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Glory, Grace and Gehenna
Three “G’s” that are worth exploring
In times when pre and post-election political anxiety saturates the headlines, a small detour of spiritual reflection may just be a well-timed bowl of chicken soup for the soul. Perhaps, dear readers, you too have wondered about the words “Glory”, “Grace” and “Gehenna” and will find this exploration enlightening.
Glory
“Glory” is one of those terms whose meaning has continued to elude me, especially each time I listen to Christian prayers, Sunday sermons, or reading scripture from the Old and New Testament. My lack of understanding perhaps comes from the many ways that the word glory or its related verb , “to glorify” are used in language.
This has motivated me to do some digging, and embark on a short exercise to clarify and investigate things.
Let’s start by setting some boundaries. There is “glory” in the context of God, and then there is worldly “glory”.
The word “glory” in a worldly sense is more or less straightforward. I found it easy to grasp its secular sense by recalling the phrase “Gold, God and Glory” that described the motivation of the imperialist conquistador. These men of the past sought gold, riches for the empire they represented, that funded their missions of exploration. They sought to convert or retain throughout multiple campaigns, and perhaps what we could define as implicit crusades, souls for the church. They would gain “glory”, fame among men and nations, the ultimate status among men of the empire.
The one who gains “glory” merits honor and praise. It is a gift bestowed on to a person after an uncommon human achievement, perhaps on behalf of a leader, a nation, and ideology or all of the above. In this context the underlying motivation is an outward demonstration of pride, the achievement of a higher level of status, social reasons or for one’s final legacy. The attainment of “Glory” for those “proud” men and women of the past, was in itself a means to and end: the attainment of wealth, power, and quick and entitled privilege. Despite this lofty nature, worldly “glory” can only be something that is temporary, fleeting, even alienable. Maybe the famous Latin phrase “fama fugit” can relate to this limited time span.
