3 - The Weight of Glory Flashcards
What was going on in England when this sermon was preached on June 8, 1941 at St. Mary the Virgin Church, the University Church?
C.S. Lewis explains (in his preface to “The Weight of Glory”) that he presented three lectures late in WWII and sometime after the war. Lewis also states: “The period from which these pieces date was, for all of us, an exceptional one. . .”
The London Blitz. Midst of WWII and being bombed. Very aware of their mortality.
How do most people experience beauty? Do they wonder what’s truly going on there?
The “memory of our own past” in which we experience beauty through things such as books, music, and images, but beauty is “not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.”
How can Plato’s doctrine of shadow and reality fit in with this sermon?
Plato used the the Realm of Forms, that is, a type of heaven where what exists is a land of ideas. The ideas are the perfect constructions of what exists, while every object we experience is the imperfect representation of one of the Forms in the realm. So there is a form of a perfect horse in this realm. All the horses we observe can be called “horses” in so far as they exhibit qualities of this perfect form, although each material horse does not exactly conform (get it? Con- form?) to this true form and falls short of it in multiple aspects.
Lewis uses an example of a child playing in mud without the knowledge of making sandcastles on a sunny beach, and adults indulging in alcohol and sexual promiscuity without understanding true joy. Although they are experiencing a type of the form (a shadow), they do not have the perfect form of joy/happiness that is in God alone (reality).
What does Lewis say about being mercenary and its relation to a “natural connection”?
A mercenary is a person who seeks improper rewards, “that is why we call a man a mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it.”
A mercenary does not fight for the cause (the ideal that impels one to fight), they fight for their own private profit. It is a selfish affair devoid of virtue–virtue is replaced with a business contract.
How could this sermon be pre-evangelism?
Set the stage by talking about Christianity to people in a way they will understand so they are more willing to be engaged with evangelism later. Giving or receiving end.
What can a spell (i.e. a spell that someone casts) do?
A spell can break enchantments as well as induce them.
What do some people call this desire (at least five alternative names)?
Being with Christ Being Christ-like Being glorious Being fed or entertained Being an official in the universe “ruling cities, judging angels, being pillars of God’s temple.”
What does the phrase “weight of glory” mean? That is, what does weight mean and what does glory mean?
Weight means the “burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the back of the proud will be broken.”
Glory means that “We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star.”
Weight of Glory = Burden of Evangelism. You are encouraging people to Heaven or Hell.
What two things can glory mean according to Lewis?
- Fame (evil because it is rooted in diabolical pride of competitiveness).
- Luminosity (good).
What role does Lewis think that Nature plays? Do you agree?
“Nature is only the first sketch” of the greater glory. It is only “the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use.
In part, I agree, but nature plays other important roles such as pointing to God.
What does Lewis mean when he says, “Perfect humility dispenses with modesty”?
“If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself” so that “she will most innocently rejoice in the thing that God has made her to be …’
Focusing so much on the one characteristic eliminates the other. Perfect humility is impossible.
Do you agree with Lewis when he says, “I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us”? (p. 366 in Dorsett)
Both aspects are important, but it is true that how God thinks of us is ultimately more important because our salvation depends on it. If God did not love us, we would be unable to be saved and to love Him back. However, our rejection of God (how we think of Him) can also damn us. More important what God thinks of us.
What does Lewis mean when he says, “Meanwhile the cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is Monday morning”?
Bad’s got to come before the good. Monday mornings suck. Our salvation (through Christ’s work on the cross; justification) comes before the kingship/sonship (the crown; the reward which we are given by way of our salvation; sanctification). After Sunday service is Monday morning, we need to remember to bring our justification into everyday sanctification.
What does Lewis say about my responsibility to witness?
That we are interacting with immortals, so we should take each other seriously in light eternity. But we shouldn’t always be solemn, we can also be merry and we can play.
Explain the significance of the following quote: “But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
Our real experience is with people who may live forever because they have been saved by Christ. (Assuming we are only surrounded by Christians)
