This week we are gathering to begin our Lenten study of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. Like most of Lewis’ works, the “Great Divorce” is simple to understand but extraordinarily deep in meaning. For this week, please read the introduction and Chapters 1-3. These Chapters physically describe hell (or “Gray Town”), its occupants, and Heaven. For Lewis, Heaven is a state of being (ontology) whereby we become fully human and are transformed into the full likeness and nature of God. Alternatively, Hell is that state of being whereby we un-become human and gradually decline into that state of non-being and non-existence. Hell is a place of spiritual entropy. As you read through these chapters underline the various adjectives Lewis uses to describe Hell, Heaven, and the people he meets. These descriptions will draw on the creation accounts in Genesis 1-3 and new creation accounts in John 1 and Revelation 21:22-27. If you have time, read these biblical accounts and compare these accounts with Lewis’ description.
Our syllabus during Lent will be:
March 7: Chapters 1-3 – Description of Hell and Heaven
March 14: Chapters 4-6 – Self-Justification by Works
March 21: Chapters 7-8 – Doubts and Fears
March 28: Chapters 9-11 – Misdirected Love
April 4: Chapters 12-14 – Transcendence
April 11: Christian Seder
Dinner at 6. The menu is macaroni and cheese. Discussion about 6:45. Hope to see you here. Please bring a friend.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:5-9