Spiritual Disciplines & Community
I took a retreat this weekend with IVCF from Friday night to Saturday night. We drove up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to a conference center, and along with having small groups and some free time we spent much of the time listening to a speaker give three talks:
Introduction: The Reading of Old Books, the Love of Old Saints
Part One: Solitude, Prayer, Lectio Divina; Standing aside quietly to wait for grace
Part Two: Communion, Worship, Spiritual Warfare
Our "homework" for this retreat was to read C.S. Lewis' introduction to, and the first three chapters of Athanasius' On the Incarnation (PDF here). I didn't really have any time to read it before Friday, so as we were waiting for our rides, I quickly read C.S. Lewis' introduction. I was impressed. I've never read any Christian books before, mostly for three reasons: 1) I have had no idea where to start, 2) Many of the new books seem to be all fluffy and emotionally centered, or focused on subjects that do not seem relevant to me at all, 3) The theologians and old texts seemed out of, and are completely overwhelming. I've been wanting to read C.S. Lewis for a long time, but even he seemed hard to start--with all of his books and essays, which one would be best for me to begin to read?
Reading Lewis' introduction and then some of Athanasius was a good start. The translation of Athanasius was easy to read, and his words fairly straightforward.