Once the New Year's festivities have ended and I have had some time to reflect on the reading, I will go over Screwtape, chapter 7.
Happy New Year, folks!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
The Arrival of a New Year
Everyone who reads this post may or may not be anticipating the arrival of 2012 for whatever reason. Personally, I am looking forward to the New Year not because of any resolutions or "the end of the world" which some people are predicting, but because I am curious to know what God has in store for me and for everyone in the world.
For folks who live in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, and the Philippine islands in the Pacific, there is probably no better place to be when watching the sun come up on January 1st. For myself, I will most likely wake up earlier than usual to watch the sun rise over the mountains and shine down into the valley...that is, if the weather is clear.
This year began with fear and anxiety on my part: fear of failure in academics and student teaching and anxiety about what the future held. Although I am no more certain of what may come in the days, months, and years ahead in my life, I have discarded my fear of failure for the courage which only the Lion of Judah can provide.
Ever think there was a reason for that name? God told Joshua over and over again in Joshua 1:5-9 that he should be "bold and very courageous", for God would be with him where-ever he went.
I have not made any resolutions for this coming year which I have not made already in past years and months. I have not determined that I will feel a certain way or behave much better than what I have, although there will always be room for improvement in my habits and actions. If anything, I want to increase my good habits in my Christian walk: prayer, study of the Scriptures, and working with others who earnestly seek to do God's will and not theirs. To give to others, even out of my relative poverty. To listen for God's instructions and obey when I hear.
What about you? What do you wish to do and be for the Kingdom of Heaven?
For folks who live in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, and the Philippine islands in the Pacific, there is probably no better place to be when watching the sun come up on January 1st. For myself, I will most likely wake up earlier than usual to watch the sun rise over the mountains and shine down into the valley...that is, if the weather is clear.
This year began with fear and anxiety on my part: fear of failure in academics and student teaching and anxiety about what the future held. Although I am no more certain of what may come in the days, months, and years ahead in my life, I have discarded my fear of failure for the courage which only the Lion of Judah can provide.
Ever think there was a reason for that name? God told Joshua over and over again in Joshua 1:5-9 that he should be "bold and very courageous", for God would be with him where-ever he went.
I have not made any resolutions for this coming year which I have not made already in past years and months. I have not determined that I will feel a certain way or behave much better than what I have, although there will always be room for improvement in my habits and actions. If anything, I want to increase my good habits in my Christian walk: prayer, study of the Scriptures, and working with others who earnestly seek to do God's will and not theirs. To give to others, even out of my relative poverty. To listen for God's instructions and obey when I hear.
What about you? What do you wish to do and be for the Kingdom of Heaven?
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Screwtape Letters: chapter 6, and a reflection on the Gospel of Luke
I have reflected at times on the suffering, fiscal and physical, of the citizens of the United States, Iraq, and Afghanistan over the past decade. If tempters such as Wormwood and Screwtape are fed with the suffering of their patients especial to periods of war and conflict, surely Lewis as a contemporary writer in the early 2000s may have drawn richly from the "War on Terror". The fear which has been instilled in the populations of many countries the world over as a result of this nebulous concept of waging war against an idea has been perpetual and, in my humble opinion these days, quite ridiculous. Looking at this ridiculous and perpetual fear through the eyes of the two tempters, however, I think Screwtape would have rejoiced at the events which have transpired since September 11, 2001 and what the mindset of political authorities has done to ordinary citizens.
Screwtape begins his fifth letter to Wormwood with a rather grandfatherly tone in recognition of Wormwood's "deliriously joyful drunkenness" over the anguish of his patient's soul at the onset of another European war (I surmise that Lewis is using the Second World War, though it is possible that the First is being referenced instead), and we get a glimpse of the "food" which sustains all of the subjects of "Our Father Below", a title which Lewis substitutes for the Devil. Yet, the cautionary words for Wormwood are not to rejoice in the first few sips of this heady draught, but to remain sober and decide how best to use the war to procure the damnation of the patient's soul so that Wormwood might drink the "brim-full living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment" for as long as he wishes.
Screwtape suggests that the Enemy makes use of a war in such very unfair circumstances and conditions (I have never known that a war was supposed to be fair, but this is beside the point). Men and women not in the Enemy's service look beyond themselves and strive for causes that earn them redemption in His eyes because those individuals were doing the best with what they knew. Men and women far advanced in the Enemy's service willingly go to die in such situations where they knew they WOULD die, prepared mentally and spiritually for that death. And many thousands, much to Screwtape's dismay, face the possibility of physical expiration not in the contented wordliness of a nursing home surrounded by a numbing lie in regards to the sorry state of their soul, but in constant awareness of the everpresent possibility that death is only a step away. Screwtape reflects that "in wartime not even a human can believe that he will live forever" and so "our best weapon, contented worldliness, is rendered useless".
Somehow, this chapter dove-tails quite nicely into the overall theme of Luke's Gospel, which he addresses to one Theophilus, a Christian in the first century CE who perhaps requested more information about Jesus from Luke or was given the very detailed account of Jesus' ministry simply because Luke decided that another account based on eyewitness testimony was necessary for the Good News to be given legitimacy in the minds of the very educated audiences. Whatever the case, Luke's attorney-like style does not conceal Jesus' testament that the systems and structures of governance and faith-based religion were being exploited for the temporal gain of those persons in charge, and that those seeking the Kingdom of Heaven must seek to give themselves and their own personal gain up for something greater than themselves.
What then, about the time of year in which I write this post? Merry Christmas indeed to all people, yet the reality of this time of year is far different than what many North American Christians experience in the comfort of their homes. Perhaps this is why I waited until now: hundreds of thousands of American citizens are homeless, and millions of people the world over are starving and dying of thirst. Billions are waiting for the Gospel, for true Good News.
I might call that far greater anguish and terror than the prospect of war.
As always, please respond to this post by leaving a comment if you have questions or oppose something written here. I by no means have all the answers and I am not trying to be the Ultimate Authority (that is reserved for God), and I welcome any feedback.
Screwtape begins his fifth letter to Wormwood with a rather grandfatherly tone in recognition of Wormwood's "deliriously joyful drunkenness" over the anguish of his patient's soul at the onset of another European war (I surmise that Lewis is using the Second World War, though it is possible that the First is being referenced instead), and we get a glimpse of the "food" which sustains all of the subjects of "Our Father Below", a title which Lewis substitutes for the Devil. Yet, the cautionary words for Wormwood are not to rejoice in the first few sips of this heady draught, but to remain sober and decide how best to use the war to procure the damnation of the patient's soul so that Wormwood might drink the "brim-full living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment" for as long as he wishes.
Screwtape suggests that the Enemy makes use of a war in such very unfair circumstances and conditions (I have never known that a war was supposed to be fair, but this is beside the point). Men and women not in the Enemy's service look beyond themselves and strive for causes that earn them redemption in His eyes because those individuals were doing the best with what they knew. Men and women far advanced in the Enemy's service willingly go to die in such situations where they knew they WOULD die, prepared mentally and spiritually for that death. And many thousands, much to Screwtape's dismay, face the possibility of physical expiration not in the contented wordliness of a nursing home surrounded by a numbing lie in regards to the sorry state of their soul, but in constant awareness of the everpresent possibility that death is only a step away. Screwtape reflects that "in wartime not even a human can believe that he will live forever" and so "our best weapon, contented worldliness, is rendered useless".
Somehow, this chapter dove-tails quite nicely into the overall theme of Luke's Gospel, which he addresses to one Theophilus, a Christian in the first century CE who perhaps requested more information about Jesus from Luke or was given the very detailed account of Jesus' ministry simply because Luke decided that another account based on eyewitness testimony was necessary for the Good News to be given legitimacy in the minds of the very educated audiences. Whatever the case, Luke's attorney-like style does not conceal Jesus' testament that the systems and structures of governance and faith-based religion were being exploited for the temporal gain of those persons in charge, and that those seeking the Kingdom of Heaven must seek to give themselves and their own personal gain up for something greater than themselves.
What then, about the time of year in which I write this post? Merry Christmas indeed to all people, yet the reality of this time of year is far different than what many North American Christians experience in the comfort of their homes. Perhaps this is why I waited until now: hundreds of thousands of American citizens are homeless, and millions of people the world over are starving and dying of thirst. Billions are waiting for the Gospel, for true Good News.
I might call that far greater anguish and terror than the prospect of war.
As always, please respond to this post by leaving a comment if you have questions or oppose something written here. I by no means have all the answers and I am not trying to be the Ultimate Authority (that is reserved for God), and I welcome any feedback.
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