I can tell a woman that God forgives her, but can I help her feel forgiven? I can preach about God’s provision, but what will enable the congregation to truly trust? I can speak to a dying man of God’s promises, but how can I describe heaven so that he longs for it more than he longs for this life?

C.S. Lewis said “reason is the natural organ of truth, but imagination is the organ of meaning.” It is through images found in his writings that I was first able to experience the truths we proclaim. Years later, as the business of running a church has crowded out my original call to make God known, I feel a need to reconnect with Lewis’ images. I want to study how he used words to convey not only truth, but meaning. I will spend my sabbatical living in Lewis’ old home (“The Kilns,” in Oxford, England), reading his works, and practicing communicating profound mysteries through written images and metaphors. Long walks, times of prayer and worship, and a week of family time at the beginning and end of the sabbatical will give balance to this focused time of reading and writing.