Mud Pies
On June 8, 1941, while Britain was fighting an uncertain war against Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, C.S. Lewis preached a sermon at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford called "The Weight of Glory." He observed, "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." Sin gets marketed as fulfilling, but Lewis said we settle for too little.
After taking his time to describe the tree that is solidly planted, the Psalmist curtly contrasts it with chaff blown away by the wind. The brevity is the point. The wicked attempt to appear powerful, but there's not much to them. Except possibly in a movie, I've never seen chaff. In Israel, farmers would beat their wheat or barley to break the grain from the stalk until there was a pile of good seeds mixed with the outer husks and some dirt. Then the workers used a shovel or basket to repeatedly toss the pile into the open air. The wind would easily blow the lightweight husks and dust away. The chaff is helpless because it is weightless. In Psalm 1, when judgment comes, the wicked can't even stand up (compare with verse 1). But the community of the righteous is secure. Their relationships with one another and God will stand the test of time. In Hebrew, the word for glory is kavod. It comes from the word for heaviness, like the weight a person carries in their community. There's an echo of this when Paul tells us we will gain "an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). As Lewis explained, "To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is." Look around: Are the righteous the wealthy and powerful, while the wicked seem insubstantial? That's rare. The Psalmist gives us the picture of the planted tree and the disappearing chaff to reorient us to what is glorious.
What are your mud pies? What makes your life weightless?
When the wind comes, what will keep you grounded?
What would change if you knew that God delighted in you the way an artist delights in his work?
Talk to a friend about your "mud pies." Then, the next time you want one, text your friend to say, "I want a mud pie. Would you pray for me?" If no one comes to mind, tell God, "I want to want you more than this."
Source:
C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory," sermon preached at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, June 8, 1941; published in Theology (November 1941).