Luther and Lewis

God is the giver of all good gifts; but your must fall to, and take the bull by the horns, which means you must work to give God an occasion and a mask.—Martin Luther, Exposition Ps. cxlvii

To judge from their practice, very few Anglican clergy-men take this view. It looks as if they believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications, and complications of the service. And it is probably true that a new, keen vicar will usually be able to form within his parish a minority who are in favour of his innovations. The majority, I believe, never are. Those who remain—many give up churchgoing altogether—merely endure. Is it simply because the majority are hidebound? I think not. They have a good reason for their conservatism. Novelty, simply as such, can only have an entertainment value. And they don’t go to church to be entertained. —C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 205.