When we are in church we sometimes hear the word “Glory”, and this morning I want to talk about this word. In the Bible [hold up the Bible] we hear about the glory of God. Or sometimes we sing songs about the glory of God [you could refer to a hymn/song that your church often sings, maybe you could have sung it just before the children’s story, so it’s fresh in their minds.] Where do we see the Glory of God? What is the glory that the Bible talks about so much?
God’s glory is all around us, but it’s sometimes tricky to understand it. I want to tell you about glory by using something else to help us understand it. We’re going to use electricity.
Electricity is also all around us, but we can’t always see it. There is electricity in this cord I have here in my hands that is plugged into the wall. There is electricity running in the wires inside the walls all around the building, but we can’t see it or hear it or feel it. it’s just there.
The word glory means “showing what is there.” It’s about revealing something that’s hidden. So how do we show electricity? [Take a lamp and plug it into the cord and turn it on].
Behold the glory of electricity! [leave it on]
[Take a fan and plug it in, so it blows air on the kids]
Behold the glory of electricity!! [leave it on]
[Take a vacuum cleaner and plug it in, so it makes a loud noise]
Behold the glory of electricity!!! [you will be speaking loudly by this time! Then turn everything off.]
Electricity is so powerful, but we might know it’s there. We showed the glory of electricity when we took cords and plugged in the light, and the fan and the vacuum. The light and the fan and the vacuum showed us electricity’s power. Before it was hidden and then we saw it. They showed us the glory of the electricity!
When Jesus was born, angels appeared in the sky and sang to the shepherds saying, “Glory to God!” Jesus was the biggest way that God showed power and love for us. And the angels were saying…look at the power of God…you can see it in Jesus!
God’s power is all around us. How do we see God’s power? The world is plugged into the power of God. When we look at the sun, that is the glory of God shining on us. When your parent’s love you, that is the glory of God’s love coming through them to you. When we get together in church, we are plugging into the power of God, and we are revealing God’s glory. We share what we have…that is a sign of the glory of God, the power of God in us!
Let’s pray together: Thank you God for your power, and your glory. Thank you for the gift of Jesus, and thank you for the way we can plug into your power and show your glory through the way we live and love each and every day. Amen.
I am a Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve served congregations in Ontario and most recently, Alberta.