thoughts from Uncle Screwtape

On Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to see the stage production of CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters (currently at The Shakespeare Company's Harmon Theater in DC). It's been a long time since I read the book and the performance proved to be an excellent but sobering refresher. I was very struck by how little seems to have changed in many of the situational references Lewis used in this dialogue between a senior demon (Screwtape) and his junior demon nephew (Wormwood). I guess it was a good reminder that there truly is nothing new under the sun . . . we are distracted from pursuit of the Lord in the same ways now (pride, petty distractions, lust, fear, intellectual conversations) that were true in 1961 when Lewis penned this series of (not-so-)fictional letters.

A couple of the letters stood out to me in particular - one related to the Christian's perspective on church. Screwtape's advice to Wormwood is: "Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that best 'suits' him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches " (Chapter 16). In our consumer- and self-oriented culture, church-shopping is a temptation for all of us . . . some common thoughts/comments I hear (and think!) are: I'm looking for a church where my needs will be met . . . there are a few things I don't like about this church, so I think I should "just keep looking." Certainly there is a balance that must be struck when it comes to connecting to a local faith community. Personally, I've seen in my own life that the church-shopping mentality creeps in much faster when I am simply attending a church instead of being involved in it in some way, no matter how small. I've learned that there's a reason why corporate worship is considered a spiritual discipline! It's not something that we're naturally inclined to in and of ourselves. But praise the Lord for the ways He uses the local church as a means of grace and growth in our lives - most often when we're willing to plug in and stick around and give it a chance. (A final aside: research has shown us that "churchgoing" isn't as much of a norm now as it was several decades ago - it seems that Screwtape and friends sadly have much less of a battle in this area these days.)

The other letter that jumped out at me during the performance is found in Chapter 10 of the book - the Christian has made some new friends that Screwtape describes as "just the sort of people we want him to know - rich, smart, superficially intellectual, and brightly sceptical about everything in the world." The danger in keeping this kind of company is what was striking to me: "He [the Christian] will be silent when he ought to speak and laugh when he ought to be silent. He will assume, at first only by his manner, but presently by his words, all sorts of cyncial and sceptical attitudes which are not really his. But if you play him well, they may become his. All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be." Wow. Or another way of putting it: we are dramatically affected by the things we worship and idolize. There are so many thoughts running around in my head as I think about this - because there's piercing truth in those words. We truly are known/influenced by the company we keep - whether that company be people, the TV we watch, things we read, conversations we take part in. I am in no way an advocate for Christians isolating themselves - we are called to be in the world. But Lewis' insights are a good reminder that the world we're in is actually a battlefield. And I, for one, need to be more vigilant regarding my place in that battle.

So there you have it. My reflections on The Screwtape Letters...