God’s Persuasive Story
I recently attended a lecture to hear Alister McGrath speak on his biography of C.S. Lewis. It was held at Lanier Theological Library, which I highly recommend you visit. I was struck when he described Lewis’s ability to convey his message to a wide audience, and not always a Christian one either.
The most striking feature of Lewis is his ability to wrap stories into the larger argument he makes about God. “Mere Christianity” is so good because of the vivid examples he writes to prove his points. Both “The Chronicles of Narnia” and his "Space Trilogy" convey deep Christian truths, simple enough for a child to understand but rich enough for adults to appreciate.
Lewis saw that there were other narratives in the world and some were quite persuasive. He had been persuaded to forsake the faith of his childhood, and only later did he recover the grand story of God and his place in it.
Many of us admire Lewis because he was able to tell stories that we lov, and that we knew deep in our bones were true. In light of this, Alister McGrath’s encouragement to those of us in the pews was to embrace the story that Lewis fell in love with and inspired all of his stories. We have a compelling message for those around us to hear. Not only is it an interesting story, but it is true. While many of this world’s narratives are filled with half-truths or lies, you and I have the real deal.
The call of the Church — and each believer — is to speak the truth of Christ crucified to a world that needs to hear it whether they realize they need it or not. This is a daunting task, but as Lewis proved with his life and his work, it can be done with beauty, creativity, and grace. If the Gospel is boring, then we’re doing it wrong.
