Glory is often presumed a status attained, earned, or even entitled to by someone of perceived importance. Glory is for the champion and the victor. Glory is for the powerful ruler or conquistador. Glory is coveted, craved, and maybe even pursued at the expense of the most vulnerable among us. Glory is capital and collateral.
What if glory was something else? What if glory was more like beauty discovered as we are left breathless? What if glory was found in the holy imagination of a small child or the humble compassion offered by a stranger? What if glory was the sun setting over the ocean’s horizon? What if glory was the midnight sky as the rain falls in the middle of a pandemic? What if glory was found in the darkness that holds space for the light, like the airglow above shepherds’ fields where stars shimmered and the moon shined brightly? What if glory was incarnated in the back alley behind an overcrowded inn where a courageous young woman delivered a child and laid him in a manger?
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Glory within and among us, too. Dare you have the eyes to see and ears to hear?
Check out the calendar of words for sacred imaging through AdventWord.