01.25.25 EChurch@Wartburg CS Lewis: A Reading of Man or Rabbit

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Morning Prayer: Book of Common Prayer

This is another day, O Lord.
I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be.
If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.
If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.
If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.
And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly.
Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus.
Amen.

Altar Book, p. 623 -LCMS Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Task Force

Gracious God, our heavenly Father, Your mercy attends us all our days.
Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world,
and at life’s end grant us Your promised rest and the full joys of Your salvation;
through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our lord,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Methodist Prayer Marie Bernarde Soubirous (1844-1879) link

Lord Jesus Christ, in the loneliness of our journey may we never feel abandoned,
and in the days of our affliction may we know your comfort.
In the hour of our despairing may our faith be strengthened,
our hope fortified, and our love purified; for your own name’s sake.
Amen.

Benediction link

May the love of the Father,
the tenderness of the Son,
and the presence of the Spirit,
gladden your heart
and bring peace to your soul,
this day and all days,
Amen.


Comments

01.25.25 EChurch@Wartburg CS Lewis: A Reading of Man or Rabbit — 6 Comments

  1. I just read the original by CS Lewis: Man or Rabbit.

    As a heretical Christian who escaped abuse and loves Christ, I object.

    Lewis says here that only a Christian can lead a truly good life. Without becoming a Christian, alas, we can be only rabbits, never humans. Those poor poor rabbits.

    Really? This leads to all sorts of problems. One is the dehumanization of heretics and non-believers. One is the inflated self-satisfaction of rabbits who think they are men (looking at YOU pastors and fundamentalists, you know who you are.)

    I have said this before on this blog: If you have been abused in the Church, or by an avatar of Christ, your healing is not required to run through Christ. To insist that it does is abusive, a kind of Stockholm syndrome. If you keep your faith, fine, but many cannot. It’s ok to be a heretic or a non believer.

    I wish people could see through CS Lewis, who has caused all sorts of mischief with his folksy, tweedy, loopy pronouncements. Rabbits of the world! Your cage is open. Hop, skip, then run to freedom. You are born human.

    In the spirit of Sunday worship I offer this hymn by Eno and Byrne.

    Saw the wanderin’ eye, inside my heart
    Shouts and battle cries, from every part
    I can see those tears, every one is true
    When the door appears, I’ll go right through

    I stand in liquid light, like everyone
    I built my life with rhymes, to carry on
    And it gives me hope, to see you there
    The things I used to know, that one fine
    One fine day

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  2. Thanks Dee, very thoughtful of you. From time to time I play Nana Mouskori singing ‘Morning has Broken’ while watching the sun rise.
    Its a beautiful general revelation hymn that I would often use at the beginning of morning chapel services in the retirement and assited living villages I would visit.
    It, and a collection of other classic hymns – Abide with me’ Blessed Assurance’ ‘How great thou Art’ ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus’, just to name a few, – gave both solace and hope to residents that were contending with loss of independence and feelings of diminished self-worth.

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  3. Sandy:
    I just read the original by CS Lewis: Man or Rabbit.

    As a heretical Christian who escaped abuse and loves Christ, I object.

    Lewis says here that only a Christian can lead a truly good life. Without becoming a Christian, alas, we can be only rabbits, never humans. Those poor poor rabbits.

    Really? This leads to all sorts of problems. One is the dehumanization of heretics and non-believers. One is the inflated self-satisfaction of rabbits who think they are men (looking at YOU pastors and fundamentalists, you know who you are.)

    I have said this before on this blog: If you have been abused in the Church, or by an avatar of Christ, your healing is not required to run through Christ. To insist that it does is abusive, a kind of Stockholm syndrome. If you keep your faith, fine, but many cannot. It’s ok to be a heretic or a non believer.

    I wish people could see through CS Lewis, who has caused all sorts of mischief with his folksy, tweedy, loopy pronouncements. Rabbits of the world! Your cage is open. Hop, skip, then run to freedom. You are born human.

    In the spirit of Sunday worship I offer this hymn by Eno and Byrne.

    Saw the wanderin’ eye, inside my heart
    Shouts and battle cries, from every part
    I can see those tears, every one is true
    When the door appears, I’ll go right through

    I stand in liquid light, like everyone
    I built my life with rhymes, to carry on
    And it gives me hope, to see you there
    The things I used to know, that one fine
    One fine day

    Sandy:

    I think by current standards I am not considered a christian, but I definitely am a believer. It is just to trite in my opinion to say that one must be a christian to live a good life.

    I have known many people in my life that I think are not considered believers but lived their lives on a higher plane and did not abuse other people.

    The choices of just black and white choices no longer are no longer the only choices I consider.

    Sandy, I mean this that I am sorry that you have been abused in the church.
    The damage done to you and others continues to this very moment.

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  4. mot: Sandy, I mean this that I am sorry

    Thanks mot.
    I mostly escaped while young.
    I believe I was being groomed in some sense.
    I now read CS Lewis as gaslighting and grooming.
    Rabbits!
    I do still have pieces of shrapnel surfacing now and then.
    I find that for the most part religion obscures rather than reveals the higher plane.

    Everyday is One Fine Day.

    Once in awhile
    You get shown the light
    In the strangest of places
    If you look at it right.

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