That single word, glory, is one of the most heavily freighted and densely packed in Christian thought. To speak of the glory of God is to speak of a beauty so overwhelming that to see it fully would be more than a human being could survive.
In Exodus 33, God allows Moses to come closer than any mortal since the expulsion from Eden. God also permits Moses to make a great request: Moses says, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
God answers, in essence, that Moses will be granted that vision, but only as a glimpse that he will be able to survive. I will make my goodness pass before you and say my name to you, but you cannot see my face.
God places Moses in the cleft of a great boulder, shields Moses, and only uncovers him to glimpse the Divine Glory from behind as it passes.
The word glory, among its many uses in the Bible, is often in this same context. Humans are allowed to see glimpses of glory revealed in the created world… but even that only in passing. Glory, though, is always present, at any moment to be revealed again.
Gabby recognizes it in creation, in the moment, and calls it by name. Francis adds that each such moment allows a glimpse of God.
That single word, glory, is one of the most heavily freighted and densely packed in Christian thought. To speak of the glory of God is to speak of a beauty so overwhelming that to see it fully would be more than a human being could survive.
In Exodus 33, God allows Moses to come closer than any mortal since the expulsion from Eden. God also permits Moses to make a great request: Moses says, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
God answers, in essence, that Moses will be granted that vision, but only as a glimpse that he will be able to survive. I will make my goodness pass before you and say my name to you, but you cannot see my face.
God places Moses in the cleft of a great boulder, shields Moses, and only uncovers him to glimpse the Divine Glory from behind as it passes.
The word glory, among its many uses in the Bible, is often in this same context. Humans are allowed to see glimpses of glory revealed in the created world… but even that only in passing. Glory, though, is always present, at any moment to be revealed again.
Gabby recognizes it in creation, in the moment, and calls it by name. Francis adds that each such moment allows a glimpse of God.
Gabby again: “So quickly passing by.”
For Francis, Gabby, and Moses and….