A 2010 Church: Missional Partnerships
Leave a CommentThis is the final message in the series about our goals as a church for 2010. Taken from Philippians 1:3-6, we ask the question; how can we maintain healthy missional partnerships? We hope that you enjoy listening.
A 2010 Church: Relationships
This is the third message in the series “A 2010 Church.” The focus here is on our relationships. Do our relationships imitate Christ or do they imitate more the world around us. Listen for the answer from Romans 12:1-2.
A 2010 Church: The Word of God
This message from 1 Peter 2:1-3 specifically addresses how we can passionately refocus our lives on the word of God in 2010.
A 2010 Church: Worship
This message from John 4 is over how we can be passionate worshippers in 2010.
Amazing!
This is the video that was played during the worship service yesterday morning. Hope that you enjoy.
A 2010 Church
This week we began a new sermon series on what we should be as a church in 2010. Generally, there are four areas we should be passionate about as a church: worship, the word of God, relationships, and missional partnerships. This message explores these four areas.
Christmas: The Joy of Worship
This past Sunday we began a new series on restoring our joy at Christmas. This is the first message and focuses on the joy that the magi experienced in worshipping the newborn King. Hope that you enjoy.
Urgent Truth: Blind Beggars (Mark 10:46-52)
In the story of blind Bartimaeus we see (no pun intended) what it means to receive what we need, not necessarily what we want. Jesus asks us, like he does Bartimaeus: what do you want me to do for you?
Urgent Truth: Delivered Over (Mark 10:32-45)
The series through the Gospel of Mark continues with Jesus’ third prediction of His suffering and death. We find in the words of Jesus the call to hand over our lives to Jesus, in order that He might do what He desires with them.
C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain” (Context)
What I will attempt to do here is offer in several posts a critical review of C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain. This is a paper that I presented at MBTS using a rubric given by Dr. Jerry Johnson, dean of MBTS. So, the posts will follow the sections listed in the paper: context, content, positive evaluation, negative critique, overall reaction, and application. The first given here is Lewis’ context for writing The Problem of Pain.
The context of C.S. Lewis’ work The Problem of Pain is best understood by observing several factors. The first of these revolves around the time of the printing of Lewis’ book. The first printing of this work was released in 1940, which falls on the heels of the great conflict of WWI and the rising tensions of WWII. What is, or should not be, lost on the reader is the provenance of the author. Lewis is writing from England, which is in the throes of great conflict and suffering. Interestingly enough, he writes his work after the horrific German bombing of London.
A second factor of contextual importance is the mention of the English publisher Ashley Sampson (1900-1947). Sampson was the owner of Centenary Press and according to Lewis, it was Sampson who “suggested to me to write this book…” [1] During the same year that The Problem of Pain was published, Mr. Sampson also published a work titled The War and Christian Ethics. He was obviously a great admirer of Lewis as is revealed by his desire to have one of Lewis’ sermons, given at Oxford, to be published in a work titled, Famous English Sermons. [2]
A final contributing factor to Lewis’ context is his personal life experiences. He did not have what one would call a “joyous” childhood. His mother died when he was very young and in his own words from his autobiography Surprised by Joy he states the effect that this had upon him: “With my mother’s death all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life.”[3] Lewis’ father never recovered from this tragic event, leading to a strained and difficult relationship between the two. Even in his early school years, C.S. Lewis met with great difficulty at the hands of a school master named Oldie, who displayed a parallel with his own father’s reaction to grief, “he reacted to bereavement by becoming more violent than before…”[4] Later, in the trenches of WWI, C.S. Lewis would be injured and for the rest of his life deal with the pain of a leg which never fully healed. Finally, Lewis experienced tragedy when his own wife was taken from him prematurely, leading him to write a second work after this one titled, A Grief Observed.
In reference to the reasons given above, one can confidently say that C.S. Lewis was no stranger to pain and suffering. When these are taken together and summed up, what becomes clear is that Sampson’s choice of Lewis combined with the experiences and realities of suffering in his own life all become significant contributing factors to Lewis’ context and purpose for writing The Problem of Pain.
[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. (Centenary Press: London, 1940), vii.
[2] Bruce L. Edwards, An Examined Life: C.S. Lewis; Life, Works, and Legacy (Preager Publishers: Westport, CT, 2007), 174.
[3] C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, in The Beloved Works of C.S. Lewis. (Grand Rapids: Family Christian Press, 1986), 13.
Braymer Pastor 