C S Lewis on The Incarnation, with guest Rev. Earl Palmer.Podcast: Live At CS Lewis Centre Segment 1 of 1

In this Kindlings Muse podcast Earl Palmer, pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Seattle and Dick Staub are joined by Jennie Spohr and Brian Luke in a discussion about C S Lewis’ view of the incarnation through the following quote from Lewis’ book, Miracles. In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature he had created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. Or one may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay; then up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing that he went down to recover. He and it are both colored now that they have come up into the light: down below, where it lay colorless in the dark, he lost his color too.