In a letter to longtime correspondent Mary Willis Shelburne,
dated May 21, 1956, Lewis writes:
But there remains the
quite separate trouble of having lost your job. Oh dear, I am sorry. Surely all
these Church people will find some way to provide for you. I will indeed pray –
oh what a business life is.
Shelburne was an American, living
in the United States; the laws of Britain at the time prohibited British
citizens from sending money out of the country (this is according to a Walter
Hooper footnote to the Lewis – Shelburne letters), so Lewis could not help her;
though once the law changed he would assist her through his charitable trust –
Lewis helped many through his trust administered by his friend and lawyer, Owen
Barfield.
When I read this letter I
couldn’t help but think of our current economic climate and the hundreds of
thousands of our fellow citizens, and brothers and sisters in Christ, who have
lost their jobs. I wondered how many were being helped by their congregations;
I wondered how many congregations were reaching out in their communities to
help those in need.
When I was with my former
employer, prior to joining my current firm, one of my tasks was to inspect
homes that were selling within homeowners’ associations. Many of these homes
were being foreclosed upon and were vacant prior to my inspection – the
families having left. As I inspected those homes I visualized dads and moms and
children – playing, eating together, getting ready for work and school,
celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and holidays; I visualized a house that
was a home – not a vacant house but a living home. I prayed for the families,
wherever they might be; that they would know Jesus Christ and His amazing love
and security, and that they would know health and healing from the pain of the
loss of a home, and the loss of what was likely their greatest financial asset.
Lewis led a fairly cloistered
life, and his statement to Shelburne seems a bit naïve, because the fact is
that it’s fairly common to be involved in a church and yet to be invisible when
there is pain and need; our individualistic society has permeated the church
and we seldom “bear one another’s burdens” as Paul admonishes. Some of the
harshest words I’ve heard during the current recession/depression have come
from professing Christians – “they got what they deserve” is the mantra I’ve
heard expressed any number of ways toward those who have lost their homes and
jobs.
During the past month a “Christian”
organization in our region had as its marquee speaker, at its annual marquee
event, a man who stated that if you’re unemployed that it’s your own fault – I
suspect there was applause from the audience. That’s the kind of Christianity I
sure want to embrace – kick ‘em when they’re down! But hey – it absolves us of
responsibility to come alongside others graciously and sacrificially.
I wonder, were I to have been a
member of Mary Willis Shelburne’s congregation, whether I would have cared
whether she lost her job or not?
