Friends at the Kilns

“Those who loved the Lord talked together, and the Lord listened and heard them.” — from Malachi 3

In 1930 Jack, Warnie and Mrs Moore bought a home of their own, just outside Oxford. It was a low brick house called the Kilns, named after two old brick ovens that stood beside it. It had woods, a big wild garden and a pond. Jack loved it at first sight. He lived there for the rest of his life.

Jack swam in the pond in all weathers and walked in the woods every day, with his pipe in his mouth. There was a gardener named Paxford, who always expected the worst and was usually cheerful about it. There were dogs, cats and, for a while, lots of hens. In 1932 Warnie left the army and came to live at the Kilns too. The two brothers were together again.

Every Sunday, Jack walked across the fields to Holy Trinity Church for the early service at eight o’clock. He sat near the front, at the side. To the people of the village, he was not a famous writer. He was just Mr Lewis from the Kilns.

Jack also had a group of friends who met on Thursday evenings in his rooms at Magdalen. They called themselves the Inklings. Warnie made the tea. Then someone would read aloud something they had written, a story, a poem or a chapter, and the others would say what they thought, sometimes kindly and sometimes not!

Tolkien read out a great story he was writing, chapter by chapter, for years. It was called The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien said that without Jack’s encouragement he would never have finished it.

Jack’s friends loved God and told each other the truth. Good friends help us to grow, and church is a place where we belong to God’s family. God listens when his friends talk together about him.

Dear God, thank you for my friends and for my church family. Help me to be a good friend who encourages others. Amen.