well my capacity now is until we fish
about in LA I have a Santa Barbara
pastoral region which is by far the
biggest an area of all the region's
covers two counties and the result is
they got to drive a lot so I'm in the
car all the time so I've kind of
recovered the art of listening to books
on books on tape I call them it's
totally outdated audible books you know
and one of them is listed recently with
CS Lewis's great kind of theological
fantasy called the Great Divorce and it
was a joy to listen to it again I think
I read it many years ago but largely had
forgotten it so it's fresh in my mind
and you know he has such a gift for
combining high theology with very vivid
imagination it makes his books very
memorable just a couple things that
stayed in my mind from this I want to
share with you really just to encourage
you to pick the book up or maybe as I
did listen to it it's a meditation as
you know on what the medieval is called
the refugee reom which is the idea of
the souls in Hell getting a kind of
vacation once in a while they get a
refreshment a break when they can come
up to heaven so Lewis imagines a sum of
the souls in Hell getting on a kind of
bus but the bus takes off from the
dreary streets of Hell and flies up
through the sky and then lands in this
beautiful country which they recognized
in time to be the sort of forecourt of
heaven and the idea is during the
refugee reom this the souls from Hell
come up and then the great spirits from
heaven come to meet them and they're
trying to convince them but trying to
lure them into heaven so that's the
drama of the book as the because of the
ghosts of Hell meet the spirits of
heaven and what happens in those
dynamics and you get a lot of reflection
about the nature of sin about grace
about heaven hell purgatory all of that
so just three things from the book that
have really stayed my mind the first one
is the wonderful play between the
grandeur and nothingness of Hell so as
the book opens up he's in the Jewish
roots of Hell he's wandered a long time
to get to this bus stop
he says that he'll spreads out like this
infinitely large city and the reason is
obvious people always fighting in hell
so each soul wants to get as far away
from the others as possible so the the
houses just spread out out out out ever
further and he says that it might take
centuries for a given ghost to make his
way to the bus stop you know that's how
big El is then when they take off they
fly up way through the sky long distance
before they get to heaven right so you
get the impression of hell is a really
big impressive place so as the narrator
is talking to one of the spirits in
heaven when he gets there he says yeah
you know we're exacting do we come from
where did that bus get off you know
where did it stop and the guy the spirit
heaven says he takes a little blade of
grass one blade of grass and then using
the tip of the single blade of grass he
indicates a little barely visible
fissure in the ground a little crack
that he indicates with the tip of a
blade of grass he said that's where you
came through he said we were talking
about that's right hell is giant is huge
no no that's that's where you came
through in other words from the
standpoint of heaven see which means
reality reality how was like nothing
it's like none being Agustin said sin is
a state of being cravat through sense a
right I'm caved in around myself my
world becomes super small or the saint
has the Magna anima right the great soul
cuz open to reality it's the grandeur of
heaven compared to which hell is like
this little tiny barely perceptible
crack in the ground we think see we who
are living in hell and all of us sinners
due to varying degrees we think it's a
big deal right my ego and my plans and
my life and but it's like nothing it's
nothing surrender to love and your world
opens up that's the point you know
here's a second image I love from it one
of the ghosts from Hell shows up and I'm
his
shoulder is this little kind of creepy
reptile it's kind of creepy slimy
creature and the creature is whispering
in his ear telling him sent over to him
comes as great an angel a great angelic
spirit and the guy pulls back from the
angel and the angel looks at the reptile
and he brings his hands near it like
this and he says may I kill it and the
guy says no no I'm gonna kill it I mean
I know he's a little difficult and I
know he's always bossed me around but no
no I don't want you to kill it may I
kill it well not am i killing I mean I
I'm he's difficult I wish you could do
something about it but may I kill it and
so finally the spirit the ghost says yes
he acquiescence and the angel crushes
the reptile but then the narrator
notices at that moment this soul and
souls are all kind of cramped and warped
they're small you know at that moment he
begins to take on thickness and height
and and substance and then the reptile
which had been kind of thrown to the
side actually begins to change now and
is transformed into this mighty
beautiful stallion upon which the man
then jumps and rides off toward the
mountains so what does that mean well it
becomes clear that this little reptile
stands for lust there's some kind of
creepy thing that's making suggestions
all the time and actually resulting in
the in the shrinking down of this person
right the angel her standing for the
power of God here wants to kill that off
you gotta get rid of it but Noah's
pleased and Lois is so strong in it he
has to ask permission he can't just do
it even though it's the best thing
possible for this guy he has to have his
permission may I kill it he's he's
uncompromising I gotta argue with it may
I kill it
but may I kill it and only when the man
gives his permission can the angel do
his work but then knows what happens not
only does the man grow in grandeur but
that lust is transfigured into what it
was meant to be which is the sort of
great stallion of erotic desire see
erotic desire is a great thing gives a
little our power of our energy our Verve
our purpose it becomes a mighty stallion
that we can ride to the mountains would
stand for the realm of God in Lois it's
great images we all have it some degree
we got this this creepy little thing on
our shoulder maybe say to God yes you
may kill it yes I give you permission
and see what happens here's the last one
the narrator see is coming from the
distance this beautiful stately
procession there's a woman comes up on a
like a sadya just to Toria and this high
chair and there's a great procession
before and then all these angels and
spirits around her praising her and
honoring her so right away he thinks oh
could this be the Blessed Mother you
know and his guide says oh no it's a
woman named Sarah Smith Sarah Smith well
on earth the guide says she was a nobody
no one nor on earth she ran she was a
woman that ran a boarding house or
something ordinary city in England she
has known as ordinary name you can
imagine Sarah Smith right but he said
everybody that she met became her son or
daughter she was so loving and brought
them to life even the animals that she
came across were cared for and they were
alive and by her she was a life giver in
the both radical way no one the earth
newer no historian we write about her
she had no fame no honor no glory but in
the eyes of heaven she's honored to the
enth degree there's a lot more to the
story but I just want to focus on that
part of it because what a what a rack we
get into when we just fuss about worldly
honours all the time
what's the world think of me let me
finally who cares the world which passes
away
how long is our life 70 years 80 for
those who are strong
the Bible says comes and goes maybe
you're honored by the very worst people
maybe the biggest idiots in society are
honoring why are you fussing with
worldly honors rather as Jesus says
don't store up treasure on earth store
up treasure heaven
don't worry about honors on earth worry
about being honored in heaven you know
there's a whole spiritual revolution I
think in that image if we let it sink in
all right I've given you just a little
tiny hint of the riches of this great
book the Great Divorce do read it or
listen to it it's one of the great
explorations I think of the spiritual
life and especially of you know what
finally matters so go get the Great
Divorce