Glory Stories

On Epiphany Sunday, offering baskets filled with slips of paper with a word and star on each were passed through the congregation. Our pastor of worship, Elly Boersma Sarkany, explained that a star gift, the word we received, might be used by God in the coming year to inspire us on our faith journey. We were encouraged to place the word where we’d see it every day and to be attentive to the Holy Spirit-ordained ways it showed up in our lives.

Because I had participated in planning the service, I was aware the star gifts were going to be distributed. I had prayed that God would lead me to the word he had chosen for me. So I was surprised when I read “glory.” What? How would God speak to me through the word “glory,” always a difficult concept for me to adequately pin down? How does one even define glory and capture all its nuances?

But wait! Stuck to the back of the paper was another one with “enlightenment” on it. Obviously my perplexity about the word glory and why God gave it to me required enlightenment—Holy Spirit illumination. Did I sense God’s humor? Yes, I did! In a basket filled with numerous slips of paper, two slips with two closely connected words stuck together. And they were mine for the year!

So where did glory jump out at me throughout the year? How did the Holy Spirit enlighten me and whisper, “Here’s God’s glory! Open your eyes! Don’t miss it!” to me? In too many ways to count! God enlightened me to his glory in the changing seasons, creation, songs, fiction, nonfiction, devotions, poetry, Bible studies, prayers, and sermons.

And God opened my eyes to his glory in one other way by drawing my attention to people I met on walks in my city. What did those encounters have to do with my star gifts—glory and enlightenment? The psalmist David offers a hint when he declares that the glory of the Lord is revealed in people: “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:5).

God made me especially aware of people he has “crowned with glory and honor” and who are struggling to find their way, spiritually, emotionally, or financially. Take Gavin*, Dolores*, and Saagarika*, for example.

Gavin is a young man who moved with his mother to my neighborhood several years ago. During that time I’d had a few conversations with him and found him congenial and upbeat. Last summer, he was working outside, and I went to talk to him. It wasn’t the first time I noticed the tattoo of ornate script on his arm, words I hadn’t been able to decipher. I had never before asked him about it. That day I did.

“What’s your tattoo say?” I asked.

“No God. No king. Only man,” he answered.

“You don't believe in God?” I asked gently.

Gavin answered, “I look at it this way. I haven't been given the gift of faith yet.”

An unexpected answer for sure! I replied, “Then I’ll pray that you'll be given it.”

Gavin smiled, but didn’t say anything in response.

Reflecting on our conversation later, I thought, was that not the glory of the Lord being revealed on my street in a conversation with a spiritually seeking man? Yes, it was! God has crowned Gavin with glory and honor, even though he is most likely not aware of it, and God is seeking him so that one day he, too, may give glory to God.

In the fall I met Dolores as I regularly stopped on my morning walks at a public place. Dolores was always surrounded by bags filled with all her possessions, I presumed—a possible sign of homelessness. The first time I talked with her I asked if she had a place to live. She said she didn’t. I asked if I could pray with her. She readily agreed. I prayed that God would provide for her.

As the weeks passed and I regularly met her, Dolores shared snippets of her story. She stayed with a friend every night but had to leave early in the morning when her friend went to work. She had immigrated to Canada when she was a young adult. She had two adult children living nearby, but residing long-term with them was not an option.

When we talked about our faith, Dolores’s eyes often shimmered with tears. Once she told me she had been at a laundromat the day before and found a piece of paper on the floor, possibly from a devotional, which stated that God would always take care of his children and provide all they needed. Despite her circumstances, she knew that was true. I told her I would continue to pray for her, and I asked her to pray for me.

I haven’t seen Dolores for a while. Reflecting on my conversations with her I thought, was that not the glory of the Lord being revealed as two of his children met in a public place at his leading and talked about his goodness? Yes, it was! God has crowned Dolores with glory and honor, and she was aware of it even as each day was a struggle.

Gavin. Dolores. And then there was Saagarika, who was occasionally sitting on her porch as I walked past. In several conversations, I heard her story. She is a Christian living with mental illness, plagued by oppressive voices, addicted to cigarettes, and longing for freedom. Reflecting on our conversations, I realized once again that the glory of the Lord was revealed as she shared her burdens with me. Whatever the outward circumstances, no matter her daily battles, Saagarika, too, is crowned with glory and honor as she calls on the Lord for healing and victory.

What are the implications for us that all the people with whom we live, work, worship, and meet in society are, by God’s design, crowned with glory and honor? How will knowing that truth shape the way we interact with and listen to people like Gavin, Dolores, and Saagarika?

C. S. Lewis, the renowned Christian author and apologist, offers a refreshingly helpful insight. In his sermon The Weight of Glory he wrote, “It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.”

When we allow the Holy Spirit to lay the weight, or load, or burden of our neighbors’ glory on our backs, we will be changed. As Lewis states, it is “a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.” May we be humble servants of Jesus, enlightened through the Holy Spirit to see our crowned-with-glory neighbors and to listen to their glory stories.

(*Names have been changed.)