Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, Now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of His glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Jude 1:24-25
I grew up in Southern California, which is currently experiencing several large and very dangerous fires. The fires have come within a block of where my brother lives. Others have not been so lucky. People on the Prayer Team were so gracious in offering prayers in our time of need last fall in Tampa where I serve when the hurricanes damaged our area, as well as many areas of the Southeast. Please offer prayers for the people of Southern California who are being affected by these wildfires. May God grant safety to all those in affected areas, and may God also protect the firefighters and first responders who are trying to get them under control.
In the Orthodox liturgical tradition, every prayer ends with a statement glorifying the Holy Trinity. We do not say “In Jesus name we pray.” There is nothing wrong about praying that way, in fact, many Christians are ending a prayer by invoking the name of Jesus. And we should not judge them for that! God is revealed in Trinity, and our prayers to God are prayers which glorify the Trinity. There are specific prayers addressed to Jesus Christ. However, even those prayers end with a statement glorifying Christ, “together with Your Father who is without beginning and Your all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.” Our prayers almost always end with a statement glorifying the Holy Trinity.
After honoring the Holy Trinity, our prayers conclude with the phrase “now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.” The glory of God is forever—it goes back infinitely, and it goes forward infinitely. We know that. We express that. We remember the glory of the Lord at that Nativity, at the Resurrection, in other instances in the Bible and in other instances throughout history. We speak of experiencing the glory of the Lord in heaven, for eternal life. What sometimes gets forgotten is experiencing the glory of the Lord in the here and now. That is why the word “NOW” is so significant in our prayers. Because when we pray and when we worship, we place ourselves in the presence of God’s glory right now. God’s glory is not just historical, or a goal for the future, it is something we can experience at any time and in any place.
The Doxology is not only a beautiful hymn, but a complex prayer, that is offered as a hymn. It begins with glorifying God—“Glory unto God who gives us light, Glory in the highest to God.” In this hymn, we have had all the elements of prayer—glorifying God, thanking God, confession of our sins, asking for intercession for others, offering supplication for ourselves and our own needs. Now that the hymn/prayer is about to conclude, it ends like all prayers in our church, with a statement of glory to the Holy Trinity, and an affirmation that this glory has not only been experienced throughout history, and not only is it going to be experienced in heaven, it can be experienced today.
We are all busy. Many of us are perpetually tired from all the busy-ness. We don’t think about the glory of God very often. We don’t look at the history of God’s glory very often. Perhaps we think about the Incarnation at Christmas but not the rest of the year. We don’t think about the words of St. Athanasios—that God became a man so that man can become like God. Ideally, we set a goal to become more “God-like” each day in our behavior, but more than likely, we don’t have that as a daily goal. We don’t think about heaven on a daily basis either, usually until we get old or get really sick, or we have a family member who is old or sick. Someone who is middle-aged, trying to balance a family and a career and just get through the day probably doesn’t think too much about heaven, or if they do, that becomes a challenge/thought to be put off until one is much older.
There are two problems with this line of thinking. First, the end could come for any of us at any time. We are not guaranteed to live to age 85 or 90. Every day there is a tragedy somewhere, where someone dies unexpectedly. Second, when we don’t think about the end goal, we will lack focus today and probably for long stretches of time and then we might not arrive at the end goal. When a student is in college, they might think about graduation on a daily basis. But they will think about it several times a year when they meet with an advisor and decide what classes to take in the next semester. They will want to know that what they are doing is going to get them toward their ultimate goal. They wouldn’t go semester after semester without aim in terms of their classes.
Meditating on the glory of the Lord is important. If we are hoping to stand in His glory for eternity, and that’s what heaven will be, an eternal experience of God’s glory, then we need to practice that in our life now, today. An experience of God’s glory changes us, it motivates us, when we experience glory we want to experience more of it. God’s glory is available at any time to any of us, but we need to have hearts that are open to it. When we are so busy, or distracted or tied to our phones and devices, when we can’t forgive, are ungrateful, do not feel any need for repentance, and when we serve ourselves more than we serve others, we become spiritually numb, or dull, or listless. An experience of God’s glory will remain elusive. When we have hearts that we allow to be softened in prayer, in worship, in thought, in gratitude, in forgiving others, in our own personal repentance and in service to others, then we become more spiritually awake and aware of God’s glory.
The word “forever” is not profound. We know that God’s glory is without beginning or end. The word “now” is profound because it brings the eternal glory of God to a present accessible reality, but only if we allow it to. This why we conclude our prayers not only by glorifying the Trinity, but reminding ourselves of the present reality of God. A worthy question to meditate on is “how can I experience the glory of God today,” and a second question is “am I open to this possibility” i.e. is my heart soft, will I make the time to hear God’s voice, do I have enough gratitude that allows me to see blessings as pieces of His glory rather than just as personal achievements.
Lord, the gift of Your glory is not just something that has come out during certain events in history; nor it is only for eternity. Help me to experience Your glory in the now. Give me a heart that is soft, humble and grateful. Help me to slow down in all the busy-ness. Help me to experience Your glory in nature, in service, in prayer, in humility. Please reassure me of Your glory especially in times when I am distracted and down on You, or on myself. For Yours is the dominion, the kingdom the power and the glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Where we will mark our forever (heaven or hell) is affected by how we mark our now. If we hope to stand in the glory of God forever, we need to think His glory today. And when we get stuck and think that glory is an elusive thing that can’t be experienced in this life, remember that word “now” that ends most of our prayers and be reminded that God’s glory can be experienced today if we are open to it.
