Fancy dog stories aren’t quite my cuppa tea, but I’m sure All Creatures Great and Small will handle it well. Sure, there’s lots of human drama in each episode, but it’s the animals I kind of feel for the most. The trailer for Sunday’s episode:
My daily New Testament reading for the last couple of weeks was the letter of Ephesians. The letter, one that weaves the theological and the practical together the way the always should be, ends with a popular passage that casts a vision not just of God’s glorious kingdom, but also of the darker side of reality against which war is fought, what one translation renders “this present darkness.” A fitting reminder for what C. S. Lewis was trying to do with his Screwtape Letters.
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In Screwtape’s seventh letter to Wormwood, the “affectionate uncle” has something to say about “extremes” in their work of spiritual antagonism, beginning with whether or not Wormwood should let his patient know of his demonic existence. Screwtape writes of their “policy” to conceal themselves:
When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in su, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics.
He then mentions the great hope of “emotionalizing and mythologizing the sciences” as a way of real victory for their party:
If once we can produce our perfect work– the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshiping, what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits- then the end of the war will be in sight.
It’s a great turn of phrase, the “Materialist Magician.” And it points to a truly possible way that others might see and move through the world.
From there, Screwtape adds to his discussion concerning extremes, wondering whether they should “make the patient an extreme patriot or an extreme pacifist.” It’s an interesting “either-or,” I think, that could be easily deconstructed. But that’s not Screwtape’s point because
All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged.
But then, in an interesting twist, Screwtape brings up a kind of extremism that comes from factions, even (and perhaps especially?) in the church. The “Cause,” whatever it is, might keep the church small but focused in an unfortunate way.
We want the Church to be small not only that fewer men many know the Enemy but also that those who do may acquire the uneasy intensity and the defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or clique.
In his biblical “knowledge,” the head demon even points Wormwood back to the problem in the Corinthian church and its struggle with various “founders and their followers.”
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Which does bring up the question of what an “appropriate extreme” might look like, especially in Our Current Moment when everything extreme is loud and seemingly clear and yet still unconnected from where many people have settled. This is true in churches, too, where each church doesn’t just have it’s own “charism” but also has its own way of understanding the relationship between God and man and then between people in general. Which makes you wonder how much of Lewis’s “mere Christianity” can still be found in the Church today.
Way back at the end of November, I mentioned rereading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. And then I didn’t say much about it. It took me a little longer than I intended (which has been the case in general this last year), but it really was a rewarding read. This week I want to touch on some of the highlights of that reread, particularly as it pertains to whatever the spiritual life is (or isn’t).
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Early in Screwtape’s collection of missives (Letter #4) to his apprentice demon, Wormwood, the topic of prayer comes up. “The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether.” He then hits on a number of things about the practice of prayer:
At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and whatever their bodies to affects their souls. It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.
Screwtape gives lots of advice about superficiality and misdirection (and how they work against people in the pursuit of prayer). But he also has an interesting view of the One to Whom People Pray.
But of course the Enemy will not meantime be idle. Whenever there is prayer, there is danger of His own immediate action. He is cynically indifferent to the dignity of His position, and ours, as pure spirits, and to human animals on their knees He pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion.
He even addresses the idea of having Wormtongue’s “patient” fixate on some kind of “intermediary” location as a way of keeping a knowledge and sense of the omnipresent God from the human’s mind and heart: “you must keep him praying to it– to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him.” Something like catastrophe arrives if the patient makes the shift from the thing to the Person:
Once all of his thoughts and images have been flung aside or, if retained, retained with a full recognition of their merely subjective nature, and the man trusts himself to the completely real, external, invisible Presence, there with him in the room and never knowable by him as he is known by it– why, then it is that the incalculable may occur.
Screwtape calls this the “real nakedness of the soul in prayer.” And this, he adds, is something “the humans themselves do not desire … as much as they purpose.” That is the “more than they bargained for!”
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I think it was Eugene Peterson who said his primary task as a pastor was teaching his parishioners how to pray. I think he was onto something. Yes, that includes the formal prayers we have received from those who have prayed before us (and thus includes the Bible itself). But it also includes the prayers that are the cries of our hearts. And the prayers the spring up as conversation for the seeking of counsel. “Faith,” the writer of Hebrews asserts, is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The writer goes on to say that “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (11:1, 6). And so it is with prayer. As it was with Abram and Sarah, with David and Daniel, so it should be with us. Beyond them, we have the example of Jesus as well as the presence of the Spirit, who prays for us when we cannot. Oh that we would let our hearts be directly wholly and rightly to Him!
(image from insight.org)
This week caught me off-guard in its unwieldiness. Which means we are now three weeks into the semester and I still haven’t quite gotten my footing. So today has been a nice respite: a good breakfast, a cool breeze, some cleaning up, some reading. It won’t stop the rush of whatever next week holds, but it’s a respite nonetheless.
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This week’s classic Calvin and Hobbes had a couple of examples of how well the strip walked the line between sentiment and humor. Consider this fireside strip with its wonderful lighting:
And then, just a couple of days later, you get this winter wonderland Calvin-style:
It makes me think that some connection has to exist between “Calvin!” and “Alvin!” Heh.
(images from gocomics.com)
I recently mentioned how new TV had picked up some over the last week or two. Compared to every other night of the week, Sunday is doubly-blessed. Here’s the preview for this Sunday’s new episode of All Creatures Great and Small:
And here’s the preview for the show that comes on after it, Miss Scarlet and the Duke:
Both are good fun, with one a little more down-to-earth and the other a little more mystery-in-your-face. I’m glad for both.
I mentioned a few days ago that I had gotten Andrew Root’s new book in the mail. I’m about 50 pages in now, and it’s presenting a good challenge. The folks at Outreach Magazine recently posted an excerpt from the book about the church and change. It’s a nice clip. Here’s a quality snippet to consider:
Change is almost always considered to be some kind of growth, and in late modernity that which grows must continually grow. Modernity is about change because it is about growth. It takes a lot of work, and a whole different imagination, to disconnect change from growth. Untying the two leads to something completely different: transformation in the Spirit. Being the church is about transformation, not change. Though on first blush these seem synonymous, transformation and change are quite different.
Transformation, in the Christian tradition, comes from outside the self, relating to the self with an energy beyond the self. Because transformation comes from an energy outside the self, it invites the self into the new as a gift, as grace. It demands no increase for continuation, no energy investment to receive it. Transformation is the invitation into grace; it comes with an arriving word, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Transformation is not the necessity to speed up but the need to open up and receive. Change, on the other hand, comes from within the self. Change makes the self into something new, using the power and the effort of the self: it is produced by the energy of the self.
Today was a wintry day in Honolulu. The winds whipped down the valley bringing sheets of rain. We might have broken 70 degrees, but I’d be hard-pressed to say when. I did make it down to breakfast before the rain set in. To the dentist, too. But the afternoon was a real mess. It might actually be blanket weather tonight. The rest of the week should be a little warmer, but it’s really wait and see.
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It’s been a four-day break from the classroom. Friday was a professional development day. Today was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I’ve mostly stayed away from email for the weekend, will probably check it once before going to bed. The next couple of weeks might be relatively normal. I’ve got to get ahead on chapel, I think. Plus, because of concurrent learning, I need to have one whole unit planned and printed out as much as possible about a week before the current one ends, which can be intense. It’s crazy to think that we’re already/only two weeks into the semester. Things just keep flying at you . . . I mean, flying by.
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Yesterday was one of those rare Sunday’s where I received a package from Amazon. Pretty excited about both of them. (Many thanks to Hearts and Minds Bookstore in PA for the order and quick shipping.) Top of the list: Andrew Root’s The Congregation in a Secular Age. It’s the third of a trilogy. I didn’t see this one coming, for some reason, at least not the congregational focus. I’m about forty pages in and loving it. I’ve been surprised by Root’s thinking at almost every turn; it seems to be coming but a truly different but necessary place when it comes to understanding culture and ministry. The whole series is a response to Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, which I learned about from James K. A. Smith, so it’s charting its own course while weaving many different threads together. The other book is a general theology book that might help me think through some curricular changes for next year.
Sometimes you’re just reading along using your Bible plan and you find yourself in a passage you think you know well and then you come across a line or two that stands out because it reflects something that you talked about recently. This time it was the idea of living a purposeful life. And this morning it was a section of Paul’s Ephesian letter that made the connection. What a great “purpose statement” from Ephesians 3 (ESV):
to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
It’s also cool that Paul is able to articulate this purpose in the context of God’s own greater, eternal purpose. A nice way to end the work week, I think.
While this week has not been as packed as last week, there has been an unpredictability that has been both challenging and tiring. It comes from all sides, really, and can be good as much as it can be bad. It’s things like four-day weeks and changes in schedules and things like Covid creeping into the corners or the center of daily life. It’s having to make big decisions in shorts spans of time. It’s seeking out wisdom for the moment when regular companions for the journey aren’t around. But I’m grateful.
This afternoon I had the pleasant surprise of finding a Starbucks that actually allows you to sit for a while. Such locations have mostly been closed entirely or open for take-out only thanks to Covid. But on older downtown store has gotten a new location and a good amount of space. I knew it was on the way, but I thought had construction had delayed it. I went down after work this afternoon just to check it out. And there it was, all shiny and new and open. It was nice being welcomed by a familiar barista and then getting to sit and read and write and reflect some. “Third spaces” are really important to me, have been a necessary way for me to make the most of my time that isn’t work and isn’t sitting at home. It’s nice having more of that option now (along with the gym).
This afternoon I finally got around to the Daily Office readings. The Old Testament reading was from Isaiah 40, a passage of significance for my workplace. For some reason this time I realized a bit more of the context (or at least it hit closer to home than usual). The chapter begins with that great “Comfort, comfort my people” line. There is much Messianic hope there. And then it’s back and forth between God (with His character) and His people (with their issues of faithfulness and abandonment). And then this:
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Why do you speak as if abandoned, He asks them? Do you think your way is hidden? And if not, why do they find no comfort in Him? And then the part I’ve known the longest thanks to an old song by Truth:
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
It’s easy to take the last part of the passage and make it all about people and our strength, soaring, running, and walking. But it’s rooted in the everlasting God, the Creator, who does not grow weary and who gives strength. We would be wise to remember that. And we would be wise to ask what he gives strength for, what we are to be about and to accomplish. I can’t imagine that it is simply work for work’s sake.
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For what it’s worth, I’m typing this on my iPad and Bluetooth keyboard. I’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to get my laptop to install Big Sur. Maybe even computers that should be able to run such an operating system just can’t? Here’s hoping that it works this time around.
I have to confess, it was a little different watching a show with a relatively humane sense of humor and a low rating on violence. But there was something very good about the first episode of All Creatures Great and Small. Moments of tension still existed. Humor was still there. The stakes felt much smaller, but also more tangible. Plus it was well-shot. Here’s a scene from early in the episode, when the main character makes his way from Glasgow, Scotland to Yorkshire.
The show airs Sunday evenings on PBS. The first season runs about nine episodes (with the last being a Christmas special). The show has already been picked up for a second season.
Space Enough, and Time 