Tag: C.S. Lewis

Till We Have Faces

I have just finished reading C.S. Lewis’s book, Till We Have Faces[i]. A troubling story, to say the least, where Lewis remakes the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche.

One of many aspects it portrays through the two sisters is the search for love. Orual representing the earthly grasping, at best jealous, selfish love of humanity apart from God, and Psyche the search for Divine love, which requires the giving over of one’s self in utter abandonment. The title is reported to have been taken from the scripture in 1 Corinthian 13:12, “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. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

The difficulty is in seeing yourself clearly and in exposing that self as ugly as “Ungit” in the story. Orual attempted to write her story giving her complaint, even accusation, toward the gods. Similarly, I have often “written” myself out on the page as much to see my thoughts and motives in black and white, as to share any newly acquired insight.

“When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word be dug out of us why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face until we have faces?”

I felt arrested by this statement. I know the complaint that I have so often rehearsed; my very own personal Job’s accusation that God had somehow been unfair! The reality hit me that it was not until I had written it into a story literally, uttered the speech which had lain at the center of my soul for years, which I had, all that time, idiot like, been saying over and over” that I saw the truth of it for the first time. It was “dug out” of me! Orual says it well,

“The change which the writing wrought in me (and of which I did not write) was only a beginning; only to prepare me for the gods’ surgery. They used my own pen to probe my wound. ”

It is hard to accept that the love that you think you have- may be jealous, manipulative, even at times, cruel. The hardest reality is that it may also become a barrier to someone else’s pursuit of God. As Lewis says,

“For mortals, as you said, will become more and more jealous. And mother, and wife, and child and friend will all be in league to keep a soul from being united with the Divine Nature.”

Seeing oneself as truly exposed before God, does away instantly with any thought of demanding from God justice for the supposed wrongs or slights we would accuse Him of allowing. Orual ask the question,

“Are the gods not just?” Her teacher the Fox replies, “Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?”

It is no slight coincidence to me that I have been meditating on where James says, “mercy triumphs over judgment”.

Again Micah 7:18 takes it even a step further, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” Mercy triumphs over judgment is not a bad refrain to get stuck in your head.

Orual ended her first book of accusation with the words, “no answer”. She ended her second book after her encounter with the Divine Nature as follows,

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away.”

[i] Lewis, C. S. Till We Have Faces. Orlando: Harcourt, 1956, 1984.

Are there any wise among you?

Are there any wise among you?

Is anyone else already fed up with the US political candidates? Please join me in a groan of despair. Some of the candidates seem to be intelligent within their particular areas of expertise, but overall are still lacking in wisdom. Perhaps their knowledge would be better used in some other field than as the leader of the nation.

C.S. Lewis states the following, “Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
So what is this holy wisdom? The book of James says that we can ask for it.

James 1: 5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Later James gives a description of what this sort of wisdom does, and does not, look like.

James 3:13, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

So no matter how smart you may think you are, if you are full of bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boastful and are “false to the truth”; you are not wise. These negative characteristics are practically the calling card for some of the current political candidates…

Holy Wisdom has pure motives                

Is peaceable                     

Gentle

Reasonable

Full of mercy and good fruits

Impartial

Sincere

Results in a harvest of righteousness

So, to the current field of candidates, “Are there any wise among you?”

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect “holy” wisdom from them.  I could agree with that statement, if so many of them were not claiming to be Bible believing Christians! That means that even if wisdom doesn’t come naturally to them, they should at least know that they can ASK God for it, RIGHT?

I know, it is not my job to cast condemnation on anyone, so now that I am at risk of being judged by the same measure that I have used, let me take a step back.

I know that personally I need to be asking God for wisdom every day that I live. So when I pray and ask God for wisdom how does He go about giving it liberally and without scolding (reproach)?

What I find fascinating in scripture is the personification even anthropomorphic (often feminine) way that wisdom is represented. Such as, the father speaking to his son in Proverbs 4:7-9.

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

But I find Proverbs 8:27-31, the most fascinating of all. Wisdom is speaking,

When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

In all my very limited understanding, the only being involved in creation was God. The Triune fellowship that is God seems to have had wisdom as the master workman. We know that Christ is represented as responsible for creation.  Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Whether the “Wisdom” represented in Proverbs 8 is Christ or merely a personification of a facet of His nature, I think it is safe to assume they are closely related.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 says, “… you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The only way for any of us to become wise is through a deeper and more profound connection to Jesus Christ who came to represent to us the wisdom of God. The result of that will be, not boasting in ourselves but boasting in the Lord.

Tangled and Entangled

Having recently returned from a ten-day visit with my wonderful granddaughter Sophia, I am quite sure I could quote verbatim the entire Disney movie Tangled.  You see, Grandma (me) only has a few movies on her iPad, and this is Sophia’s favorite from my selection.  Apart from the magical element of Rapunzel’s long mane of hair, navigating with all that dragging behind her meant she faced challenges the shorter haired princesses would never have experienced.  When was the last time someone stepped on your hair?

The scripture warns us about carrying around something which would lead to our being entangled.  Hebrews 12:1-2 offers this challenge, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

In a sense, if you are living with sin in your life, go get a spiritual haircut! Cut it out! Throw it off!

There are also entanglements that do not qualify as outright sin. Paul mentions this to Timothy in a military analogy. 2 Timothy 2:4, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”  The problem is not with having civilian pursuits. In our lives, there is nothing wrong with pursuing careers, relationships, goals, etc. unless they take us away from our primary allegiance and keep us from being available to God to be called upon for service at any moment.

Another entanglement is the sort poor Martha experienced in Luke Chapter 10.  In all her care for Jesus, the disciples, the house, the meals she ended up being, “anxious and troubled about many things.” Jesus rebuked her kindly and said that her sister Mary had chosen the better part, which was to sit at His feet and listen.  Oswald Chambers describes it in the following quote:

“The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

How easy it is to get entangled in all the “good” stuff we think we NEED to accomplish and to miss our time with Jesus!

The natural spiritual outflow of spending time with Jesus is that His love will begin to flow out from our lives to others.  Thomas a` Kempis describes this love and how it changes our desires to keep us from entanglements.

Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good.
By itself it makes that which is heavy light;
and it bears evenly all that is uneven.
It carries a burden which is no burden;
it will not be kept back by anything low and mean;
It desires to be free from all worldly affections,
and not to be entangled by any outward prosperity,
or by any adversity subdued.
Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble,
attempts what is above its strength,
pleads no excuse of impossibility.
It is therefore able to undertake all things,
and it completes many things and warrants them to take effect,
where he who does not love would faint and lie down.
Though weary, it is not tired;
though pressed it is not straightened;
though alarmed, it is not confounded;
but as a living flame it forces itself upwards and securely passes through all.
Love is active and sincere, courageous, patient, faithful, prudent, and manly.

by Thomas à Kempis.

Think about it, Rapunzel was never free to love until she lost all that hair which entangled her. Then she discovered that the gift was something which was inside of her. Ok I know, that might be a bit of a theological stretch….

However, loving also requires our risking entanglements as C.S. Lewis states,

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

What are we tangled up in today; sin, our own agenda, or even good works? Instead, may God give us grace to allow our lives to become lovingly entangled in the lives of those He has placed around us.

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Uhrichville: Barbour Publishing Inc., 1963.

Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. Harcourt, 1971.

Tangled. Dir. Byron Howard Nathan Greno. Walt Disney. 2010. Film.

Longing for Home

Where is home?

In the cedar trees of my childhood

Pungent with laughter and pain

In a final resting place, planted

Where his ancestors have lain

Within the hard-tilled sowing

The field well watered with tears

Heart pieces with each child living

My treasure more parceled each year

This fragmented sense of belonging

Unsatisfied feeling of longing

Not settled, rooted, planted

No permanent sense of place

Just a stranger’s exiled wandering

Searching for the Father’s face

Two poems from my daughter’s perspective,

someplace with the feeling of home vaguely in the back of my mind…

that I can’t put a name to where

the collection of all the places where heaven has stung my heart with longing

it comes and goes like the pulling of my life strings

the smell of rain on pine

a swell of painful joy unexpected

a swaying slow melody

a verse I stumble upon and can’t think how I ever overlooked it

the feeling of being loved wonderfully but not remembering by who

the reminder that God is there

Oh Lord there is a fear and trembling in my heart

a untamable excitement racing in my soul

man is without words to start

how can this feeling be my own

oh love of a tract-less restless sea

cannot be expressed in words pen to tome

 oh the goodness of my God to me

so great an adventure to find my home

By Brenna Richardson ©2009 (She categorically denies the existence of capitalization and punctuation.)

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy; the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

“In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness… These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”              C.S Lewis from Weight of Glory

Rich Mullins used to sing, “If I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home”.