett, I was not encouraged or mentored. My sojourn left me tentative and contemplative. But I learned that “my help cometh from the Lord.”

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Tintern Abbey

Monday, January 2, 2012

Warren and C.S. Lewis saw Tintern Abbey on their first annual walking tour on this day in 1931.

“While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years . . .”
William Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” 1798

 A friend and I walked across the Highway 41 Bridge over Nickajack Lake, Saturday, to mark its passing. The old metal bridge is an especially pleasing work of engineering and art that rests at the base of a spectacular portion of the Tennessee River. It is scheduled to close Jan. 9th and will be demolished within a month or so. Its beauty and setting struck me as unique the first time I saw it and I enjoy its simple existence every time I drive past or over it. The new span, if the other bridges around Chattanooga are indicators, will be a nondescript flaw on a beautiful landscape and will prevent enjoyment of the view either at or from it.

I am getting old, but I will enjoy the present and look forward to the future in spite of the decay and destruction around me.
Proverbs 31:25 – She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

2012 - The Year of the Dragon

Sunday January 1, 2012
Daily quotes are taken from a “Book of Days” entitled “Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and His Friends” compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog and published by the C.R. Gibson Co.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him." J. R. R. Tolkien, "The Hobbitt.
 Never discount the reality of the supernatural.
Job 41:1-34  New International Version (NIV)
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?
4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”