Sweet Charity

C.S. Lewis used a weekly radio broadcast to present a reasonable case for the truth of Christianity to England soon after World War II. “Mere Christianity” is a collection of these broadcasts in which he builds, much like a mathematician, a base for common understanding and then expands the ideas each week. In one program Lewis shared his views on charity as a theological virtue. Today charity is often used as a synonym for donations, but Lewis suggests that charity is much more than that. Charity means “love, in the Christian sense.” It is not an emotion, but an act of will. “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.” It includes wishing the best for someone else, forgiveness, and practicing the act of treating others favorably. He suggests reading I Corinthians 13 using the King James Version. Through this translation we may find a deeper understanding of the virtue of charity.

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body tobe burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away….13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

My prayer for the congregation?

God of Charity, you rejoice in the truth of love. May we be more charitable with our neighbors, practicing courtesies and open communication until the actions become rote and habitual. May we become more charitable towards our enemies, knowing that our honest efforts of reconciliation will at least lessen the burden of entrenchment in our own lives, and may reduce the bitterness of all those involved. Let us also remember to be charitable with ourselves. We cannot fully learn to connect with others until we have learned to regain our own worth. Let us explore charity in the streets, in the classroom, in our cars, in the pews, in our pockets, and in our hearts. Amen.

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the night, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds. – Abraham Lincoln