The Weight of Glory by
C.S.
Lewis is
an inspiring collection of
sermons he
gave during late
World War
II and
in the
years following. This
one hundred and
ninety- two
page work
was originally published in
1949 though the
edition I
read was
published by
Harper Collins in
2001. It
can be
difficult to
connect all
the sermons because of
their varying subjects, however, the
mission of
the author is
the same
throughout: to
illustrate the
gospel and
give practical application.
This
piece of
non-fiction, being
a collection of
sermons is
most easily grasped through the
dissecting of
its quotes. “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” The above quote is one of my favorite of Lewis’, and caused me great interspection.
I began thinking; where in my life am I settling and being pleased with the “mud pies” in life? How can I find God’s best for me and those around me?
Intermingled with all of his deep theology one finds Lewis very comical in his writing. He is very much a story teller. One story he told was of an American man who came to tea with him and after asked to use his bathroom. Lewis however with his quick wit showed the man to a room with a large bath in it then shut the door and walked away. He then made the man come ask him if he might use the lavatory. This story made me laugh and kept me paying attention.
“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses (Lewis).” This quote demands that its reader recognize the preciousness of those made in Christ’s image and how God calls us to treat those who we come in contact with. In Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Lewis then goes on to say, “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.” This quote really made me stop and think about how infinite eternity is and it is just baffling. Each of us is an immortal being, which is a crazy cool thought. What we do while we are on earth needs to count for eternity and its up to you what you will do with what the God of the universe gave you.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Lewis’ work or who wants to have deeply theological thoughts. This is not for the passive reader. It will cause a change in you if you read it with an open mind.
