On the Christian Book Club in March we have been reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. To me, this is one of those books that you can read over and over again. Each time I read it, I feel like I am able to take something different away from the book. One of the chapters that really caught my attention (there were many of them) was Chapter 15 where the discussion turns to living in the future or living in the present. Screwtape says this on page 76; “In a word, the future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time–for the past is frozen and no longer flows, and the present is all lit up with eternal rays. Hence the encouragement we have given all those schemes of thought such as Creative Evolution, Scientific Humanism, or Communism, which fix men’s affections on the future, on the very core of temporality. Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

That thought process really seemed to connect with me and the situation we find ourselves in today. Everyone seems so focused on the future, that in order to achieve what they think they want, they will do whatever they think it takes. In the process that have completely sacrificed the present, and they are really no longer living at all.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading the Screwtape Letters on Christian Book Club. As always, I look forward to your comments.

In April our Christian Book Club selection is “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien. I am going to put a link to the book in case you need to purchase a copy. After we read the Hobbit we are going to continue the story by reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I look forward to your comments and insight in the weeks ahead.

The Hobbit By J.R.R. Tolkien / Houghton-mifflin If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of the humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did) – if you do not already know all about these things – much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred peace and quiet to excitement. But his account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Bilbo Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare.

At the Christian Book Club we are heading in to week three of C.S. Lewis “The Weight of Glory”. This week we will be reading “Is Theology Poetry” and “The Inner Ring”. I have only glanced at the readings but I have to say that I am always impressed by the way that Lewis sets up his talks. I am usually captivated almost immediately. I find, however, that it is hard for me to sit down and read the discussions through till the end in one sitting. I generally have to stop and ponder for a while. That has been the case with each of the readings so far in The Weight of Glory. I usually tear through a book of this sixe in an afternoon or two. In this case, I need all of the time we have allotted to read the two discussions a week.

I would like to hear from you about your opinions on the way the book reads. Do you think the discussions make good reading? I think they do, but everyone likes different styles of writing.

I thought I would share some of my pondering points over the last couple of weeks. In “Learning in War Time” I got stopped at the idea our mortality on page 62. I think that until we have actually considered our own mortality, we really can’t embrace life. Culturally, I believe we try and push the idea of death away, which makes sense if this life is all you have. As believers, knowing that what lies ahead is better by far, we can embrace death in a way that leads to a fuller life.

I got stopped on the first page of “Why I Am Not a Pacifist”. The statement half way down page one, “How do we decide what is good or evil?” I spent days thinking about how people can have such different perspectives over the same issue. Clearly, the black and white of good and evil is clear, but it seems to me there is a lot of gray areas, especially when it comes to war. The idea that God is one one side or the other is worth considering.

In “Transposition” I was caught up in the discussion of Pentecost and then Lewis uses a fable on page 109 of a mother who has only been able to teach her son by the thinks she has drawn with a pencil. They have been locked away and unable to experience the world. She realizes that he believes everything in the world has pencil lines on it. When he is told that the world is not like that, he has no way of comprehending any longer. We tend to look at the world with our own filters strongly in place.

I look forward to reading your comments!

(I was recently interviewed by Christian Retailing for an article they are writing about Christian Book Clubs. if we make it in to the article it should have a positive impact on our readership)

At the Christian Book Club we are into our first week of reading C.S. Lewis “The Weight of Glory”.  I am always captivated by the writings of Lewis.  I may have mentioned in the past that in 2005 my wife, teenage daughter and son, and I all went to England for a once in a life time trip as a family.  The highlight of the trip was a visit to Oxford to see where C.S. Lewis hung out.  We went to the pub that he frequented with Tolkien and the other Inklings and we sat and ate at the table where they would sit and talk.  They had framed napkins on the walls that all the Inklings had signed.  It was a memorable experience.  I wonder what it would have been like to be sitting there and listen to their discussions of their writing.

As I have been reading this week I was really impressed with the way Lewis wrote about a feeling that I am sure we all have from time to time.  He was once again able to describe something that is hard to describe.  Starting at the bottom of page 29:

“In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness.  I am almost committing an indecency.  I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and we cannot tell, though we desire to do both.  We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience.  We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name”.

What a gift to be able to write like that!  Keep on commenting.  I love to read what you are getting from the books!