What in heaven's name is Glory?

‘Angels from the realms of glory… now proclaim Messiah’s birth’, so goes the Christmas carol, one which we may hear or sing during the next few weeks. What does the word ‘glory’ actually mean?

When we say that something is glorious, we are wanting to speak of its magnificence, beauty, dignity and weightiness.

We read in the Bible that at pivotal moments God’s glory shows itself to his people in various forms - light, cloud and fire. This is referred to as the Glory of the Lord. When we hear the Christmas nativity story, we are reminded that, when the heavenly messenger spoke about the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, the Glory of the Lord shone around. The moment was majestic, one of magnificence and beauty. The message being conveyed was weighty and needed to be received with dignity.

Perhaps adults should bear this in mind as the back story when seeing children performing nativity plays. After all, those shepherds were described as being terrified, so awesome was the occasion. It was for this reason the angelic messenger said ‘Fear not’ and then went on to inform them about the arrival of Jesus and who he was – the long-awaited Messiah.

The great news, or glad tidings, was to be received with joy by those who welcomed it; Messiah had now come and was to be their saviour. The magnificence of the event only increased as other angelic messengers arrived and began to explain more by singing of God’s glory: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace to those on whom his favour rests.’

In general, we have grown up with the notion that at Christmastime ‘peace and goodwill (favour)’ is something we are to be sharing with one another, ‘Have a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year’. The emphasis of the original Christmas proclamation, however, is more to do with God presenting his goodwill and favour by bringing about peace between himself and his people. The idea of peace between God and us only makes sense when we realise the estrangement which, if we’re honest, we know exists within our hearts. Jesus is where God’s goodwill towards us and proffered peace are to be found.

A basis for confidence

Do you remember that scene in the film The Sound of Music? Maria is filled with doubts as she journeys towards the von Trapp home to take up her post as a nanny to the seven children. In order to psych herself up she muses, sings and dances to boost her confidence. There is the repeated lyric, ‘I have confidence in confidence alone’.

In recent years, some of our politicians have invested much in this psychological notion of confidence. Exude confidence, show confidence, speak of confidence and encourage confidence in others and confidence will produce tangible results. Before being drawn in, however, the sober-minded will wish to ask, ‘confidence in what?’ The temptation is to have, like Maria, confidence in confidence itself. Just like the words luck, chance, and fate etc., these words don’t describe anything of substance or reality. Confidence can be good to possess only when it is founded upon something reliable.

A similar thing occurs when we speak about faith. ‘If only I had more faith’ someone may moan as they anxiously seek a miracle. Listening to the teaching of Jesus, it might be concluded that he reinforces the idea that faith in and of itself has power to perform great things. For example, Jesus says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, which is tiny, then we may say to a mountain, ‘Go jump in the lake’, and it will. I don’t believe that Jesus wants us to become landscapers on a grand scale. We need to ask the question ‘faith in what?’ or, better still, ‘faith in whom?’ Christianity does not propose having faith in faith but rather faith in a person, namely Jesus.

Faith, hope and yes, confidence, each loom large in Christian teaching. Invariably, however, they are each grounded on God as Father of his people, his word as given in the Bible and on Jesus that same word but now in human form.

Conclusion? Be wary of groundless words and those who wish to draw you into their own misplaced confidence. Instead, have faith (i.e. trust) in God, confidence in his word and then hope in his loving care, which is now and forever.

A first-hand faith

If you are a person of faith, is it something you’ve inherited or has someone taken the trouble to introduce you to it? Either way, is your present faith one of personal conviction?

Jesus engaged a Samaritan woman in conversation as she came to draw water from an old well. He soon steered their talk to things spiritual, sensing that this particular woman had a deep thirst in her soul which natural water wouldn’t quench. He was concerned to get to the heart-need of this woman. He drew out of her the actual status of her current ‘marriage’ and then demonstrated that he knew all about her previous complex relationships. This took her aback. Thinking that only someone who has had a revelation from God could have known such intimate things about her life she said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet’. She then asked religious questions about the long-standing division between the Jews and Samaritans. Was she wishing to divert the conversation from her own irregular domestic situation or was she genuinely now thirsting to satisfy her faith questions? (The Jews and Samaritans were at odds with each other though they shared some of the same Scriptures and both groups were looking for a coming Messiah.)

The woman went back to her town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ The townspeople did come and many of them put their trust in Jesus because of the woman's words. They urged him to stay with them, which he did for two days.

What grabs my attention is what those new believers said to the woman who had brought them to meet Jesus: They said to her, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’

God’s intention is to use each individual Christian to introduce Jesus the Messiah to others. Ultimately, however, none of us should be tied to the apron strings of the person who first told us about Jesus. We each need to be able to say, ‘No longer do I believe just because of what you said, I know it for myself.’ A first-hand faith and not a second-hand one is something worth boldly asking Jesus for.