Surprised By Joy

This Sunday is November 22nd. Ask almost anyone you meet who died on that day and they’ll correctly answer John F. Kennedy (on November 22, 1963). But someone else died that same exact day; someone who I believe was greater in God’s eyes than the “Prince of Camelot.” His name was Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, or simply “Jack” to his family and closest friends. In a scenario eerily similar to Farah Fawcett’s death earlier this year, which was totally overshadowed Michael Jackson’s passing on the same day, Lewis’ death went virtually unnoticed as the world was stunned by the assassination of our thirty-fifth president.

Even though his death went largely unnoticed by the public, death has been no hindrance to C. S. Lewis' career. His fame continues to grow as new generations of skeptics and believers alike are introduced to his clear and convincing arguments for Christianity (Mere Christianity), his humorous but insightful narratives (Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, A Grief Observed), and, most recently, moviegoers have been introduced to Lewis’ work through the Chronicles of Narnia movies. I recently reread all seven of the short Narnia books and was again thrilled by the ways Lewis reveals deep spiritual truths in engaging stories reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.

The similarities with Tolkien’s work are not coincidental. Lewis was a contemporary of Tolkien and the two were actually close friends. In fact, it was a conversation with Tolkien that helped Lewis move a little further along the way in his journey from atheism to faith.

Lewis was raised an Anglican, but was only nine years old when his mother died of cancer. Shortly after her death, Lewis' father sent him and his brother Warren off to boarding school. It was during this time that Lewis decided he wanted nothing to do with a God who could be so cruel as to take his “mum.” Lewis, an extremely intelligent man, became an atheist and eventually an Oxford Don (professor) teaching English literature.

So how did this philosopher-cum-intellectual, this man who wrote over fifty books, some of which were penned as a youthful atheist, become a Christian? Lewis describes his journey of conversion in his spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy. Lewis claims that at the time of his conversion he was "the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." He describes his passage from atheist to Christian in words and images that are familiar to many of us: The joy of childhood which gave way to the harsh realities of the adult world, followed by a rigorous and intense investigation of competing truth claims, followed by being Surprised by Joy with a child-like faith again.

There’s a lesson for those of us who are too educated or too modern to accept the claims of Christianity. As an atheist, Lewis was unafraid to ask the difficult questions. Lewis’ conversion process was a long road that involved lots of reading and thinking (and eventually praying), meeting and talking with mentors, and gathering data from a variety of sources. Finally, on September 28, 1931, at age thirty-two, Lewis was… “riding to the Whipsnade Zoo in the sidecar of Warren’s motorcycle. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did." Like John Wesley's heart which was "strangely warmed," something happened on that 40 mile motorcycle ride, and Lewis simply knew he now believed.

Today God is still using this reluctant convert’s legacy to populate the Kingdom of God. Lewis’ faith journey and conversion are certainly unusual, but it also contains echoes that I’m guessing are familiar to some of us. What happened on that motorcycle ride to the Whipsnade Zoo? I’m not sure, but my guess is it has something to do with a conversation Jesus had with another smart man one night when he said, “Just as you can hear the wind and can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit (John 3:8). Where are you on your spiritual journey? Can you feel the gentle winds of the Spirit blowing? Don’t be afraid of the questions. Don’t be afraid of the journey. Just know that the destination is sure; and enjoy the ride…