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

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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. - 4 - * 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 - 5 - * 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.
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SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI November 18, 2007 ... - Brick Church

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