The Weight of Glory - A Reflection on C.S. Lewis' Sermon:

Russ Ramsey

Annie Dillard tells the story of driving four miles to witness a total solar eclipse. She described this hillside peppered with people who had each traveled to see this extremely rare sight. The anticipation built until the moment arrived—but just as soon as light began to break people began to gather their things and head for their cars. “It was a general vamoose, and an odd one, for when we left the hill, the sun was still partially eclipsed—a sight rare enough, and one which, in itself, we probably would have driven five hours to see. But enough is enough. One turns at last even from glory itself with a sigh of relief. From the depths of mystery, and even from the heights of splendor, we bounce back and head for the latitudes of home.”

I don’t think disinterest play so much a role in a thing like this. I think it is more often the weight of glory—to see beauty that calls to something deep inside you is something you can only bear for so long before you must look away. Why? Perhaps we recognize somehow that we are participating in the inconsolable secret Lewis spoke of—being made for glory—and are frustrated by the fact that all we see this side of heaven is refracted light and all we hear are echoes of the song we suspect we were created to hear—what Lewis summarizes as “good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking on all our lives will open at last.”

But it is not just for ourselves that this matters. We are eternal beings. The fact that we long for glory even though we have only tasted foretastes of it testifies that we are eternal, immortal beings with a taste for fare this world only gives hints of. If this is true of you and me, it is true of everyone. And this greatly impacts how we are to treat others.

Says C.S Lewis, “The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken…There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat… Next to the Holy Sacrament, your neighbor is the holist object presented to your senses.”

May this weight of glory be something the Lord increases the burden of all our lives. Friends, flee cynicism like the plague. It may make you feel witty, but it will also make your heart hard. Take time and spend it on what points to glory—like the setting sun, or beautiful music, or a Rembrandt or van Gogh—especially the WORD of GOD!!!. Linger, my friends… Linger for the sake of Glory. Linger when you are witness to wonder. Linger, and remember that you were created for glory—eternity in the presence of your Creator and the Lover of your soul.