SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI November 18, 2007 ... - Brick Church

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI
November 18, 2007, The 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 21:1-6
Michael Lindvall, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York
Theme: Offered to the glory of God, our gifts last forever.
God of Time, Lord of Life, sometimes your word is like a bright light illuminating
a long-dark corner of life. Sometimes your word is like a fresh breeze blowing
through a stuffy room. Sometimes your word is like a gift that is difficult to
unwrap. Be in our speaking and hearing this day, O God, as we open this word
tightly wrapped in mystery. And now may the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my
Redeemer. Amen.
The four Latin words that title this sermon are usually translated, “Thus passes the
glory of the world.” If you like to say Latin things, it’s a handy aphorism, a cool
comment to make when a zillionaire loses his fortune in the mortgage crisis. “Sic
transit gloria mundi.” You might say it when a once-beautiful starlet dies alone in
her Beverly Hill mansion. “Sic transit gloria mundi.” It’s what you might say when
a once avant building on Fifth Avenue leaks so badly they have to spend three
years fixing it. “Sic transit gloria mundi.” If people had said it back in Bible days,
they might have said it when the Great Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed
by Romans in 70 A.D.
Actually, they wouldn’t have said that, because the phrase originated much later.
“Sic transit gloria mundi” first came to use as part of a quirky little ceremony
during the coronation of Roman Catholic popes. Amid all the pomp and grandeur
of that event, a barefoot monk approaches the newly crowned pontiff, looks him in
the eye and says, “Pater sancti, sic transit Gloria mundi,” “Holy father, thus passes
the glory of the world.”
But the phrase has developed a life of its own well beyond the Vatican. That life
may have reached its artistic nadir in Mel Brooks’ outrageous comedy, “The
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

History of the World, Part I.” In that film, Brooks has a Roman Senator speak a
shortened version of the phrase during the Roman Empire segment of the film.
“Sic transit gloria,” one Roman Senator says to the other Roman Senator, in Latin.
To which the second replies, in English, “I didn’t even know Gloria was sick.”
The 21st Chapter of Luke’s Gospel finds Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem
during the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Each day, Jesus goes to
the courtyard in front of the magnificent Temple built atop the highest hill in
Jerusalem. Nefarious King Herod had begun this particular Jewish temple almost
50 years earlier; it was still probably not quite completed. In the first six verses of
this 21st Chapter of Luke, two things happen. First, Jesus and his followers watch
people making contributions to the temple by dropping coins in one of 13
containers shaped like inverted trumpets installed for that purpose. Several
wealthy people make generous donations; a poor widow makes a modest, but for
her, extraordinarily generous, donation. In the second part of the reading, the
disciples turn their attention from these contributors to the temple itself. They
comment about how very lovely the building is, “adorned with beautiful stones and
gifts dedicated to God.” To which Jesus replies, “… the days will come when not
one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” “Sic transit gloria
mundi,” as it were.
About forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Roman general Titus,
soon to be Emperor, laid siege to Jerusalem. The city had been held by Jewish
rebels for the last four years. In August of 70 A. D., the city fell to the Roman
legions. The great temple was utterly destroyed. Only one massive retaining wall
on the western foot of the temple mount remained. That wall, the Western or
“Wailing Wall,” is all there is today.
There are two theories as to why the temple was leveled. One says that it was a
deliberate strategy. Titus wanted to humiliate the Jews and stamp out the Jewish
and Christian religions associated with the temple. Remember that in the First
Century, Christians were still seen as a particular kind of Jew. The other theory
says that burning the temple was a mistake. Titus’ troops just got out of hand.
Either way, one glaring fact is obvious: These ages later the temple is still in ruins,
but Judaism and Christianity thrive.
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

So you have to ask this question. If the temple was bound for dust, and if Judaism
and Christianity would perfectly well survive the temple’s passing, what do you
say to the widow who donated everything she had to that temple? What to you say
to anyone, rich or poor, who dropped contributions in those upside-down temple
offering trumpets? And for that matter, what do you say to you and me, all of us
who in ten minutes will enact a Twenty-first Century version of that scene at the
temple? We don’t have thirteen upside-down brass trumpets, just a pair of wicker
baskets, but you must admit, the scene echoes Luke 21. After the sermon, we’ll be
offered an opportunity remarkably parallel to that day in the temple courtyard –
come forward and place some gift: your Sunday offering, your 2008 pledge, some
personal commitment, maybe a prayer, something, in a container in this glorious
latter-day temple.
The Jerusalem temple was not forever, and this gorgeous building we’re sitting in
isn’t forever, either. No building is forever; in fact, this is Brick’s third.
Congregations themselves are not forever. There’s not an individual Christian
congregation in the world that’s anywhere close to really ancient. None of the
mission organizations we support with the money we give to the church are
forever. Great programs come and go. Successful mission operations come and
go. Good grief, everything comes and goes. Churches, cities, nations, empires
come and go. You and I come and go. “Sic transit gloria mundi,” indeed.
But not every glory passes. The glory of God does not pass. The glories of God
that are love and compassion and mercy and righteousness do not pass away. And
everything we offer to the glory of God because it becomes part of the glory of
God does not “transit,” does not pass away. So when you walk forward in a
moment and place whatever you offer, offer it to the glory of God. It is not offered
to the glory of the church, it’s not for the glory of our projects, or our plans, or our
good intentions, it is offered to the glory of God.
So, no glory for us?
No glory for the Stewardship Committee.
No glory for the Session.
No glory for the Mission Committee.
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

No glory for the donors.
No glory for this great old building.
No glory for the ministers.
All to the glory of God.
You give God the glory when you remember that you can only give anything at all
because God has given you the life, the means, the health, the energy to do it in the
first place. For a church like Brick on this Stewardship Dedication Sunday, this
means honestly admitting everything we think of as ours: the vision, the drive, the
money, the organizational talent, all of it comes from God.
People, especially successful people, are often tempted to imagine that they’re
totally self-made. They’re lured into thinking that they did it all by themselves.
But the truth is this: behind every success and underneath any accomplishment
there lie gifts, gifts from God I dare say, gifts like good health, gifts like a clever
mind, gifts like insight or talent or hunch, gifts like a good education and
supportive family, even, face it, the gift of being born into privilege. These are
gifts. We did nothing to deserve them. They are not ours by right.
Nothing is more revolting than that overweening sense of entitlement you
sometimes meet in the privileged corners of the world. It’s revolting because you
know in your heart that it’s built on a lie of self-creation and autonomy. So we
give God the glory by being radically honest about the fact that we simply did not
get here ourselves; we only get anywhere by the grace of God.
Give God the glory by remembering that all of this effort is not for us or for our
good. It is for the glory of God. This church is not essentially for us; it’s for God.
Everything we try to do as a church is not to our credit. The credit goes to God
who is simply using us to do it.
It’s all from God, and it all returns to God, and in this circle of gift received and
gift given, God is glorified, not you, not me, not Brick Church. In other words,
(hate to break it to you this bluntly) it’s not about your glory, it’s not about my
glory, it’s not even about the glory of this great church.
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

If the brokenness of this old world has some core malignancy, it must be the
tendency for every last one of us to see himself or herself as the center of the
universe. Each of us tends to fancy himself the one around which everyone and
everything rotates like planets around the sun. Even faith can become self-serving:
a way to find peace... for me, a way to find fulfillment... for me, a way to discover
meaning... for me.
Now, from a geometric point of view this proclivity to plant one’s self at the center
of existence makes perfect sense. I mean, from my position standing here in this
pulpit, there is infinity to the east, infinity to the west, infinity to the south, infinity
to the north, infinity upward and infinity downward. It’s only logical: I must be
the center of everything.
To step off that precipitous little throne of the ego in which all is about my glory,
that seat at the center, always longing for everything to be directed at me, to do this
is not just a morally noble stride, it’s nothing less than a step into liberation. For
the raw truth is that only when that in us which clamors to be a god with a little “g”
is knocked of the throne can we become the human beings we were meant to be.
It’s not about your glory; it’s about the glory of God. It’s not about my glory; it’s
about the glory of God. It’s not even about the glory of this great church; it’s
about the glory of God. As that old Latin aphorism reminds us, whatever glimmers
of glory may slant our way in this life will indeed pass away. “Sic transit gloria
mundi.”
The glory of our noblest efforts will pass. “Sic transit gloria mundi.” The glory of
this church will pass away. “Sic transit gloria mundi.” You and I will pass into a
greater glory. “Sic transit gloria mundi.”
But anything we offer to the glory of God abides forever. In a moment, when we
come forward, we’ll each have the opportunity to do something that will really last,
last forever. The gifts we bring, the commitments we make, the prayers promise to
offer, if offered to God are taken up into the glory of God. All we give, all we do,
everything we offer to the glory of God, becomes a part of a great, irresistible,
eternal conspiracy of love and peace. Our gifts, or work, our commitments all
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.

ecome more than mere mortal and passing efforts. They become vectors in an
unstoppable divine trajectory aimed toward the triumph of things eternal, namely
the compassion, justice, peace and righteousness that are the very glory of God.
The temple to which that poor widow in Jerusalem offered her two cents would be
dust forty years later. But her gift was not made simply to that passing temple; her
gift was offered to the glory of God. And here we are, two thousand years, later
reaping the spiritual fruit of her gift. Her two cents live.
“Sic transit Gloria mundi.” Yes indeed, the glory of the world passes away. But
I’d like to coin a fresh Latin aphorism this morning, a counter-truth to that old
truth. I checked the Latin to make sure I have it right. My new aphorism goes like
this, “Sic non transit gloria dei.” “The glory of God does not pass away.”
“Sic non transit gloria dei.” In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
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* Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation, the written
accounts occasionally stray from proper grammar and punctuation.