Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral
New Westminster BC
Where does God’s glory dwell?
Some years ago I had the privilege of being one of three presenters with Herbert O’Driscoll and John Bell at a conference sponsored by Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. Very quickly the word among the participants was that the conference should have been called, ‘The Three Celts’, Herbie an Irishman, John a Scot and me an Anglo-Norman-Welshman. Our heritages could not help but emerge in the talks we gave and it was one of most enjoyable professional experiences of my life.
During the conference we sang a lot of John Bell’s hymns and other music from the Iona Community. Among them was a hymn that is found in our hymnal and which we’ve sung from time to time here at Holy Trinity Cathedral, ‘Today I Awake’. The first verse goes like this:
Today I awake and God is before me.
At night, as I dreamt, he summoned the day;
for God never sleeps, but patterns the morning
with slithers of gold and glory in grey. [2]
It’s the last line that gives us a glimpse of John’s Celtic spirituality: “ . . . with slithers of gold and glory in grey”.
In the Celtic spiritual tradition one frequently hears the phrase, ‘thin places’. ‘Thin places’ are places and times when the membrane between the material world and the spiritual world is so thin that the boundary seems to dissolve. John’s hymn describes that ‘thin place’ as dawn begins to break and even grey skies can reveal the glory of God coming upon us. Every time I hear this hymn, I realize how often I have failed to appreciate this ‘thin place’, this drawing near of seen and unseen. Perhaps tomorrow, when my dog and cats wake me up at four o’clock in the morning, I will pause and give thanks for the opportunity to witness God’s “glory in grey”.
In today’s readings from the Scriptures we are invited to explore the question, ‘Where does God’s glory dwell?’ I think this is the question to help us wrestle with the story of Jesus’ outburst in the Temple and to free us from false understandings of what the Law means to the people of Israel, past and present. This is the question that opens the Psalm to us as well as Paul’s words to the Christians in Corinth.
. . . in creation
In the opening words of today’s Psalm we hear an affirmation which, if the truth be told, is not always perceived by human beings: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows the handiwork of the Lord.” [3] Despite the efforts of some voices in both the scientific and religious communities that want to create a division between science and religious faith, the Psalmist is having none of this nor should we.
At the risk of over-simplifying this on-going debate, scientists and people of faith come to the contemplation of creation with two different guiding question. Scientists are guided by the question, ‘How did creation come into being and how does it work?’ People of faith are guided by the question, ‘Why did creation come into being and why are we here?’ Neither question trumps the other. The wise person is intrigued by both, sustained by both and daily confounded and astonished by their “glory in grey”.
. . . in the Torah
If there is any more dangerous misunderstanding of Judaism than Christian misrepresentation of how Judaism understands the Law, the Torah, I do not know. This misrepresentation has literally coloured Christian art, influenced Christian theology and empowered anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. We talk about the conflict between law and grace and speak about Judaism as a religion of law and Christianity a faith of grace. it’s a false but stubborn distinction.
- “To be bound in covenant with God is to be set free to live as God’s people. God’s gift of the law to Israel is a means of protecting the community, now that they are no longer slaves, and opening a path to the flourishing of life, both communal and individual.” [4]
- “There is an internal logic to the commandments that is both compelling and beautiful: The way we attend to God . . . shapes the way we attend to our neighbor . . . . “ [5]
And in the life of faithfulness to Torah, to God’s wisdom, we will find “glory in grey”.
. . . in holy places
Recently I received two queries about the possibility of using Holy Trinity Cathedral for filming. One was from a commercial enterprise specializing in arranging and filming ‘life events’ such as weddings and funerals, the other from a television production company. Filming can be a lucrative source of income for churches and we have had a number of productions here. But this time I said ‘no’ to both.
In the case of the first, I felt we could not seem in any way to endorse the business interests of this company. While there are congregations that ‘rent out’ their spaces for these ‘life event’, we Anglicans do not. We understand these to be moments in life when community, real community, is vital. Our holy place is holy because of the holy community that gathers here to nurture and sustain our lives.
In the case of the second, the violence planned for the scenes to be filmed here was such that I could not allow it in our building. Even though the setting was fictional and fantastical, it was still violence in our place of worship. I could not and would not risk the possibility of anyone associating Holy Trinity Cathedral with such scenes. This is a ‘thin place’ where God’s ‘glory in grey’ comes daily.
If our misrepresentation of the Torah has been harmful to Jews and to Christians, then today’s story of Jesus in the Temple at Passover is another. For Jesus the temple in Jerusalem is a holy place that points worshippers to the Holy One whose shekinah, whose glory, radiates from its very stones. But in the shopkeepers, animal vendors and money changers, Jesus sees that the temple has been turned into an end in itself, a self-sustaining business. It is ceasing to be a ‘thin place’ and is becoming dense, opaque and misleading.
This is a risk that all holy places run. Human beings tend to forget that holy places are made holy not by some intrinsic value, but by what they point to and by what people do when they are gathered in these places. It is because here in this place we have celebrated baptisms, weddings, funerals, times of joy and times of celebration, that holiness radiates from its walls. Holy living has left its imprint here, just as incense lingers well after the smoke has cleared.
. . . in holy living
At the centre of the Christian gospel is the conviction that the more love that one gives away, the more love grows in the universal. This counter-intuitive confession of faith is what Paul speaks of in his first letter to the Christians in Corinth. For many of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries, a messiah who does not bring liberation from the oppression of Rome is a poor one. For Paul’s Gentile audience, a divine son who allows himself to be crucified by the Roman authorities is not an attractive object of piety.
But it is in the example of Jesus’ life and death that we, his disciples, find the path to holy living. During this holy season of Lent we are bent on “ . . . a journey of deepening holiness shaping [our] lives in the image of Christ to praise God and live in friendship with one another”. [6] To lose sight of the ‘thin places’ we find in creation, divine wisdom and holy places “ . . . is to wander into the ways of death instead, where God’s faithfulness can be of little use”. [7] Because, my friends, you and I are ‘thin places’ where God’s “glory in grey” can be found as surely as it’s found elsewhere.
. . . in all times and in all places and in all that is, seen and unseen
Tomorrow morning, when the creatures of my household wake from sleep and pester me into action, I pray that I might remember to look closely for God’s “glory in grey” in the dawning light from the east. In that morning ‘thin place’ God offers to all of us a moment to give thanks for creation, for divine wisdom, for holy places and for the call to holy living.
Today I enjoy the Trinity round me,
above and beneath, before and behind;
the Maker, the Son, the Spirit together –
they called me to life and call me their friend.
[1] Exodus 20.1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1.18-25; John 2.13-22.
[2] ‘Today I Awake’ in Common Praise (1998) #9.
[3] Psalm 19.1 in The Anglican Church of Canada, Inclusive Language Liturgical Psalter (2019).
[4] Feasting on the Word, vol. 2 (2008).
[5] Feasting on the Word (2008).
[6] Feasting on the Word (2008).
[7] Feasting on the Word (2008).
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