Issue 34 Psalms of WarBlog | War: Essential reading for preachers
War: Essential reading for preachers
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 24.03.23
I remember studying the war poets at school: Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and others who recounted the horrors of war in terse verse and with graphic poignancy.
If the idea was to burn images of torture and inhumanity into the impressionable minds of adolescent children such that we would hate and fear war for the rest of our lives, it worked. However, I have also discovered other wartime writers who have sparked a very different reaction: those who have inspired faith, hope and compassion even in the darkest of times. As our nation grows numb to the images of bombings, power cuts and atrocities in Ukraine, perhaps we need to hear their voices again teaching us how to live, lead and preach in the turmoil of war.
Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis (Collins, 2012)
From August 1941, C.S. Lewis was asked to address the nation through BBC Radio. Bombs were falling on London and yet this master of Christian apologetics offered 15-minute episodes of comfort and hope. His talks, broadcast on Sunday afternoons, spanned four series and were collated into what many believe to be the clearest, most coherent presentation of the reasons to believe the Christian faith. War provided the catalyst to the urgent and clear presentation of the gospel. For any preacher, these talks show conclusively that you don’t need a lot of time to speak a lot of truth. They offer us a masterclass in focussing on the most important aspects of our faith, whatever is happening in our world. Lewis models for us the power of clear argument, powerful illustrations, and jargon-free communication in a book that has helped generations find faith.
