I think our business as laymen is to take what we are given and make the best of it. And I think we should find this a great deal easier if what we were given was always and everywhere the same.
To judge from their practice, very few Anglican clergymen take this view. It looks as if they believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications and complications of the service. And it is probably true that a new, keen vicar will usually be able to form within his parish a minority who are in favour of his innovations. The majority, I believe, never are. Those who remain—many give up churchgoing altogether—merely endure.
C.S. Lewis, “From Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer,” The Essential C.S. Lewis (New York: Touchstone, 1986) 409.
In this reading, taken from one of Jack's letters to his friend Malcolm, we get some very candid, honest comments -- probably not Lewis at his best!
ReplyDeleteI go from really liking this reading to really thinking that Lewis was getting a bit old and crusty. "The majority, I believe, never are." C'mon, Jack, do you really think that every new vicar (pastor) makes changes and innovations with only the support of a minority? Isn't it possible that some new ministers will bring changes that most everyone will support?
Whatever the case, Lewis does write it up in a way that makes us think about churches in transition, "as if they believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications and complications of the service." Best line!
Anyone remember the episode of Walton's Mountain which introduced John Ritter as Rev Matthew Fordwick? It was called "The Sinner" -- truly a classic.