Further Up and Further In

During our final get-together we read selected readings from C.S. Lewis and commented on them. We picked excerpts from some of his writings, read them out-loud and commented on them, sort of a communal lectio divina. We chose the readings from a Lewis Yearly Reader according to the date of our birthdays, so the readings were rather haphazard. In retrospect it probably would have been better to have consciously selected from his wide range of writings; we hit upon some pretty meaty passages that forced us to chew a good bit to get to some understanding.

Keep in mind the vast range of his writings:

+Autobiography
+Children's Fiction
+Adult Fiction
+Nonfiction on Christian Topics
+Poetry
+Philosophy
+Literary History, Theory and Criticism
+Letters

Maybe one of the best resources for gaining a taste of all that broad range would be The Essential C.S. Lewis, edited by Lyle Dorsett.

From the Preface:

This anthology is designed to meet an ever-growing need. It is an introduction to C.S. Lewis and his writing for the person who hears him quoted and sees numerous references to his books. Such men and women are aware of Lewis's reputation and importance, they desire to become acquainted with his work, yet they have no idea where to begin. It is also for those who have read one or two of his books, but have no idea what to read next. Finally, this volume attempts to represent essential Lewis for those whose time or resources are limited.

That sounds like you and me!

Let me close with two of my favorite excerpts from The Chronicles of Narnia:

from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is a King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

from The Last Battle

It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed and then cried:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is it sometimes looked like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!".....

.....And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth had read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

And finally one last selection from Lewis himself, written a few weeks before he died, from Letters to Children:

The Kilns, Kiln Lane
Headington Quarry,
Oxford.
26th October 1963

Dear Ruth...,

Many thanks for your kind letter, and it was very good of you to write and tell me that you like my books; and what a very good letter you write for your age!
If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so. I'm thankful that you realized [the] "hidden story" in the Narnian books. It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever.
I'm afraid the Narnian series has come to an end, and am sorry to tell you that you can expect no more.
God bless you.

yours sincerely,
C.S. Lewis

First Sunday with C.S. Lewis

In our first meeting we simply went around the table and shared what each knew about C.S. Lewis and his writings. Experience ranged from having read him since childhood to having heard quotes in sermons but never having read him.

We then went through the range of his writings, passing around samples of his work that Brenda and I had brought with us, maybe 15-20 books in all. Everything from The Screwtape Letters to The Four Loves, with The Chronicles of Narnia and his science fiction trilogy, Perelandra, Out of the Silent Planet, and That Hideous Strength, in the middle.

I also shared some of the books that George McDonald had written: the many romance novels, highlighting (and strongly recommending) the Elizabeth Yates 'translation' of Sir Gibbie, 'translation' because they were all written in Scottish dialect for the most part, near impossible to understand for us, the 'unscotched'! And McDonald's phantastes which according to Lewis "baptized my imagination" and led him to repeatedly refer to McDonald as his literary "master" during the course of his life.

Finally I offered up a series of photos taken during my visit with Lisa, Summer 2007, to Lewis's home, The Kilns, just outside Oxford, England. Here they are if you care to look.



Our final meeting for the Summer Series takes place on Sunday, August 31. The plan right now is to practice 'lectio divina' on some selected passages from his varied work and share our thoughts with each other.

We will wrap up with a quick assessment of the series overall and whether and to what degree it has fulfilled its goal of helping us more fully live into our Vision and Mission here at St. Matthew's.

See you then!

C.S. Lewis and Liturgy

I believe—and it has been my experience—that ongoing participation in the liturgy is ongoing participation in the life of God and, as such, will lead, as C.S. Lewis envisions human transformation, to a life “dazzling, radiant . . . pulsating all through with . . . energy, joy, and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine.”

I came across the above quote from C.S. Lewis as I read the introduction to a new book that I just learned about today: Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy, Mark Galli, p. 12. I have made the title a live link, so that if you are interested in reading a bit more, you can go to a twenty page excerpt by clicking the link.

See you Sunday!

Two Pearls

I just discovered two lovely pearls today. Addresses by Dr. Herbert McGonigle:

John Wesley's Vision of Authentic Christianity

and

"A Heart from Sin Set Free" - Holiness in the Hymns of Charles Wesley

These addresses were given at the 2007 New Life Conference in Rora, England. You may listen to them by clicking the titles above; they are live links.

I am listening to the one on Charles Wesley right now. What a delight! It does open with some off-key hymn singing for the first few minutes, but don't let that stumble you. You can fast forward if you wish...

He mentions that three major themes run through all of the hymns Charles Wesley wrote:

Universal Grace
The Witness of the Spirit
Christian Holiness

Moving On

So we had a good meeting last Sunday: spent some more time with two Charles Wesley hymns, Come, O Thou Traveller Unknown, and And Can It Be that I Should Gain; and learned a bit about John Wesley's heart being strangely warmed and his coming to a living faith unlike anything he had experienced until then.

We are now moving on to the 20th century and C.S. Lewis. There is such a wide variety of writings by this man and his influence is both so varied and wide-ranging that I have selected one thread to follow over the next two meetings.

One thread, two short phrases:

1) Further up and further in, a phrase the man himself coined somewhere in his writings, and
2) Much more, a phrase that Paul uses again and again in his letters to the churches.

It seems to me that just about anything I read by C.S. Lewis urges me on in both those ways, to realize how great, how vast, how wide and how deep is God and the reach of his redeeming love. He seems to be able to help us escape what so easily become flat and two dimensional, religious and spiritual words and ideas and doctrines, and understand them in their fulness, three-dimensional as it were.

And finally, once again revisiting the Benedictine model and the Wesleyan revival, two more passages I came across this week:

"Hospitality is one form of worship," the rabbis wrote. Benedictine spirituality takes this tendency seriously. The welcome at the door is not only loving - a telephone operator at a jail can do that. It is total, as well. Both the community and the abbot receive the guest. The message to the stranger is clear. Come right in and disturb our perfect lives. You are the Christ for us today....Benedict wants us to let down the barriers of our souls so that the God of the unexpected can come in.

pp. 140-141, The Rule of Benedict, Insight for the Ages, Joan Chittister

Francis Asbury, born to a poor family near Birmingham, England, and eventually the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America, had this to say, at the age of thirteen, after attending his first Methodist service:

This was not the Church but it was better. The people were so devout, men and women kneeling down, saying 'Amen.' Now, behold! They were singing hymns, sweet sound! Why, strange to tell! The preacher had no prayer book, and yet he prayed wonderfully! What was yet more extraordinary, the man took his text and had no sermon book: thought I, this is wonderful indeed! It is certainly a strange way, but the best way.

p 440, The One Year Christian History, E. Michael and Sharon Rusten

On the Last Day of July

Sad I am to see it go.
More than anything
I know:

School just around the bend;
Summer fun about to end.
They wait not for Labor Day.

This journey never ends;
Happy I am for friends.
They help me walk the Way.

Along with you my present-day friends, we have friends from days, years, centuries gone by: even Benedict of Nursia and the Wesley brothers. Today I came across something about Benedict, taken from the Prologue of Book Two of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great.

There was a man of venerable life, blessed by grace, and blessed in name, for he was called "Benedictus" or Benedict. From his younger years, he always had the mind of an old man; for his age was inferior to his virtue. All vain pleasure he despised, and though he was in the world, and might freely have enjoyed such commodities as it yields, yet he esteemed it and its vanities as nothing. more

After reading it I was reminded of a verse in one of Charles Wesley's hymns.

Dead to the world
And all its toys,
Its idle pomp and fading joys,
Be Thou alone my one desire.

See you this Sunday for another time together, and bit more on the Wesleys, before we move on to the 20th century and C.S. Lewis for our last two meetings. In short, we will meet three times in August: the 3rd, the 17th, the 31st.

A Marker Along the Way

I took a glance at Esther de Waal's Seeking God, The Way of St. Benedict, and thought this little comment from her Intro (p. 13) was a good reminder to all of us:

I have one hope in writing this book and that is that it may serve as a first step to an encounter with the Benedictine Way, for reading about it is no substitute for living it.

Reading about it is no substitute for living it....well, amen, and amen, to that, sister! In all our studies and all our reading, amen to that!

The Wesley Brothers

We had an excellent meeting this past Sunday, building on ground we have covered about the Benedictine way of spiritual growth and then moving on about 1200 years to John and Charles Wesley and the Methodist Revival.

We started with a quote from Norvene Vest's book on the Rule of Benedict:

There is a very important connection between true listening and deep obedience; both suggest a turning in order to receive more fully that which is being given.

Turning is really what the whole Rule is about. It presumes the first turning, or conversion, of baptism; and it is then deeply interested in the second and lifelong turning, of daily conversion to Christ. The question always in Benedict's mind is the question of Christian maturity: "how can we live out our commitment to the Lord in daily life?"

I then pointed out that this question is a thread, or a stream, that runs through every century of the life of the church. Every century hungry hearts have sought to find ways to answer the question, and when they have found something that works, inevitably revival follows. At least that it was I have observed from my reading of the history of the church. And so we can jump 1200 years ahead and find John and Charles Wesley, students at Christ Church College, at Oxford University, seeking to answer the same question. Their answer was the Holy Club, gathering like minds and hearts together to seek after God and live holy lives. I shared a photo I took in Christ Church Cathedral last summer:

I came upon that tile as I wandered the glorious interior of Christ Church Cathedral. Look closely and you'll see something deep red in the upper right corner. That is the first step leading up to the pulpit; how appropriate to have this tile placed there, a reminder to all who approach to bring a word to God's people, John and Charles Wesley, both great men of the Word, John the preacher, Charles the hymn-writer.

Click here for few more shots of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, taken during my visit there in June 2007.

Well, they did not come into the fullness of their callings at Oxford nor as members of the Holy Club. They set out from there to change the world in Georgia, the American colony, and both encountered failure. Going over they had observed the calm serenity of a band of Moravian brethren in the midst of an awful storm. Some time after their return, tails between their legs as it were, they encountered Peter Bohler, a Moravian leader, and in time their 'hearts were strangely warmed' and they entered into the fullness of that life they had longed for since their days at Oxford.

From that brief overview, we moved on into the hymns of Charles Wesley as an avenue to understand some of what animated these men. Our sourcebook was Hymns of Eternal Truth. I read a bit from the Preface:

...these hymns give expression to the unspeakable yearnings within in a manner which beautiful poetry and utmost piety unaided cannot accomplish, for many have produced such hymns but have failed of that 'something' that so permeates the writings of the Wesleys as to place them in a class above all others.

The difference surely lies in the fact that these hymns were born in revival, and come from the Spirit of Life then breathing through the land.

From there I passed out a different hymn to each person and suggested we use lectio divina as a tool to better understand them. We spent some time alone doing that and then re-gathered to share out insights.

Some of the folks were interested in knowing what the melody settings were, so yours truly broke into song in a delight that singing these hymns always brings.

The hymns we covered were the following:

1. Come, Holy Ghost, all-quickening fire...
2. Now I have found the ground, wherein...
3. My God, I am Thine...
4. Jesu, Thy boundless love to me...
5. Spirit of Faith, come down...

I think everyone felt it was a rich time together and we will pick up from there on Sunday, August 3, at 5:00 PM in the Parish Hall. See you then.

Final Recap on Benedict

Well, here's a little bit of a recap of our June 6 meeting:

We went around the table sharing what we did as a general rule day in day out in terms of a spiritual discipline. I shared Linda's post on that subject, and also the comments from Virginia, since neither of them could be there.

Based on what was shared it appears the primary challenge everyone faces is drifting off, getting easily distracted, and just mouthing words, both during prayer and even when reading the Bible. We all embraced the Benedictine response: "I fall and I get up....I fall and I get up." We also all like the idea of the accountability we share with others: we all have a need for some sort of accountability, however that takes shape.

Several ideas we all liked:
1. read outloud; it engages the ear and tongue in addition to the eye and mind
2. follow a daily devotional like Forward Day by Day, both in English and in Spanish
3. try journaling to record what is quickened to you during a particular time of prayer or study
4. set aside a space in your home for devotions that helps you unplug from all the pressing duties of the day

Finally, recapping good resources for going deeper with the Benedictine model:
1. Chittister's The Rule of Benedict, Insight for the Ages
2. Vest's Preferring Christ, A Devotional Commentary and Workbook on the Rule of Saint Benedict
3. Esther de Waal's Seeking God, The Way of St. Benedict.

During the Series we drew specifically from the first two noted above, and briefly talked about the third. Some said that they found de Waal a bit more difficult to grasp than Chittister. But I highly recommend it. Although it may be a bit more challenging, her book opens up the Benedictine way, and helps us see how it can work in the midst of our busy lives "of continuous interruption."

So this is not the work of an academic or a theologian. It comes from the lived-out experience of a wife and mother with many commitments, and it springs from a conviction that the Rule speaks to those who like myself are seeking God in the midst of a busy, often confusing and exhausting daily life.

p. 12, 1984 edition.

Read, mark, study and inwardly digest what she serves up; it will undoubtedly do your soul some good! The Thoughts and Prayers, and the Notes, at the end of each chapter are both an added bonus.

One Last Word on Prayer

A quote from Joan Chittister's The Rule of Benedict, Insight for the Ages
(pp. 89-90):

Prayer in the Benedictine tradition, then, is not an exercise done for the sake of quantity or penance or the garnering of spiritual merit. Benedictine prayer is not an excursion into a prayer-wheel spirituality where more is better and recitation is more important than meaning. Prayer,..., if we "sing praise wisely," or well, or truly, becomes a furnace in which every act of our lives is submitted to the heat and purifying process of the smelter's fire so that our minds and our hearts, our ideas and our lives, come to be in sync, so that we are what we say we are, so that the prayers that pass our lips change our lives, so that God's presence becomes palpable to us. Prayer brings us to burn off the dross of what clings to our souls like the mildew and sets us free for deeper, richer, truer lives in which we become what we seek.

Comments?

Contemplatio

Continuing excerpts from Norvene Vest's Preferring Christ:

4. Contemplatio (contemplation): turn the whole process back over to the Giver, allowing oneself to be deepened, guided, and transformed by the Spirit.

(p. 2)

Oratio

Continuing excerpts from Norvene Vest's Preferring Christ:

3. Oratio (prayer): apply the meaning to the present situation in one's own life, allowing the word to penetrate the heart, evoking prayerful response.

(p. 2)

Meditatio

Continuing excerpts from Norvene Vest's Preferring Christ:

2. Meditatio (meditation): allow oneself to be drawn by a particular word or phrase, pondering in the mind what it means, what was its intent.

(p. 2)

Lectio

Continuing excerpts from Norvene Vest's Preferring Christ:

1. Lectio (reading): take a passage of scripture or other devotional/theological work and read aloud for a few verses. The reading aloud engages the body in the reading, and already begins to draw one more deeply into the text.

(p. 2)

The Pace of Lectio Divina

More from Norvene Vest's book, Preferring Christ:

Benedict has written the Rule in the mode of lectio divina, and in order best to be appreciated, it is best read in that mode...slow and simple, daily reflection, meditation and prayer....in such a way that we are reading in the spirit of lectio divina a work written in that spirit.

Traditionally, lectio divina is understood to contain four basic steps or elements.

1. Lectio (reading)...
2. Meditatio (meditation)...
3. Oratio (prayer)...
4. Contemplatio (contemplation)...

(pp. 1-2)

More on each of these aspects of lectio divina in subsequent posts.

Lectio Divina

When it comes to Benedictine practice, lectio divina is a term that frequently pops up. Here is a helpful passage from Norvene Vest's devotional commentary and workbook on the Rule, Preferring Christ.

...the modern reader often finds the Rule hard to understand, even though it emphasizes daily life. That is because it is written within the context of the ancient monastic art of lectio divina, and it needs to be read in that way, if it is to be truly appreciated. Lectio divina literally means "divine reading", and carries the same double meaning in Latin as in English: what is being read is divine/holy, usually the Scriptures; and how it is being read is with the help of God's Spirit. In order for this "how" to happen, one slows down radically so as to open up freely.

It is the monastic insight that reading, if it be authentic, cannot be undertaken simply with the eyes and the mind. Rather, it must involve the whole person: mind, heart, body and spirit. It is reading not so much for information as for formation, that is, for encounter with the living God in this moment in such a way that one's heart catches fire and one's life is transformed.

(p. 1)

Now that's a pretty good challenge for our fast-paced life today! In posts over the next several days I'll add further, more specific observations by Norvene Vest on this subject. Meanwhile, feel free to add your comments as we roll along!

A Daily Rule

At the core of the Benedictine way of spiritual growth is the daily rule, a blend of reading, prayer and work. For our June 22nd meeting be thinking about what daily practices you follow to help you stay on track as a Christian. Be prepared to share what you do so we can learn from each other.

We will then work at developing our own personal daily rule. For some the word 'rule' is rather loaded with negative connotations; think in terms of daily practice or daily discipline if those terms work better for you.

See you next Sunday, at 5:00 PM in the Parish Hall!

Progress Report 1

So how is everyone doing? About the time this post is published I'll be up on the Mogollon Rim outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, and high above the beautiful red-rock country of Sedona, enjoying a bit of camping with my two brothers and an uncle. I hope you enjoyed the Sunday service today, and that you are making some progress in your reading of the Chittister article on prayer. Don't be shy to make your comments, questions, observations, thoughts, and so on.

In preparation for our first meeting, June 22

Between now and June 22 read Joan Chittister's article, Benedictine Prayer: A Larger Vision of Life, at http://www.eriebenedictines.org/praywithus/aboutprayer.html.

Note anything that you find helpful and begin a conversation by posting a reply to this post. Include the quote and make any comments about it. As the conversation unfolds you may reply either to this original post, or to any of the other comments that are posted.