Where I Blog

• Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage - a barely thematic journey through my tangentizing mental life
• TFB Academy Blog - theology blogging in support of TFB Academy
• Currently on hiatus: Who in the World are we? - wonderings of a theologically trained ponderer (me), writing out-loud, while working to help form her small corner of the church

Understanding Glory

The essential and experiential links between God and his creation form a theoretical structure for a deeper understanding of his glory.

• God is is essentially linked for he is Creator and Lord.

• God is experientially linked through his ubiquitous glory.

Reflections of Glory the week of May 29, 2021

sunset on the road

Simple yet intricate

Develop Eyes to See Glory

Summary. When Christians have a hard time recognizing revealed glory, they should evaluate their sight and work on development.

God's divinity and power, his glory, is proclaimed by what he has made. This is the baseline. For those who trust Christ, there is more. The Spirit gives insight into the meaning revealed in creation and Scripture, and he increases our understanding of this meaning. Engaging Nature and Scripture in partnership with the Spirit hones our capacity to recognize and understand reflections of God's glory.

Living amidst this clarified revelation, the more the more we engage the reflections of glory the more we know God. And the more we know God, the more we develop our perception of his revelation. Even with this clarity, though, reflections of God's glory can be difficult to discern. His glory is not always flashy. Sometimes it is subtle. There are, of course, instances of God's blinding brilliance, but these are rare. If we are only looking for magnificence and grandeur, we will entirely miss the understated beauty of God.

God shines his splendid, unmistakable goodness all over: it is the space in which we live and move and have our being. It is our task to develop eyes to see, for missing his evident glory is a problem of perception not revelation. If a believer has a difficult time perceiving reflections of glory in creation, she must evaluate her capacity to see and take steps to develop the theistic assumptions that properly underpin such perception. Engaging more deeply with God's creation and Word in community can form these assumptions develop our spiritual eyesight.

Know God's Worth

Article: Unified Account of Glory Concepts: Glory, Glorious, Glorified, Glorying-in, and Derivative Concepts

 

The Point. Yahweh alone is worthy of all significant and sincere praise, and those who perceive his worth will glorify him.

Riff on the article. Something is glorious when it is worthy of significant and sincere praise. Therefore, Yahweh is the ultimate glorious one, for he alone is worthy of ultimate praise. Anything else exhibiting glory is reflective or derivative, stimulating the minds of perceivers toward God, who is the one source of glory. For these, admiring creation is transformed into worship of God.

This little light of ours...

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16 NRSV).

https://bible.com/bible/2016/mat.5.16.NRSV

Fall is falling

Pondering Glory and Community

As the church matures, she becomes an ever more clear shining of God's glory and proclamation of his splendor.

Questions I'm Pondering
• What does it look like to be a community in the context of God's glory?
• What does glory look like in the context of community?

Concept Outline
• Glory is the magnificent splendor that is the exuding of God's essence, embodied in the people of God. It is the relational web of glory-reflectors, always shining God's essence. It is the working, living, and trusting of the One whose magnificent splendor is made safe by love.
• Glory shines in the people of God to the world in glorifying ways. It shines through a family of teachers, models, and exemplars of God's glory. It shines through a family of doers, followers, and proclaimers for and of God's glory.
• The people of God shine God's glory like Jesus in order to please the Father and be conformed to the Son. We shine it as a family that refracts and disperses God's glory, thereby doing his mission and becoming like Jesus. We shine it as a family that lives like Jesus for God's pleasure.

Transition to Fall

Planned respite

I love this space.

Creation declares the glory of God

All nature proclaims God's glory!

Nature's Witness

Nature's sidewalk art

see the picture on Instagram 

Small beauty

Gathering breakfast

I encountered this little fellow gathering his breakfast this morning.

This morning's walking buddy

I love crows and I'm so glad God made them.

Pink for a Thursday

Small pleasures as glimmers of glory

The answer to a yearning is sometimes close at hand.

Having been in the house since about a week before stay at home orders, a friend recommended I sit at the table by the pool and our complex. Sometimes the experience of God's glory comes in small packages.

Earth stuff transformed

Humanity takes what God has made and transforms it, reflecting, in our earth-bound way, God's creativity.