The author of our...
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The author of our lesson warns against myths when thinking about Christ's glory. There are a lot of myths about his glory. Famed black prosperity preacher and megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes promises that "in order to receive an expected harvest [from God], we must first sow a seed." But there is a lot of poverty still among hard-working faithful people. The new globalized economy promised to create wealth. We need to reinvent ourselves in this new reality in order to find contentment and success, so the myth goes. But sociologist Richard Sennett has observed how the stress on flexibility in our new economy has robbed us of a sense of connectedness and coherence, resulting in anxiety (The Corrosion of Character, especially pp. 9-10, 134-135).
These half-truths and myths about the good life pale in the face of the reality of God's glory. As John Wesley once suggested, compared to Christ in all his glory they are like the light of a lamp compared to daylight (Commentary on the Bible, p. 582)! Christ's glory, Saint Augustine says, is evident in that he is more inward than the most inward place in the heart, wholly everywhere yet nowhere, in many places yet simultaneously in just one place (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, pp. 63, 91, 446, 474). Christ's glorification sets humanity free from all the false promises (myths) of prosperity and wealth. Famed modern Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin claimed that Christ's glorification involves the restoration of all the energies and powers of the universe, for he is "the instrument, the center and the end of all creation…" (Hymn of the Universe, p. 144).
These half-truths and myths about the good life pale in the face of the reality of God's glory. As John Wesley once suggested, compared to Christ in all his glory they are like the light of a lamp compared to daylight (Commentary on the Bible, p. 582)! Christ's glory, Saint Augustine says, is evident in that he is more inward than the most inward place in the heart, wholly everywhere yet nowhere, in many places yet simultaneously in just one place (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, pp. 63, 91, 446, 474). Christ's glorification sets humanity free from all the false promises (myths) of prosperity and wealth. Famed modern Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin claimed that Christ's glorification involves the restoration of all the energies and powers of the universe, for he is "the instrument, the center and the end of all creation…" (Hymn of the Universe, p. 144).
