7-31-17<\/p>\n
I recently returned from two weeks in Ireland, a fact that might be wearying \u201cnews\u201d to my readers and correspondents, but I am one of those people who experience new things, or visit a place for the first time, and come away with delight, enthusiasms, and a desire to share. (For instance, I invariably return from overseas and try to replicate dishes or cuisine methods in my own kitchen. This week I made fish and chips \u2013 with major variations \u2013 having been not tired of them but challenged.)<\/p>\n
All of which is a justification for one more Irish reference.<\/p>\n
There were many coincidences and random discoveries while traversing the Emerald Isle. To digress again, briefly, the joy \u2013 and hallmark \u2013 of a seasoned traveler is to program your itinerary, and your mind, in such ways that \u201ccoincidences\u201d and \u201cdiscoveries\u201d will meet you at almost every turn.<\/p>\n
Near the end of the trip, having circumtraversed the island\u2019s two countries, we spent a night in the delightful Old Inn at Crawfordsburn in Bangor, County Down, outside Belfast. It was a random booking suggested by friends because there was no room in the other inn, so to speak \u2013 the nearby Hotel Culloden Estate and Spa of Holywood, a magnificent ancient five-star wonderland so exclusive that Room Service has an unlisted number. (That is a travel joke.)<\/p>\n
The sprawling, creeky, artifacts-crowded ancient in Crawfordsburn had numerous charms of its own, not the least of which was a plaque modestly stating that C S Lewis and his bride Joy had spent their honeymoon (\u201ca perfect fortnight\u201d) there, before an eventual trip to Greece; and through the years he and his literary circle would convene there. Not Shadowlands but Crawfordsburn.<\/p>\n
For generations of children, the association with \u201cChronicles of Narnia\u201d and \u201cLion, Witch, and Wardrobe\u201d is compelling. For generations of Christians, and surely generations to come, his simple classics of Apologetics and lay theology will continue to touch uncountable souls. \u201cMere Christianity,\u201d \u201cThe Screwtape Letters,\u201d \u201cThe Problem of Pain,\u201d \u201cMiracles,\u201d \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Regress,\u201d and other books by Lewis explained the tenets of faith to believers (and non-believers, as he once was) second only to the parables of Jesus, in some people\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n
Lewis had been an atheist and had traveled the same path to faith, or back to faith, that his literary fellows (some of them the fraternal members of the \u201cInklings\u201d) like J R R Tolkien, G K Chesterton, and Malcolm Muggeridge. Fallen-away, agnostic, skeptical, Socialist, atheist… all became not merely orthodox Christians but fervent believers, uniquely sharing the gospel in ways that we categorize as \u201capologetics.\u201d The young Lewis even met the brilliant Irish poet William Butler Yeats \u2013 whose modest gravesite, again \u201ccoincidentally,\u201d we stumbled across when stopping for a photo-op at a picturesque old church ruin on a country road! \u2013 and whose own relationship to Christianity was complicated but thought-provoking.<\/p>\n
Lewis\u2019 marriage was to an American Jewess who also converted to Christianity. After a short marriage (there IS a touchstone: Crawfordsburn; I have not forgotten!) she died of cancer. Lewis wrote a tender and thoughtful book on spiritual confrontations with death \u2013 but published it under a pen name, not to traffic in his loss.<\/p>\n
It was such a meaningful and profound book that on its publication, many of Lewis\u2019 friends sent him the book as perfect reading to assuage his grief, not knowing he was the author.<\/p>\n
It is more than these coincidences \u2013 except the coincident result of my contemplating the great man since the trip \u2013 that inspires this essay. One of C S Lewis\u2019 great books about faith is the modest yet intense \u201cThe Weight of Glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Literary-minded people always are \u00a0impressed by phrases or titles that immediately capture an argument, or augur compelling thoughts. I suggest that \u201cthe weight of glory,\u201d as a proposition, is pregnant with implications and challenges. I will briefly (you\u2019re welcome) and feebly recommend its contemplation in a few rehashed words.<\/p>\n
Glory. God\u2019s glory. Salvation. When someone comes to \u201csaving knowledge of God\u201d \u2013 a personal relationship with Jesus \u2013 they have joy unspeakable, the greatest experience of this life. Or, naturally, eternity.<\/p>\n
Christianity. The Bible, and C S Lewis among other exegetes, tell us how simply \u201cmere\u201d Christianity can be achieved in our lives. But the Bible, and relatively few evangelists through the centuries, remind of of how difficult it is \u2013 even weighty and sometimes burdensome \u2013 to be a Christian, to receive the glory of the Lord.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, you must share Christ. If you knew the cure for someone\u2019s fatal illness, you would share that information. Well\u2026 you do.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, you cannot get enough of Him; you will have insatiable thirst. Your passion does not end when you swear an oath.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, you pray without ceasing \u2013 praise and requests; desires and confessions.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, it is because you are a Christ-follower in all ways; not merely Not a Jew, Not a Muslim, when people ask.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, you will not only \u201cput away childish things\u201d of belief; you will BE renewed in mind and spirit \u2013 and feel it, and show it, and live it.<\/p>\n
When you are a Christian, you will have charitable impulses you never felt. You will sacrifice. You will tend to the sick and hurting; you will ache to have your family join you in Glory.<\/p>\n
These impulses are not simple membership rules. They will be the \u201cfruit\u201d you bear. And you will be \u201cconvicted\u201d in your spirit if they do not become part of your conscious DNA.<\/p>\n
Are they worth it? Oh, yes. But salvation will involve more than a refreshing moment and a spiritual \u201cGet Out of Jail Free\u201d card. It is what C S Lewis called \u201cThe Unspeakable Burden of Salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n
I do not believe in ghosts, but the lobbies and halls of the Old Inn at Crawfordsburn reminded me of C S Lewis\u2019s life and career and writings: his clarity and his impact. Worthwhile remembrance! Christianity is \u201cmerely\u201d simple, and profoundly transformative.<\/p>\n
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Mo Pitney sings:<\/p>\n