The “C.S.Lewis Society” and a “Christian Society”

C.S.Lewis in 1947

An old family friend died in September of 2009, and part of her obituary read, “fondly remembered by her many friends in church and educational circles, and the C.S.Lewis Society.” I’ve been a fan of C.S.Lewis all my adult life, and he did write some wonderful things, but the statement started me thinking. If we Christians could take all the debris from our lives, all the “fill” that just takes up our time, what would we want left? It seems to me that we would want to be left with Jesus alone.

It seems that every local church should be a community or “society” whose chief occupation is to study and follow Jesus. We don’t really want to be “Lewisians” or even “brethren”— we want to be “Christians”—people who follow Christ, study Christ, talk to Him, worship Him, emulate Him and above all are filled by His Spirit.

I know a bit about C.S.Lewis— I know that his name was Clive Staples— I know that he chose his own nickname of “Jack”— but how well do I know Jesus’ name? “Your name is like perfume poured out.” (Song 1:3) “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” (Phil.2:10)

C.S.Lewis suffered and was wounded in the back, in the trenches of World War 1—by the friendly fire of a British shell! What do I know of the sufferings of Christ? Psalm 22 tells us a bit about that—“All my bones are out of joint—my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth—they have pierced my hands and my feet” (Psa.22:14,15,16) — and I should even know the psalm well enough to quote it, if I’m serious about knowing Him!

C.S.Lewis endured long years with no one close but his brother and his scholarly friends. Late in life he found his true love, only to have her die of cancer after only a few years of marriage. He was overlooked for promotion for many years at Oxford, simply from jealousy of his Christianity and his writing gifts. Do we ignore the friendship of Jesus, do we overlook Him—“I am…scorned by men and despised by the people.“ (Psa.22:6) Do we leave Him out of any of our plans? We shouldn’t.

Finally, C.S.Lewis was honoured when Cambridge University gave him a professorship that he had long deserved. In fact, in 1947, Time Magazine featured him in a cover article as, “one of the most influential spokesmen for Christianity in the English-speaking world.” What about our Lord? Do we honour Him anything like He deserves? Let’s try to. “He is altogether lovely…this is my friend.” (Song 5:16) Let’s tell Him so!