Tag Archives: Christian books

Favorite Friday: “The C.S. Lewis Five” (a one-scene screenplay)

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gbc[The Scene: Pastor Ed Kang‘s office hours at Golden Bear Cafe. The year: let’s just say it’s around the turn of the century. I know you’re surprised I was in college at the time, but you have to remember I started college when I was 8*. ]

Mind you, this was a gazillion years ago, so I’ve used creative license liberally in the following screenplay. But I do remember this encounter, and how I wanted to show Pastor Ed I was interested in conversing about things like books and literature — so above the fray of the typical college student. Ha!

HEK:  Pastor Ed, I love to read. What Christian books do you recommend I read? (hopeful this opens up the way to talk shop about books we have in common.)

EHK: Have you read C.S. Lewis?

HEK: (smiling, because The Chronicles of Narnia was a childhood favorite). Yes, I just love Lewis’ ability to explore spiritual truths through what seems to be an innocent children’s story. I do love me some Narnia.

EHK: (smiling graciously) Ah yes, Narnia is splendiferous, to be sure. Now, have you read Mere Christianity?

HEK: (puzzled because it seems kind of strange to call Christianity mere…) …um…

EHK: (fatherly chuckle, if Yoda chuckled) Much to learn, you still have, young padawan.

HEK: (Yes! I know this one!) Haha, Star Wars! I just love Star Wars…

EHK: (leaning forward, voice hushed as though preparing to reveal the secret to life) Here are the five must reads by C.S. Lewis. After you read them, then we can talk about other Christian books.

HEK: (takes out actual notebook and pen, because smartphones with notepad apps didn’t exist yet.) I’m ready!

EHK: Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, The Screwtape Letters, and The Abolition of Man. In that order.

HEK:  Golly gee willikers, thanks a bunch. This is nifty! (Sorry, 1990’s, not 1950’s). Awesome! (that word has been used as a filler to express a wide range of emotion for a long time.)

So there you have it. Did you miss it? Pastor Ed’s short list is what I’ve since then thought of as “The C.S. Lewis Five”. I’ve passed that list on to many a padawan at Gracepoint Berkeley church myself.

  1. Mere Christianity
  2. The Problem of Pain**
  3. Miracles
  4. The Screwtape Letters***
  5. The Abolition of Man
six by lewis

photo of this ancient relic courtesy of an amazon.com customer

I was too excited I had this list to be embarrassed. Only in retrospect do I shake my head. Proof that once a teacher’s pet always a teacher’s pet! And how happy was I (mixed with embarrassed) when I went home to my parents’ house and saw this exact set of books sitting right alongside my Narnia set. (It was actually Six by Lewis, because The Great Divorce was thrown in as a bonus, I guess.)

How about you? Have you read “The C.S. Lewis Five”? Which one is your favorite?

*J/K.

**My personal favorite.

***Or maybe this one is.

What?! There’s a *NEW* Library at Gracepoint Church?

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There’s pressure to make an awesome first post, but if I wait around for the perfect first post, there will never be a second one! So I will use this post to introduce myself and the purpose for this site. Because purpose is pretty important.*

I’m the new librarian at Gracepoint Berkeley church. I mostly work with the kiddos, and my elves and I have been working hard this summer to set up Bibliopolis, our new children & teen library.

BibliopolisReading

This is not a paid advertisement for IKEA. I am actually trying to show you some of our youngsters in the reading zone!

It is indeed evolving into a mini-city of books, and adults are often looking in longingly! But fear not, I am committed to promoting the love of reading with all of the adults throughout our Gracepoint churches, too.

While I haven’t any official credentials in library sciences, I have been reading for longer than many of you have been alive! I have been addicted to reading ever since I stepped into my first (and still favorite) library – the Cerritos Public Library. When I was five, I actually imagined heaven was like this library — you can see the photos for yourself!

I worked in public education as an English and History teacher for fifteen years, teaching middle and high school students. And my very favorite aspect of teaching was finding “the book” that would transform a non-reader into a reader. It’s my firm belief that there is a reader in everyone, and that it’s never too late; you just haven’t found “the book” yet. And figuring out that puzzle is one of my joys!

This site is just getting underway, but some of what you can expect to find are:

  • book reviews, some written by me and some by patrons of Bibliopolis
  • suggested reading lists for children
  • news of the goings on at Bibliopolis (including reading challenges, winning entries of contests, and more!)
  • announcements of new book arrivals at Bibliopolis, as well as at our Gracepoint Berkeley Church Bookstore
  • Christian book reviews, recommendations, lists
  • inventory of resources available at our Gracepoint Berkeley Church Bookstore (including Chinese, Korean, and Spanish language books)
  • book-related guest posts (ooh!), which could be a book recommendation, review, Top 10 list

Who would YOU like to see a guest post from? Pastor Ed Kang? Kelly Kang? You?!

Also, if you have any other suggestions or recommendations, please let me know and I’ll try to incorporate them!

*That’s right! That was indeed an allusion** to Gracepoint Live 2015. If you haven’t checked out the hilarious Right and Wrong video trailers for GLive: 2015, you must! I personally like Episode #1 the best, but they’re all pretty funny.

**allusion: (n) an indirect or passing reference; usually an artistic or literary device in which there is a reference made to another piece of literature, history, etc.