And I Beheld, and I Heard

Revelation 5:11-13

11. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

"To God be the glory!"  I've heard some people say this or, "The glory goes to God" -- athletes after victory or maybe a country music singer receiving an award.  And I've kind of dismissed it with an unsettling feeling, not quite sure what I don't like about it.  I've now concluded that the problem is that I just don't understand what it means.

Glory.  What is glory?  We most often hear about it in terms of victory, a sports team on the "glory road", a glorious win, glory days when a person was triumphant and celebrated.  With the same kind of meaning, we refer to glory in other ways, too.  The glory of a summer day, a glorious sunrise, an eagle soaring in all its glory.  There's something supremely beautiful and good in anything glorious.  And yet, when we speak of a glory of sunrise or an eagle or a rose in full bloom we aren't really speaking of glory that originates within the sunrise or eagle or rose, it is not something that was created by each of these things.  They're glorious because they were created in a way that manifests supreme beauty and goodness.  The glory is not their own, but comes through them from their Creator, from their source that is, ultimately, the source of all glory.

When we give glory to a victorious team we think about what the team accomplished, what the individual people did working together as a unit to earn the victory.  But, in this cold, calculating way, what precise actions led to what specific results, we aren't really thinking about glory.  It's mechanical and efficient.  It does its job.  It does what it was formed to do.  What's so glorious about that?  Glorious victories are usually those that are unexpected or unusual -- not the logical consequence of a mechanical process.  When the underdog triumphs against all odds -- that's a glorious victory.  When the favorite team dominates in a brilliantly masterful way -- that's a glorious victory, too.  These are not formulas to be replicated so much as moments in time that will never be exactly repeated.  Like every sunrise is different.  When human beings excel in such a way, they are like that eagle in glorious flight.  They capture our imaginations, elevate our spirits, and fill us with joy and awe.

There is a reason that some people, when they come to a glorious moment in their own lives, will say out loud "To God be the glory!"  It isn't a falsely modest statement or a testament of low self-esteem, it is a simple acknowledgment of truth.  The person has glimpsed supreme wonder, beauty and goodness, has been momentarily immersed in it, and has recognized the source, the source of true glory who is God, the creator and master of all.  Of course, nothing exists without God.  But, also, nothing glorious exists except through God's glory -- we shine it forth.

We do not merely reflect it.  We, created in the image of God, have the divinely-given ability to step into God's glory, to participate in it.  "The glory of God is Man fully alive," said St. Irenaeus.  And, so, when we are fully alive, beholding and hearing ultimate reality, which is divine love, and fulfilling the promise of our being, living in truly loving relationship with ourselves, with one another, and with our Creator, then we sublimely sing with our very actions and being, "Glory be to God!"  The human soul exalts -- and so, God in His Heaven exalts, too.

Christina Chase