The Weight of Glory

What does it mean to seek true glory? Today, Stephen Nichols explores C.S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory, reflecting on our deepest longings, the promise of eternity, and how the gospel shapes our view of others.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. This episode was suggested to me by my friend, Kent. The “Weight of Glory” is currently known as an essay of that title and a book of essays of that title by C.S. Lewis. But let's look at when this first occurred. In fact, let’s look at the when, the where, and the what of “Weight of Glory.”

First, the when. It was originally a sermon preached on June 8th, 1941, at the University Church of St. Mary in Oxford. The date is important. On September 3rd, 1939, Britain declared war. From the summer and fall of 1940 was the Battle of Britain, and the battles and the air raids continued. So, in England, there is immense tension from the constant bombings, from everything being rationed and by so many of the people being mobilized for the war effort, both at home and abroad. England is a nation at war against one of the world’s most ruthless and tyrannical rulers. The date is also important because it is the second sermon that Lewis ever preached. His first sermon was preached a month after war was declared October 22nd, 1939. It was titled “None Other Gods: Culture in War Time.” It was also preached at St. Mary’s in Oxford. It is known today as “Learning in War-Time.” So, we have the how about the where.

Well, we already mentioned that it was preached at Oxford, the University Church of St. Mary. Look it up. It is breathtaking. This church stretches back to 1086. It was in fact the first building of Oxford University when it was established in 1252. The tower comes from around 1270. It still stands. In 1555, this church was the site of the trial of the Oxford Martyrs. Bucolic Oxford, this English gothic church could not be more removed from the landscape of war that was raging through Europe. So we have the when and we have the where now to the what.

First, read the sermon. For me, it’s the best thing Lewis ever wrote. And my friend Kent and I have that in common. But you owe it to yourself to read this sermon. I’m going to give you five things to take away from it. First, early on, Lewis speaks of desire. He says, “Almost all our modern philosophies have been devised to convince us that the good of man is to be found on this earth.” That is to say, all of our desires may be met here and now in this earth. The second takeaway is Lewis tells us that “Scripture teaches us of a far off land and of God and in God, our true desires will be met.” In fact, Lewis says that “Scripture teaches us that he who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.”

Well, that’s Lewis on desire. Now we can look to glory and the third thing. Glory, Lewis says, is understood as fame. It’s also understood, secondly, as luminosity. Lewis confesses that he first thought those two things were off the mark, but he kept looking and he soon realized that he was wrong. At one point, Lewis is going to come to the conclusion that glory ultimately is to be known and loved. Lewis says, “Loved not pitied by God, and to know that such a thing is the fulfillment of our true desire.” Lewis also says, and don’t miss it, “This is possible only by the work of Christ.”

Well, for the last two takeaways from this sermon, let’s look to Lewis’s application. He has such a great line. He says, “Meanwhile, the cross comes before the crown, and tomorrow is a Monday morning.” So how do we live on Monday morning? Well, he reminds us that everyone we meet has this great weight of glory, and he gives us this wonderful line, “You've never met an ordinary person. There are no ordinary people.” And then lastly, at the very end of the sermon, Lewis reminds us that we owe everyone who bears this weight of glory, we owe everyone pure respect. And from that pure respect comes pure love.

Well, that’s the when, the where, and the what of C.S. Lewis’ second sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” And I’m Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.