Remembering CS Lewis

Remembering CS Lewis

29th November 1898 - 22nd November 1963

Fifty years ago, on 22nd November 1963, three very different men died. John F. Kennedy – the young president of the United States was assassinated in Dallas. On the same day, in California, the writer Aldous Huxley died after a long illness. Meanwhile, in Oxford, CS Lewis collapsed and died at his home, The Kilns. Of course the deaths of both Lewis and Huxley were overshadowed by the terrible events in Dallas, but the legacy of Lewis in particular seems to have grown and grown in the intervening half century. Tomorrow, 22nd November 2013, his name will be given a place among the giants of English literature in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

CS Lewis’s stories and books have had a profound influence on many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Christian leaders, pastors and writers. I first came across CS Lewis when I was at primary school and I borrowed a copy of Prince Caspian from the school library. Immediately I was transported from a wartime train station to a strange and wondrous land peopled by dwarves, centaurs, talking animals, evil kings and idealistic young princes. Since then I have read through the Chronicles of Narnia at least three times (to myself and to my boys) and have never grown tired of them.

The Narnia stories have their critics, of course. Famously Lewis's great friend JRR Tolkien was unimpressed by much of the Narnian world. But as a bridge between the simpler fairy tales and the more complex world of, say, Middle Earth, they were invaluable to me. More than that, I saw in Narnia the importance of gospel virtues such as faith, courage, love and sacrifice played out in simple yet beautiful ways.

At grammar school we had to read Out of the Silent Planet, one of Lewis’s three science fiction books. I remember clearly seeing how Lewis skilfully suggested Christian ways of thinking in his story of human beings discovering life on Mars. In my own personal marking of the 50th anniversary of Lewis's death I am endeavouring to read the trilogy again.

When I was at university I read Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters – two books that every thinking Christian really should read. The first helped me to see that not only did Christian faith make sense, it helped to make sense of the rest of the world. The second helped me to understand that there is an enemy, who longs to bring Christians down, that he is subtle and vindictive but that he is defeated in Christ. Both of these books, among his other explicitly Christian writings, are works I refer to again and again and again. Lewis has a wonderful ability in his Christian writing to sum up in a sentence or two an idea that it would take others a paragraph or perhaps an entire sermon to communicate.

Some of Lewis’s ideas about Christian faith were not always what many evangelical Christians might regard as orthodox and many of his more philosophical works require serious concentration but the kernel of his writing is so clear and challenging that it remains influential today across many branches of the Christian Church. Indeed, some would say that many of the things Lewis wrote about in the 1940s and 1950s are only really being seen in our society today. Much of what he wrote was certainly prophetic in nature.

On the 22nd November 2013 there will be many commemorations of JFK’s assassination. There is even a new film coming out about that day in Dallas. There will, once again, be relatively little coverage of the anniversary of Lewis’s death. But I will remember it because this Belfast born, slightly eccentric Oxbridge academic has influenced my life and thought in a way that no politician, however young and idealistic, ever will. On 22nd November 2013 I, along with many others, will want to give thanks to God for the life and work of CS Lewis.

#pciga13 The General Assembly according to my Twitter

I've been reviewing my twitter feed from this week of General Assembly in Derry/Londonderry in order to reflect on the last week. A few things stand out...

First the contribution of the SPUD delegates (SPUD is the name of the PCI Youth Assembly) was once again superb. As with every other year they made reasoned, well thought out and sometimes passionate speeches on a range of issues before the assembly. In one particular instance a heartfelt contribution from two SPUD delegates on the subject of mental health resulted in an immediate invitation to further discussions with the Board of Social Witness.

One SPUD delegate reminded any in the assembly who might be frustrated at the slow progress of Presbyterian decision making that those who want to walk fast, walk alone but those who want to walk far, walk together. To me it seemed that our church, represented at the Assembly wants to walk far and do it together.

Secondly, the theme of the Assembly - 'a place of transformation' really seemed to resonate with many people there. The participants in the celebratory Wednesday night rally demonstrated what it meant in the UK city of culture to be transformers of culture in various areas of life. One of the delegates from the Church of Ireland commented that he left the evening wanting to transform the world. It was a wonderfully inspirational and challenging evening which finished by asking all of us to work out where our place of transformation is.

As for the debates, there were serious debates on doctrinal issues like baptism, denominational issues to do with the administrative, mission and ministry structures within our church and ethical issues like human sexuality. I personally thought the level of debate this year was very good. People were thoughtful in their speeches and gracious in their disagreement (two former moderators standing with their arms around each other's shoulders while they disagreed was a highlight)!

The delegation from the Church of Scotland were received warmly as family and were heard courteously and respectfully as they gave their view of events in that denomination. At the same time they would have heard the concerns of our church about their recent decisions; concerns expressed (I think) in genuine love as well as with a concern for the witness of the gospel in Scotland.

The issue of human sexuality was raised in a number of places but, other than in relation to the Church of Scotland, attracted relatively little debate. One particular committee is tasked with bringing together a variety of reports on this subject from over the last 30plus years into a coherent representation of our church's position today. The same committee is looking at the implications of the debate in wider society for our leadership, including the implications of the recent redefinition of marriage carried through Parliament.

Not everything goes smoothly at Assemblies and the plans to restructure the boards and committees of our denomination have been put on hold rather than being implemented this year. This will cause frustration for some and anxiety for others who are waiting for the outcome of this review to be able to confirm whether they have a role in the newly arranged structures. We need to pray that in holding back on this decision we are doing our best to make sure that our structures help us to 'walk far together'.

This blog has been slightly more detailed than in previous years. That reflects the quality of debate and the seriousness of the issues tackled. But the General Assembly is not all serious all the time. One speaker was confused about how he could have spent so much time in the Millennium Forum and still not found Han Solo. Another expressed 'alarm' that every time he stood up to speak the fire alarms in the building seemed to go off. But if the mood on Wednesday night is anything to go by, I leave this year's assembly behind with an even greater assurance that I belong to a church whose passion is to transform relationships, culture and people by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am thankful to my Presbyterian brothers and sisters. I am thankful to the churches and the people of Derry for hosting a truly memorable Assembly (and for providing cracking weather)! But most of all I am thankful to God for allowing me the privilege of serving in some small way in these exciting and challenging days.

Now have a look at this link and ask yourself. Where is MY place of transformation? https://vimeo.com/67804281

The wrath of the Twitterverse

A couple of weeks ago I preached on the passage in John's gospel where Jesus tells the disciples that if the world hates them they are to keep in mind that it hated him first. Over the last couple of days I have discovered that there is nowhere in the democratic world where that hatred is more vociferously expressed than on Twitter

As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed I spotted what I thought was a relatively innocuous tweet from a Christian organisation commenting on the need for the gospel to be more fully understood in public life. I had no doubt that atheist tweeters would argue against this view point but when I looked at their responses I was shocked by what I read.

The anger expressed at this single tweet was first of all disproportionate, then downright abusive. Given that you've got 140 characters to play with in a tweet it seems to me to be wasteful using at least a third of them to rant at your opponent in terms that, if used on the street, might see you fall foul of public order legislation. Obviously I won't repeat the language used here other than to say that I have now discovered at least two combinations of the f-word with other words of which I was previously unaware. The Christian tweeter in question was also accused of being both a liar and a sociopath.
You may be reading this and wondering at my naïveté and maybe I am naive but I can't see how the atheist cause is advanced by the kind of abusive ranting I came across this week. You may be saying 'That's what you get for going on Twitter. You need to come out from among them and be separate.' But I disagree. I think we need to be aware of just how base and vicious the antipathy towards Christianity is out there. Even if these people courageously hide behind assumed names (which most of them do) what they are saying is clearly deeply felt if not strongly argued.

So what should Christians do? As in all other areas of life the wisdom of the Scripture needs to be applied to the twitterverse and every other social media arena. Words from 1 Peter 2 spring to mind;  'Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they may accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.'

There are times when the kinds of lies and abuse with which we have to put up will tempt us to lash out in similar terms or use language that is less than loving or employ denigrating sarcasm. We need to resist such temptation and resolve firmly and clearly to share the gospel both in what we say and in how we say it.

Jesus himself told us to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. Let's be wise and not naive about the evils of social media but let's resolve to be innocent in the way we use it to glorify God and share the good news at every opportunity.

Jesus also told us not to cast our pearls before swine. Let's be wise enough about a social media thread not to get sucked into an online argument that only wastes time that could be more fruitfully spent glorifying God in some other aspect of our lives.

Social media has revolutionised our lives. It has exposed us to some of the realities of the world which we had previously been able to ignore and hope they wouldn't affect us. This is the world into which Jesus sends us. We are to be in this world but not of this world. If it hates him it will hate us. But take heart. He has overcome the world.

The Idol of Nationalism

'The idol of nationalism...has led industrialists to support militaristic programmes that may have seemed patriotic at the time, but in hindsight ruined their reputation for all time.'

This quotation from Tim Keller's new book 'Every Good Endeavour' made me pause. It is obviously a point that is being made about American industry. However, the more I looked at it the more I thought it could very easily apply to the Church, not just in America but a lot closer to home. Let me re-work the sentence to show you what I mean; 'The idol of nationalism has led church leaders to support political causes that may have seemed patriotic at the time, but in hindsight ruined their reputation (and hindered the cause of the gospel) for some considerable time.'

This could be said to be true of the church in many places and times. It obviously applies to elements of the church in Germany in the 1930s where a desire to be rid of 'godless Bolshevism' and restore national pride led the church to passively stand by and, at times, actively co-operate as the Nazi regime rounded up Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and others and had them systematically murdered. It applies to elements of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa who supported apartheid and came up with a phoney theology to justify it.

But here's the thing. It applies to the churches in Ireland (North and South, Protestant and Catholic) just as much. As a Presbyterian I can only speak to my own church. Others can make the application to theirs. In 1912 many Presbyterians, led by their official church leaders, signed their names to the Ulster Covenant. The issues around the signing of the covenant were complex. Many Protestants genuinely felt that their religious freedoms would be under threat from Home Rule but what it produced (or encouraged) was an identification between Protestantism and political Unionism that exists to this day. This identification has not helped the cause of the gospel in Ireland and, as Presbyterians, we are always to be more committed to the gospel than to any political or ideological cause.

The implications continue to this day. We cannot be more committed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland than to the kingdom of God. We cannot be more exercised about the flying of a flag than about the advance of the gospel. We cannot give the impression that our British identity means more to us than our identity in Christ. We cannot be or do these things because to be or do these things is, put simply, idolatry.

We are called by the gospel to put away our idols. Unfortunately our hearts are idol factories and so we will be constantly tempted to find new things to worship that are not God. With the the help of the Holy Spirit we must name and resist the idolatries of materialism, success, popularity, career, relationships and, yes, nationalism. It must be able to be said of us that we are people for whom to live is Christ and to die is gain. I would love that to be able to be said of me and of the Presbyterian church that I love. By God's grace I hope that it might be so.

Schindler, Spielberg and a lesson I learned 20 years ago this month

This month sees the 20th anniversary of the one of the most influential movies of my youth. Schindler's List was a movie that simply had to be seen when it came into the cinemas in 1993. It was released 50 years after the clearing of the Krakow ghetto; an event which forms the long, central scene in the movie as Oskar Schindler's eyes are truly opened to the horror and brutality of the Nazi regime.

I watched the movie again the other night to remind myself of Steven Spielberg's epic achievement. It still resonates as a monumental testimony to lives so unnecessarily lost to hatred and genocide. But it also bears witness to the true nature of evil.

'Evil' is a word which, when Schindler's List was released 20 years ago, was losing currency. Many did not think that it was an appropriate word to use any more. Along with words like 'sin' and 'right' and 'wrong', 'evil' was seen as too judgmental, too condemnatory, not understanding enough of the complexities of human psychology and sociology of which we late 20th century westerners had a so much better grasp than our ancestors. Then 9/11 happened and the only word we could find to describe it was 'evil'.

The Nazi commandant in the movie, Amon Goeth, played to Oscar winning effect by Ralph Fiennes, is a study in evil. Psychology and sociology fail to explain how a middle class, well educated German officer can behave as he did. Only the existence of evil in the life of a man and the system which he represented can explain it. In one scene in the movie, Goeth leaves his mistress in bed, goes to his balcony and in sheer boredom picks up his rifle and shoots a number of random Jewish prisoners in the camp below his house. Having relieved his boredom, he then goes to the bathroom to relieve his bladder. The utter banality of evil has rarely been so well expressed in any movie.

What is more complex in the movie is how the urge to do good at any cost has to grow slowly and fitfully in the life of Oskar Schindler. Schindler is a playboy businessman, a womaniser and a racketeer, determined to make as much money as he can out of the war. Jewish labour for his ceramic factory is cheaper than ordinary Polish labour and so he bribes the Nazis to allow him to employ Jews while he himself takes up residence in an apartment from which a wealthy Jewish family have recently been evicted.

It is as he witnesses the slaughter of the clearing of the Krakow ghetto that the true nature of the Nazi party to which he belongs becomes clear to him. But even then the famous list of the movie's title, which saves his workers from extermination, is a last minute rescue plan. In the moving final moments of the movie, Schindler is not elated that his workers have survived the war against all odds. He is guilt ridden that he did not save more. As he tears his Nazi party pin from his jacket and declares that he could have sold it and got two more out, at least one, it is a powerful scene which stays in the memory of anyone who has seen the movie.

Schindler's List is not regarded, in technical terms, as Spielberg's best work. Some of his less 'serious' movies, like ET, are better examples of the story teller's art. But it is almost certainly the work for which he will be remembered. He reminded a generation that was in danger of forgetting the Holocaust, of why we must not forget and why such evil must be named as evil. Other movies followed in Spielberg's wake and are worth watching - The Pianist, Life is Beautiful and The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas to name three.

But if you get a chance watch Schindler's List again (or for the first time) on this 20th anniversary. It will not be 'enjoyable' but it will move you afresh, it will stiffen your resolve to name and stand up to evil and it will remind you that even desperately flawed individuals like you, me and Oskar Schindler, can still make a difference. And if you are a Christian, remind yourself at the end of the movie that evil has been defeated and that all these evils (even genocide) will disappear when Christ wipes every tear from every eye and death and mourning and crying and pain are things of the past.

My rights, your rights, their rights

This is my first post of 2013. There have been times since the middle of December when I have been sorely tempted to blog but then read things or seen things that have put the case far better. Three things have dominated cultural debate over the last two months. One is a UK issue, one a US issue and one a Northern Ireland issue. I am talking here about marriage, guns and flags.

They are very different issues in very different contexts but they all boil down to one thing - a question of rights and whose rights are more important, whose rights are worthy of defending. The rights of gay people, gun owners and unionists have all been up for discussion over the Internet and the TV news. What is amazing is that all these discussions took place over Christmas, when the Christian community celebrated the one who gave up all his rights to enter this world as a helpless child whose upbringing was determined by his parents, his community and, for at least the early part of his life, the evil schemes of a tyrannical king.

One lesson I learn from Jesus' approach to his rights is that he willingly gave up his rights for others. He gave up his right to be recognised as the Son of God so that I would have the right to be called a child of God. I, as a follower of Jesus, am required to give up my rights for others. But I also learn from Jesus that, as a disciple of his, I am required to stand up for the rights of others who no-one else will defend. Jesus stands up for the leper and the woman caught in adultery and the people who are being robbed by the Temple money changers. He stands up, above all, for God's right to be honoured and glorified by his people.

When I made the argument in a flags discussion on Facebook that Jesus gave up his rights I received the reply that it is just as well we didn't take the 'turn the other cheek' approach against Nazi Germany. But of course in World War II we were (possibly too late) standing up for the rights of other people - the Czechs, the Poles and ultimately the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and many others who were sent to the death camps.

The question also must be asked about what are the real human rights issues of our day. I don't believe that marriage is a fundamental human right that should be available equally to all kinds of sexual relationships. I believe that it is a gift of God's grace to be shared by one man and one woman. I also don't believe that it is a fundamental human right to bear arms, although I accept that, in the American context, it is important for the government to give good reasons before it curtails that constitutional right. I do not believe that it is a fundamental human right to see the flag of the country in which you live flying over the principal government building in the capital city.

I do believe that it is a fundamental human right to be able to live and feed your family. This is aright that, according to the IF campaign, one in eight of the world's population do not enjoy. It is to scandalous that gay people are not allowed to marry. It is not scandalous that semi-automatic rifles might be banned. It is not scandalous that the Union flag only flies on designated days. It IS scandalous that one billion people will go to bed hungry tonight. Will we stand up for their rights?

In the words of the old and cliched bracelet, what WOULD Jesus do?