C.S Lewis and The Weight of Glory
1 John 4:20
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1John 4:20).
C.S. Lewis was and is one of the most influential Christian writers and thinkers in the last 100 years. He is known for his fictional series (The Chronicles of Narnia), his radio lectures that were turned into a book (Mere Christianity), and many others.
Today, I would like to share a passage from his work, The Weight of Glory. This a short piece that speaks of the future glorification or damnation of individuals at the end times. The crux of this piece is that as Christians, we are called to love our brothers and sisters as well as the lost world around us. In this way, we show our love for God.
This is the conclusion of his piece:
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It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’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. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible “gods “and “goddesses,” to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. it is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. 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. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, form the outset, taken each other seriously- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner- no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your sense. If he is your christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat- the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.
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Announcements:
We have VBS this week partnered with the Salvation Army and the Kodiak Baptist Mission. VBS location is KBM
Family Art Evening will be August 22 from 3-5pm here at CBC
This Sunday is potluck lunch
We will be doing a special offering for a Sports Ministry this Sunday
KBM and CBC have partnered once again to provide evangelism through Sports Ministry
Nate Lawrence, a sports minister, will be doing a week long baseball camp starting August 31st.
He will be housed at KBM and perform his ministry at the Mission and/or Baranof Park
We will be taking an offering to provide flight travel
Link to the CBC Calendar
Church Weekly Schedule
Sunday worship at 11am
Wednesday Prayer Posse 12pm
Trail Life each Sunday from 2-3pm
Pastor Steven’s Office Hours 8-4 Mon-Thursday
I have an open sign (if it is on, I am here)
If I am not in the office at these times, I am meeting with someone
Call or text me 972-921-2516
Email steven@kodiakcbc.org
