Learning in War-Time

(In response to "Learning in War-Time", a sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, Autum, 1939)

Lewis poses the Question that I believe many early Christians struggle with, "how it is right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to heaven or to hell, to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology." This also goes along with the immanent return of Jesus Christ. This question can be answered several ways and Lewis looks at a few of them. If we live our lives only seeking those things that we deem sacred then we are limiting our lives to only those things that we as humans understand as within God. All of God's creation is wonderful and "everything under the sun" (Ecclesiastes) can be done to the honor and glory of God.

"Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun." If we were always waiting for the conditions to be perfect we would have never started anything in this world. If we were constantly living our lives in the knowledge that Christ's return is immanent then we will miss the reason we are here on earth for now; for the honor and glory of God, to be a living sacrifice of worship to God.

"How can you be so frivolous and selfish as to think about anything but the salvation of human souls?" This question can be best answered by John Calvin who believes that everything can be done to the honor of God and therefore we should seek perfection in all aspects of our lives. Calvin would take it as far to say, if we are not writing perfect English and are not seeking to better ourselves then we are not living to the honor of God and are not good Christians. There is also the debate of what is sacred and what is not. I believe that everything is created by God and therefore everything is religious or sacred. Everything that you do in your life can be done in two ways. Either for the glory of God, or not. Therefore, everything you do can be sacred or not sacred based on your motives for doing so. Lewis puts it simply, "And every duty is a religious duty, and our obligation to perform every duty is therefore absolute." The Bible puts it eloquently, "Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

So why don't we all just abandon our jobs and go to work in the church? "A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow. We are members of one body, but differentiated members, each with his own vocation." We are all made for a specific purpose in the kingdom of God.

Lewis goes on to warn us several enemies that we have along our search for vocation and knowledge. Each appears rather docile at first but at further investigation can lead us into temptation and a sheltered outlook on life. They are:
Excitement
Frustration
Fear

A few quotes that I enjoyed from the passage:

"War makes death real to us: and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right."

"If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. But if we thought that for some souls, and at some times, the life of learning, humbly offered to God, was, in its own small way, one of the appointed approaches to the Divine reality and the Divine beauty which we hope to enjoy hereafter, we can think so still."