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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

August 31, 2022

Invitatory

The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: Come let us adore him.

Reading - John 8:48-59

The Jews answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’ Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’^* Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

“I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge.”

The U.S. Open is likely the last professional tennis tournament of Serena Williams’s career. I played tennis during my childhood and attended the U.S. Open every Labor Day weekend growing up in suburban New York. Serena was a household name. I didn’t always love her, didn’t always agree with her intensity, but I always respected her. And as she faced injuries, life-threatening medical issues, as she was married and became a mother, my respect and admiration for her grew. I would say I began to glorify her. Is she the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time)? Perhaps. She is magnificent. What she has done to grow women’s tennis, to call out and fight racism in her sport and country, to inspire men, women, boys, girls, athletes, and non-athletes: she deserves glory.

But what kind of glory?

We think of glorification in our own terms: it’s how we perceive people we consider great - by our standards. But the glorification Jesus speaks of is different. It isn’t praise and admiration; it is transformation. When Jesus says that God seeks his glory, he is talking about the radical transformation Jesus will undergo in the resurrection. Glorification, in Jesus’s life, is the resurrection. It is the stripping away of his mortal self and the creation of an even more perfect being. By dying as a man, he is reborn as divine.

What does God’s glorification mean for us? That one day, we, too, will be resurrected. That after our mortal bodies die, we will be transformed and made perfect. That, as Jesus said, we “will never taste death,” because we will be made new in God’s creation. It is impossible to imagine, but it is also the most amazing promise made to us.

Serena Williams is a great athlete. She deserves our acclaim. But this earthly acclaim is nothing compared to God’s glorification of Christ–and of us. God seeks our glory - He wants it for us. Despite years of lessons and practice, I probably could not return one of Serena’s powerful serves. And yet God seeks my glory, as powerfully as he seeks hers, and yours. As much as we cling to this life, to our hopes and successes, let us always remember that it is just a foretaste of the heavenly life to come, and be thankful.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

   hallowed be thy Name,

   thy kingdom come,

   thy will be done,

       on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

   as we forgive those

       who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

   but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

   and the power, and the glory,

   for ever and ever. Amen.