Psalm 96 speaks of the glory of God:
- in His salvation and marvelous works (v2,3)- in the creation of the heavens (v5)- in His honour, majesty, strength and beauty (v6). Plato was right. There is absolute beauty.- in His name: the name 'I am who I am'. It is a name that declares the absolute freedom of God, that he is beyond limits or boundaries, beyond space, beyond time - and yet in revealing to us His name, he enables us to call to him. (v8)- in His justice. He will judge the peoples with equity, with fairness (vv10,13)- in His appearing, His coming to us (v13)And so this season of epiphany (which means light shining on us) is the season when we look at his coming in the Lord Jesus and we see the glory of God. And the readings that we have in these Sundays in epiphany speak of that revelation:- The star, the light that shines over the stable and leads the magi to worship Jesus- The baptism of Jesus, when we see the glory and the beauty of the Trinity. Not as a Venn diagram, not as a shamrock, not as philosophical problem to be solved, but as three persons. The Father who speaks, the Son who is spoken to, and the Spirit who comes down in bodily form like a dove. And the baptism of Jesus reveals to us the first thing that we need to know about God: that at the heart of God is a union, a communion of love: 'This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am so pleased'. (Luke 3:20-22)- And this morning we heard how Jesus turned water into wine, and so 'revealed his glory'. (John 2:1-11)Psalm 96 calls on creation to declare the glory of God. It calls the seas to roar, the fields to exult, the trees to sing for joy, in the anticipation of the coming of God from heaven to earth. (vv11-12)And we, who live after the coming of Jesus, muted and restrained as we are, join in with that praise. I think that the most repeated phrase in Evening Prayer is the doxology: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit". It is in declaring the glory of God as Father, Son and Holy SpiritIt is as we look on him 'in the beauty of holiness' (v9)It is as we surrender our lives and our wills to him (v8)It is as we both celebrate and long for the presence and justice of God that we begin to share in the glory of God. We share in the glory of that to which we give glory. Which is why one of the very brief summaries of the gospel which Paul gives us is that it is about 'Christ in you, the hope of Glory' (Colossians 1:27)
