CS Lewis on Church Shopping

Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that “suits” him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.(Letter XVI, Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis)

The thrill of a completely unselfish act

This morning I was listening to BBC and heard an interview with a man who got some press in the New York Times Magazine some time ago for his radical practice of philanthropy. He not only has given away most of his wealth, maintaining only enough for a modest living and to satisfy his own family that they would not be put out on the street – he also gave away a kidney. After all, most of us have one more than we need and according to this man’s calculation of the worth of others there is a moral demand that we give up (freely) that which we do not need.

He was asked why he was so radical in his giving. His response was that it gives him “morgasms,” the thrill of a fully moral act. This is the joy, the thrill, of doing the completely selfless, the completely good. It is doing the moral thing for the thrill of the fully unselfish act. In a strange twist, the most unselfish things we do are the only way to true joy. Though I like this word I would like to use on a regular basis, but I don’t think Christians could take it.

 Sounds like CS Lewis, and Jesus, to me.

Selective mutism

The killer at VA Tech was diagnosed with selective mutism in high school. In certain situations he was supposedly unable to communicate, like public speaking. Sounds like some Christians suffer from selective mutism, too - they are “unable” to speak for Christ in any kind of social setting. It’s not that we are by temperament quiet – anything but. We still haven’t settled the issue that men cannot believe that which they have not heard, and they cannot hear unless someone tell them.

As if my self-esteem was not already low enough!

Today is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is also my birthday. I see a parallel there. Soon my wife, Sharon, will have her birthday – 9/11.  Enough said?