Glory


Glory. I have struggled with this word for a few days now. I am troubled by glory.

The glory of the world might be studded in diamonds and plated with gold, draped in velvet and silk. But the glory of God is hidden from us. It is a glory that we cannot comprehend, cannot even bear the sight of. In the Exodus story we read that Moses carried the glory of God in his face when he returned from the mountain, and the people could not bear the sight of him.

As Christians, we see glory in the cross, because we understand it as the way of salvation. We know Christ said to his disciples that each one must take up her own cross. If we are to follow in his way, we follow him through death and beyond – all the way to glory.

And so our Christian tradition has seen glory in suffering. Not suffering for its own sake but suffering that becomes necessary on the way to something else. Glory.

But this, too, troubles me, it all too easily becomes a glorification of suffering, a glorification of violence. Wars have been fought as a means to see the glory of the coming of the Lord. But I don’t believe God ever needs or wants our wars. War does not serve God. We are fooling ourselves. War serves us – at the same time it destroys us.

Still, I am far from settled on this matter. In a world as broken and sinful as this is, violence happens. Oppression and cruelty happen. Wars happen.

I know that wars will continue to happen. But they are not glorious.

This world is so far from getting it.

Photo: These are small rocks that have glimmers of gold in them. 

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