C. S. Le∑is A WORLD Awaits Creative Sample Communications Daily Reflections for Advent from the works of C. S. Lewis INTRODUCTION esus is coming again.” That statement is plain enough, and it is an Jessential tenet of Christian belief. But we can make sense of Jesus’ return only by appreciating what it meant for Jesus to have come the first time. In the midst of the busyness, holiday preparations and so- cial activity, Advent urges us to remember why we are celebrating and for whom we are waiting. C.S. Lewis, with his clear vision and direct prose, is a bracing companion during a season that can sometimes be- come commercialized and overly sentimental. Together with the words of Scripture, Lewis’ language, in all its original intensity, helps us focus on the meaning of the Incarnation with all its promise for humanity. We have added brief prayers at the end to round out each devotion. May these daily reflections deepen your love for Christ and his mission of salvation for the whole world. — Mark Neilsen, editor Dear Readers: For your convenience the table below shows the source of each entry in this booklet. See page 31 for more infor- mation on Lewis’ works contained herein. 1st SUNdaY CreativeMiracles 3rd SUN daY Mere Christianity MONdaY, WK1 The Four Loves MONdaY, WK3 Mere Christianity TUEsdaY, WK1 Mere Christianity TUEsdaY, WK3 Mere Christianity WED., WK1 The Four Loves WED., WK3 Mere Christianity THUrs., WK1 Mere Christianity THUrs., WK3 Mere Christianity FridaY, WK1 Mere Christianity SampleDECEmbER 17 The Four Loves SatUrdaY, WK1 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 18 The Four Loves 2ND SUNCommunicationsdaY Mere Christianity DECEmbER 19 Letters to Malcolm MONdaY, WK2 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 20 Christian Reflections TUEsdaY, WK2 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 21 Christian Reflections WED., WK2 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 22 Mere Christianity THUrs., WK2 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 23 Mere Christianity FridaY, WK2 Mere Christianity DECEmbER 24 Mere Christianity SatUrdaY, WK2 Mere Christianity CHristmas DAY Letters to Malcolm 2 3 First Sunday of Advent SAVING A RUINED WORLD Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. Matthew 24:42-44 he central miracle asserted by Christianity is the Incarnation. They Tsay that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature’s total char- acter, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character and significance of the Incarnation… In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space; down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancientCreative and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He had created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, be must almost disappear Sampleunder the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.Communications Lord Jesus, you came into this world to save us from destruction. May I always accept your saving grace. 3 Monday, First Week of Advent A GiFT FOR CHRisT When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Matthew 8:5-10 ivine Gift-love—Love Himself working in a man—is wholly disin- Dterested and desires what is simply best for the beloved… Divine Gift-love in the man enables him to love what is not naturally lovable: lepers, criminals, enemies, morons, the sulky, the superior and the sneering. Finally,Creative by a high paradox, God enables men to have a Gift- love towards Himself. There is of course a sense in which no one can give to God anything which is not already His, and if it is already His, what have you given? But since it is only too obvious that we can withhold ourselves, our wills and hearts, from God, we can, in that sense, also give them. What is His by right andSample would not exist for a moment if it ceased to be His (as the song is the singer’s), He has nevertheless made ours in such a way that we can freely offer it back to Him. “Our wills are ours to makeCommunications them Thine.” And as all Christians know there is another way of giving to God: every stranger whom we feed or clothe is Christ. Open my heart, gracious God, to the needs of those around me. 4 5 Tuesday, First Week of Advent JESUS IS THE ANswER Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will…” Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Luke 10:21, 23-24 cience works by experiments. It watches how things behave. Every Sscientific statement in the long run, however complicated it looks, really means something like, “I pointed the telescope to such and such a part of the sky at 2:20 on January 15th and saw so-and-so,” or, “I put some of this stuff in a pot and heated it to such-and-such a tempera- ture and it did so-and-so.” Do not think I am saying anything against science: I am only saying what its job is. And the more scientific a man is, the more (I believe)Creative he would agree with me that this is the job of science—and a very useful and necessary job it is too. But why any- thing comes to be there at all, and whether there is anything behind the things science observes—something of a different kind—this is not a scientific question...Supposing science ever became complete so that it knew every single thing in the wholeSample universe. Is it not plain that the questions, “Why is there a universe?” “Why does it go on as it does?” “Has it anCommunicationsy meaning?” would remain just as they were? Lord, when I am confused and uncertain, help me to trust in you. 5 Born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast Ireland, Clive Staples Lewis was one of the foremost Christian apologists of the last century, explaining the faith with logic and clarity. A teacher of literature and philosophy at Oxford University as well as Cambridge, Lewis was the author of The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series, enjoyed by children and adults alike. Lewis’s mother died when he was 10, and he went on to receive his pre-college education at boarding schools and from a tutor. During WWI, he served with the English army and was sent home after being wounded by shrapnel. While at Oxford, Lewis joined the group known as The Inklings, an informal collective of writers and intellectuals including his brother, Warren, and J.R.R. Tolkien. In part through discussions with this group, Lewis converted to Christianity, having earlier abandoned religion. Based on radio broadcast talks that explained the faith simply and directly, Mere Christianity is one of Lewis’ most popular works. Lewis also wrote The Screwtape Letters, a series of messages between a senior and a junior devil that cleverly reveals the strengths and weaknesses of Creativediabolic temptations. In 1956, he married an American English teacher, Joy Gresham, with whom he had been in correspondence. The years of their marriage were some of the happiest Lewis had known, though when Gresham died of cancer in 1960, he was deeply saddened. He later shared his thoughts in the book A Grief Observed.Sample C.S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963, in Headington, Oxford, having leftCommunications a rich literary legacy of deep faith, uncompromising reason and lively imagination. A World Awaits was compiled from the works of C.S. Lewis and edited by Mark Neilsen for Creative Communications for the Parish © 2013 www.creativecommunications.com. 1-800-325-9414. Design by Jodi Hendrickson. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.