Sunday, February 18, 2024  

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Today's Hymn
“The Glory of These Forty Days”

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
delivered from the lions’ might;
and John, the Bridegroom’s friend, became
the herald of Messiah’s name.

Then grant that we like them be true,
consumed in fast and prayer with you;
our spirits strengthen with your grace,
and give us joy to see your face.

by Gregory the Great (6th cent.); trans. Maurice F. Bell (1906)
Hymn 165, Glory to God
verses 3–4

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Reflection

This Lenten hymn points to Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and John the Baptist as examples to encourage us as we seek God’s face this season. It is biblical to remember God’s wondrous works (Psalm 105:5) and to draw near to God through fasting and prayer as they did. As a frame of reference for the glory of these forty days?

It seems hard to top what Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and John experienced of God’s glory. Yet Paul writes that we are ministers of a new covenant “not of the letter [like Moses] but of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:6) and that “what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it” (3:10). When we turn to Christ, we behold the Lord’s glory and “are transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (3:18). Of Jesus’ glory, the author of Hebrews writes that Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3).

In The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis draws out provocative implications of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27):

“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat — the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden” (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, p.15).

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Prayer
Dear God, thank you for the gift of your grace and Spirit. Reminding us of the hope to which you have called us, please help us see the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Written by Jeanette Chung, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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