“Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you.’”
Hey blog. I’m writing to you a few days late, and my only defense for that is that November ended on a Wednesday, not a weekend, and I, of course, was very hard at work, no time for blogging (my apologies Ashley Crutchfield). But, delays and all, here’s a couple of thoughts from the past month.
I think about Exodus 33 a lot. Moses asks God to show him His glory, and God responds that all of His goodness will pass before him. It seems that for God the two are the same and it’s wild to me that resting in God’s goodness could be the same as beholding His glory but with God this is true. It’s hard to articulate what that means to me but at the very least, it’s a great comfort and hope.
This feels extra evident when we come forward for communion each week, bringing all of ourselves to the table that’s been prepared for us in advance. When I feel great, and when I feel terrible, I get to receive the body and blood of Christ, hearing the words, “The body of Christ, broken for you in love, Derren. The blood of Christ, shed in love for you.” God’s glory and God’s goodness hit me in the midst of ordinary, everyday things like bread and wine.
So this month I’ve been praying that God would help me direct my focus to His goodness, and I’ve seen it in so any places. Within shared meals, meaningful silence, Christmas concerts. Through wise friends, Fellows retreats, and Sunday prayers. I hope that this would continue as the Advent season continues, that I would notice something beautiful that I’d otherwise miss had I not been paying attention. I want to have a heart that is both curious and receptive when glimpses of beauty and goodness reveal themselves. Something really magnificent was happening in that manger in Bethlehem so many years ago, but it was quiet, unassuming. Very few actually knew at the time that “to us a son is given,” whose name is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). But the Lord revealed it to the shepherds nearby: Luke 2 tells us about how the “glory of the Lord shone around them” and about the announcement of “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” The shepherds responded in the way that I would like to, saying, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Intrigued and in light of this glorious announcement, they moved toward goodness in the form of a child. May we all move toward the light, “glorifying and praising God” for what we experience, the way these shepherds showed us.
Warmly, hopefully, gratefully,
Derren Lee