Gathering of the Saints
by Alicia Liu
Growing up under the influence of my father and being a learner, I have always liked to read. Books are my friends even after lots of formal education. I remember last year sharing with my WELL group that I missed having friends who would challenge me intellectually. Not until I started writing this article, did I realize that my prayer request was answered by this book club.
Jason Jung wanted to start a book club November 2013 to read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. During the same time, I was indulging myself with C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia and wanted to read more C. S. Lewis's books, so I signed myself up for the book club.
Praise the Lord for good technology. About 4-6 of us meet on Monday nights through Google Hangout. I did not know that Mere Christianity was actually a difficult book to read due to the archaic language and many philosophical arguments and illustrations. The initial weeks, it took me hours to read just three short chapters. Fortunately, we shared each other's struggles and helped each other to grasp the meaning and reasoning that Lewis conveyed in his book. Now I have started to enjoy the witty illustrations that Lewis gave in his book to help readers digest the abstract ideas in Christianity.
This book club has been an encouragement to me in many ways. First, this is an answer to a prayer from God. Second, the fellowship reminded me of Matt. 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Only God knows how much we really needed Him there with us every week because of the difficult material that we discussed. Third, the book club has stretched and strengthened the faith of each one because of the depth of each topic we covered.
My prayer is that all of us in the church family could experience this “[and] let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25)