The Glory Of The Lord
Sermon
Years ago, a farmer in the tiny Norfolk village of Thursford (population 103) developed a passion for fairground organs. He started to collect and renovate any he could find, along with quite a collection of steam engines, and he stored them all in his barn. Gradually his collection grew until now it is a glittering cave of majestic old road engines and mechanical organs of every variety, all gleaming with colour.
With many of the machines still in working order, the collection is a sight and sound spectacular. It includes steam showman and traction engines, steam rollers and static engines, fairground and dancehall organs and a Gondola switchback. And the collection also includes a 2' narrow gauge steam railway and a mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
The collection is open to the public and since the early days, old farm buildings have been transformed into a mini-village with a touch of Charles Dickens' England. The pantry/sweet shop has an enormous selection of good things on offer, many of them locally made. In the stable and corner shops there are gifts for all ages, records and cassettes of the Thursford music, and a picture Gallery.
But Thursford really comes into its own in winter, when the whole complex is transformed for the Christmas Spectacular carol shows. These variety shows with a cast of over 100, run continuously twice daily for the six weeks prior to Christmas and are packed with over a thousand people at each performance, for this is now Europe's largest Christmas show.
Walking into what was once an old barn, at Christmas is like walking into wonderland, for the barn is an unforgettable blaze of lights and sound and colour, and the experience truly is spectacular. For a few hours, visitors are transported into a different world where worries and anxiety are left behind and life is full of joy and wonder and delight.
Perhaps when the Ancient Israelites saw the glory of the Lord, they experienced similar feelings of wonder and delight, mixed with understandable fear. The glory of the Lord seems to have been a physical attribute which was seen from time to time, especially during Old Testament years and occasionally during New Testament years.
John's gospel is based around the idea of the glory of the Lord and John includes a number of signs of glory, all of which point to the divinity of Jesus and which culminate in the resurrection. Luke associates the glory of the Lord with the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:9) and Paul associates it with the life of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 8:19).
According to Psalm 19:1, the glory of the Lord has been present from the beginning of Creation, but it is first recorded in the Old Testament in association with Moses and the trek through the wilderness. We're told that the glory of the Lord went before the tribes to guide them and to protect them and it was seen as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
In today's reading from Exodus 24 Moses is called by God to climb the Mount Sinai, prior to receiving the Ten Commandments. The glory of the Lord settled on the mountain in the form of a cloud, obscuring Moses from sight, and Moses then had to wait six days before God spoke to him again. But on the seventh day the glory of the Lord became like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel and at this point Moses ventured right into the cloud. He was on top of the mountain within God's presence for forty days and forty nights and when he emerged his face was so radiant with reflected glory that he was obliged to cover his face with a veil in order for the people look at him (Exodus 34:33-35).
After the experiences of the Children of Israel in Exodus where the glory of the Lord appears on numerous occasions, it also appears in Leviticus, Numbers, Kings and Chronicles. It's seen too in the poetry of Isaiah and particularly in the mystical writings of Ezekiel, where it becomes almost personified. Ezekiel says, "So I rose up and went out into the valley; and the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face" (Ezekiel 3:23), and "Then the glory of the Lord rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house; the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 10:4).
The occasion on Mount Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments is closely reflected in the New Testament story of The Transfiguration. Jesus too climbed a high mountain and became gloriously radiant, three of his disciples were witnesses of the event and they were overshadowed by cloud. Jesus' radiance indicates that he will fulfill the prophecy that he will come in God's glory at the end of the age (Matthew 16:27). And to reinforce the message, Jesus is seen with Moses the lawgiver, recalling the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:12-18) and with Elijah the prophet, recalling the revelation to Elijah at the same place (1 Kings 19:8-18; Horeb = Sinai).
It's interesting that Moses waited six days on the mountain before God spoke to him. Elijah waited forty days and forty nights on the mountain before God spoke to him, and Jesus waited forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before learning from God what his mission was to be.
Perhaps today we are too impatient and too busy to hear God's voice. Perhaps we too need to learn to wait upon God in silence if we really want to follow his will and to see the glory of God for ourselves. Meanwhile, we can fill our time with interest and excitement and we can reproduce spectacular and breathtaking events like the Thursford experience, but compared to the glory of God, even that is but a pale reflection.
If we want the real thing -- an experience of God which will transfigure our lives -- then we must wait upon God, even if we have to wait within a cloud.
With many of the machines still in working order, the collection is a sight and sound spectacular. It includes steam showman and traction engines, steam rollers and static engines, fairground and dancehall organs and a Gondola switchback. And the collection also includes a 2' narrow gauge steam railway and a mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
The collection is open to the public and since the early days, old farm buildings have been transformed into a mini-village with a touch of Charles Dickens' England. The pantry/sweet shop has an enormous selection of good things on offer, many of them locally made. In the stable and corner shops there are gifts for all ages, records and cassettes of the Thursford music, and a picture Gallery.
But Thursford really comes into its own in winter, when the whole complex is transformed for the Christmas Spectacular carol shows. These variety shows with a cast of over 100, run continuously twice daily for the six weeks prior to Christmas and are packed with over a thousand people at each performance, for this is now Europe's largest Christmas show.
Walking into what was once an old barn, at Christmas is like walking into wonderland, for the barn is an unforgettable blaze of lights and sound and colour, and the experience truly is spectacular. For a few hours, visitors are transported into a different world where worries and anxiety are left behind and life is full of joy and wonder and delight.
Perhaps when the Ancient Israelites saw the glory of the Lord, they experienced similar feelings of wonder and delight, mixed with understandable fear. The glory of the Lord seems to have been a physical attribute which was seen from time to time, especially during Old Testament years and occasionally during New Testament years.
John's gospel is based around the idea of the glory of the Lord and John includes a number of signs of glory, all of which point to the divinity of Jesus and which culminate in the resurrection. Luke associates the glory of the Lord with the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:9) and Paul associates it with the life of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18 and 8:19).
According to Psalm 19:1, the glory of the Lord has been present from the beginning of Creation, but it is first recorded in the Old Testament in association with Moses and the trek through the wilderness. We're told that the glory of the Lord went before the tribes to guide them and to protect them and it was seen as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
In today's reading from Exodus 24 Moses is called by God to climb the Mount Sinai, prior to receiving the Ten Commandments. The glory of the Lord settled on the mountain in the form of a cloud, obscuring Moses from sight, and Moses then had to wait six days before God spoke to him again. But on the seventh day the glory of the Lord became like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel and at this point Moses ventured right into the cloud. He was on top of the mountain within God's presence for forty days and forty nights and when he emerged his face was so radiant with reflected glory that he was obliged to cover his face with a veil in order for the people look at him (Exodus 34:33-35).
After the experiences of the Children of Israel in Exodus where the glory of the Lord appears on numerous occasions, it also appears in Leviticus, Numbers, Kings and Chronicles. It's seen too in the poetry of Isaiah and particularly in the mystical writings of Ezekiel, where it becomes almost personified. Ezekiel says, "So I rose up and went out into the valley; and the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face" (Ezekiel 3:23), and "Then the glory of the Lord rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house; the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 10:4).
The occasion on Mount Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments is closely reflected in the New Testament story of The Transfiguration. Jesus too climbed a high mountain and became gloriously radiant, three of his disciples were witnesses of the event and they were overshadowed by cloud. Jesus' radiance indicates that he will fulfill the prophecy that he will come in God's glory at the end of the age (Matthew 16:27). And to reinforce the message, Jesus is seen with Moses the lawgiver, recalling the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:12-18) and with Elijah the prophet, recalling the revelation to Elijah at the same place (1 Kings 19:8-18; Horeb = Sinai).
It's interesting that Moses waited six days on the mountain before God spoke to him. Elijah waited forty days and forty nights on the mountain before God spoke to him, and Jesus waited forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before learning from God what his mission was to be.
Perhaps today we are too impatient and too busy to hear God's voice. Perhaps we too need to learn to wait upon God in silence if we really want to follow his will and to see the glory of God for ourselves. Meanwhile, we can fill our time with interest and excitement and we can reproduce spectacular and breathtaking events like the Thursford experience, but compared to the glory of God, even that is but a pale reflection.
If we want the real thing -- an experience of God which will transfigure our lives -- then we must wait upon God, even if we have to wait within a cloud.
