A Severe Mercy and why C.S. Lewis is not over-rated

Though he did not write this book...

I've just finished A Severe Mercy probably meaning I shouldn't give my opinion about it right now since most books I just finish for the first time somehow manage to be "amazing," (at least for an hour or two) however I must tentatively state that I love this book. I don't think I'll have to take that back. There is a kind of beauty in grief that this book portrays, especially when viewed in the light of eternity.

I am often fed up with Christian views of grief and sorrow. These views often seem so full of condescension. I am reminded of Jane Kenyon's poem "Having it out with Melancholy" and the 3rd section:

"Suggestion From a Friend"

You wouldn't be so depressed

if you really believed in God

This seems to be too often the attitude, yet doesn't seem so with Vanauken. There is an admittance of grief and sorrow and all the perils of finitude in his book, yet a glorious hope even in, or even especially in this grief. It seems to be in the times of death and darkness, when we must come up against the smallness of this world, that we realize our desire for more, well... more. I am reminded of another quote, the lovely and ridiculously famous C.S. Lewis quote which so poignantly says "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." Which reminds me of the oh-so-not-over-ratedness of Lewis whose most overused quotes can still touch one even after the millionth time heard.

Maybe what I loved about this book was its focus on beauty and time. I am left reminded of why I love the arts. There is a holy yearning that no theory seems able to penetrate. It is there in everyday living, but sometimes it takes a splash of paint, dissonance and resolution, or "black squiggles on white paper" to remind us of this longing, this unexplainable hope that must be found in God and love and eternity and Jesus. I also loved this book because I was reminded of this beauty, the beauty of my faith, especially as it touches me on a more than emotional level. Vanauken's story is a story of scholars and thinkers. It can be hard for me, in the midst of all the cheesiness of some Christians, to let myself be caught up in the beauty of my faith, but it is there, the honest to God, awe-inspiring beauty, and I am thankful for books like A Severe Mercy for reminding me of this - whether or not I'll continue to find the book itself amazing after time and more readings.