We are living in an unreal and somewhat surreal time. Many people have lost their jobs, some their lives. Others feel like they are losing their sanity, as the normal touchstones of life have gone – no sport, concerts, church, parties, cinema, restaurants, playgrounds.
It feels like we are at war. And to some degree we are.
We were particularly inspired by C.S. Lewis’ series of BBC talks
Which is how my mate Steve McAlpine and I came up with the idea of a new Eternity podcast, “Life in Wartime.”
There is plenty of news about the war against COVID-19 – the weapons we use, the measures being taken and the impact this is having on wider society. But life does go on.
In these extraordinary times, I would like to say that I have just been sailing through, calmly taking everything in my stride. But that would not be true. Like everyone else there are moments of anxiety, stress, worry and concern. Sometimes it is the darkness of the bigger picture, sometimes the tiny pixels within one’s own circumstances – but life does go on. For the light of life to flourish, even in the darkest of times, we need light – the Light of Christ.
Steve and I want to look at how life goes on in the war we are currently engaged in, because that is the burden and the beauty of being human. No matter what is happening, life does go on.
God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end … what a burden has been laid upon us! (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
In wartime, after a tragedy, in the midst of illness and stress – life goes on. And all the things that make life not only bearable but worth living go on.
So, particularly inspired by C.S. Lewis, we thought we would do this series of podcasts on “Life in Wartime.”
Why C.S Lewis? Firstly because it was in the middle of the Second World War that he gave a series of talks for the BBC which would end up becoming the classic evangelistic book of the 20th Century – Mere Christianity.
The war does not so much change the human condition as reveal it.
Secondly because of a sermon he gave at the outset of the war entitled “Learning in Wartime.” In this sermon, Lewis reminds us that not only does life go on, but in some degrees it goes on in a much clearer light.
The war does not so much change the human condition as reveal it.
I hope and pray that it will be helpful to you, and to the Church. As Lewis says in his sermon, we do not think we can build heaven on earth but we do hope that we will be able to in our own small way, offer an “approach to the Divine reality and the Divine beauty which we hope to enjoy hereafter.”
David Robertson is director of Third Space in Sydney and blogs at The Wee Flea.
