And the Glory

Glory is one of those old-fashioned words that we hear in hymns but we rarely use in everyday conversations. I won't go so far as to say that the word is archaic, but it is not a word that many people use on a regular basis. We know the word, but it has become so specialized that we leave it alone until Sunday. I am not saying that we need to use the word all the time. Some words ought to be saved for special occasions. Some words get so over-used that we drain any meaning from them, leaving them dried husks that rattle in the wind, making an annoying noise but signifying nothing. Shakespeare spoke of "sound and fury" in Macbeth's soliloquy, and Faulkner borrowed the idea for his novel about a family falling apart, and the idea of words without meaning permeates our lives. Just watch the news.


But I am not, as I said, suggesting that glory has lost its meaning. I am only saying that most of us use the word so seldomly that we might have forgotten what it means. It is a word rich in meaning, chock-full of definitions. It means, in various usages, exaltation or achievement or praise (especially of a deity) or awesome splendor or astounding beauty or heaven. You can see the possible overlap among the definitions. No wonder we save the word for church: if ever there were a God word, this is it. And, according the prayer, this too is God's. You can look it up.


Maybe it is the church context, but when I think of this word, I think of the Latin: Gloria; and I think of a song--not the Bach or the Handel, though it is most definitely perfect for explaining the word--I think of the Van Morrison song, recorded with the garage-rock band Them. In the song, the young Morrison sings about his girlfriend--no, sings may be too limited a word: he exalts his girlfriend. He lifts her up and places her on that pedestal that is the center of so much teen angst. Morrison uses words (and music) to treat his girlfriend in exactly the way we should be treating God. He makes her the center of his universe and the only thing that matters.

Think about that for just a moment: think about teenage love. Imagine yourself sixteen again; imagine that you are thinking about the object of your affection. A teenage boy in love with a teenage girl (and I am going to limit my observation to that particular configuration because it is the only one I have experienced first-hand) lives with only one thought and only one purpose: the girl. We, as Christians, need to remember how to love like that--because that is how we ought to love our God. Every moment of every day should be lived with Christ at its center and with a spirit thankful to God. To give God His glory requires that we acknowledge the greatness of God in all things. To do what we ought to do is beyond our ability, but there is a reason for that.

In education, there are times that we need to have students take a test that cannot be aced. We all have encountered those students who make perfect scores on everything. When dealing with gifted students, it sometimes feels as if we cannot gauge their abilities--that is when we need to find a test that goes beyond. I have worked with some middle school students who have been identified as gifted, and in order to better ascertain their particular strengths, these students have taken college placement tests--the ACT and the SAT--tests that many high school juniors and seniors find daunting. Having the middle school students take tests that they have almost no hope of completing perfectly allows teachers and administrators to get an idea about each student. The fact that we can never truly glorify God as much as we should does something of the same thing: it allows us to always continue working toward what we should be doing. We many never make a perfect score, but the real point is that we keep trying.

Whichever definition we choose to apply to the word in the context of our relationship with God, it all comes down to basically the same thing: God is amazing. We need to celebrate God, and not just on certain days. We should be celebrating God with each breath we take. We all know those Christians who show up for church at Christmas and at Easter; we also know the ones who show up each time the door of the sanctuary is open. But any of us who limits God to the time we spend in church is missing out on wonderful opportunities. We have to expand our horizons for our time with God.

When we sing "to God be the glory, great things He hath done," we are saying that God deserves praise for the awesome stuff that He has done; but, how do we go about praising? Does it always have to be in one of the church ways? Is praise limited to prayer or song? Are words required at all? I like to think that our praise ought to encompass much more of what we do. Our lives should be praise to God. As Christians we have to ask ourselves whether we are living our lives as praise.

A couple of years ago, WWJD bracelets were everywhere. And we all need to think about Christ as a role model: we need to ask ourselves what Jesus would do as we make our own choices. However, we have to realize that we might be clinging to our autonomy again if we merely ask about the choices Christ would make--that is, if we become a filter for things, even with Christ in mind. I think that what really needs to happen is that we need to ask instead what is Jesus doing--we need to let God act through us and instead of filtering things ourselves, we need to be filtered through Christ. Once again it becomes a matter of whom we have placed in charge--and even though we might have Christ in mind, we have to relinquish control if we want Christ to truly shine in our lives.

And a shining life if what we need in order to truly glorify God. We are all tarnished because we are all human. We can do nothing to show the wonder and awesomeness of God. But we can allow God to show through us. Okay, technically, allowing is doing something. The one thing we can do is make the right choice. God's glory is the same with or without any one of us; however, we have the option of being connected to it. That choice is the most important thing any one of us can ever do. It is the choice that makes all the difference.