“When the Son of man shall come in
his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory…” ~Matthew
25.31, KJV
Glory. What a word. Glory—a word that comes with so
much theological baggage.
In a season where we have pastors eisegeting
scripture rather than exegeting them, doing their
best to usher in “God's glory,” I discover the glory
of God in the ordinariness of a messy desk. While
pastors preach about peace in some far off place
beyond the moon, and outside of space, scripture
speaks of Jesus announcing God’s reign is coming
soon, even now.
When I get frustrated by folks in my profession who
don’t speak for me but get all the limelight, I
remember how God’s glory arrived in the world: in an
unexpected place, at an unexpected time, to an
unexpected peasant girl who clenched her fist and
sung about the victory of God.
That’s the glory of God, y’all. The church exists to
sign, to signal, to sing about that tension whereby
those who are at the bottom are being lifted up, and
those who are on top are brought down.
Glory, as found in the gospels, is…Jesus feeding the
hungry multitudes as a gift of God’s overflowing
compassion rather than as an act of economic
enslavement! Jesus performing miracles not as means
of harnessing divine powers for himself, but as a
sign of God’s in breaking strength in the world!
Jesus exercising power for good, but not by the
means and methods of the world’s kingdoms!
Advent is that time we prepare for the arrival of
God’s glory in unexpected places—in the ordinariness
of life. And what’s glorious about this is how Jesus
made available God’s kingdom, power, and glory to
ordinary folks like you and me to participate in the
same kingdom, power, and glory. Which makes me think
of the prayer we pray daily—the Lord’s Prayer.
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The Lord’s Prayer says that this
kingdom, this power and this glory reconceived in
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, is now and
forever. The kingdom for which we pray is not pie in
the sky by and by, and can only come when we name
Jerusalem as a capital. But instead, the kingdom,
the reign of God, is now—we must not wait because we
need not wait to be friends with God because God has
already chosen us.
In Christ, the kingdom of God has been brought near
to us; usually made known now to us only in
glimpses. Like in a painting of child who found your
church to be … fun… Or written in a card by a group
of people who wanted to tell you “that you are loved
by many”…. Or in the wrappings and ribbons from a
gift by a beloved friend who reminds you often of
your belovedness … Or in a space that smells like
smoke but feels like home …Or …
And that’s the thing, friends. The real glory of God
occurs when the hungry get food, the children get
gifts, and the women receive justice. God’s glory
came in the innocence of a child…in such a mundane
way.
What a word. What a day. Glory.
[Adam Quine, pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in Lincoln] |
