Jervis Campbell - Glory

Reflection

Glory is a word scripture uses to describe the weight and radiance of God's own presence, from the cloud filling Solomon's temple in 1 Kings 8 to Paul's description in 2 Corinthians 3:18 of believers being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Jervis Campbell's title, simple as it is, points toward that same reality, worship as an attempt to reflect back something of God's magnificence rather than to generate an emotional experience for its own sake. There is a discipline in this kind of focus, resisting the temptation to make worship primarily about personal feeling and returning attention instead to who God is. That does not mean feeling has no place, but that it follows rather than leads. A song titled simply Glory, without further qualification, suggests confidence that this single word carries enough weight to sustain an entire piece of music, an assumption that says something about how seriously the artist takes the subject.

Questions to sit with

• What comes to mind when you hear the word glory in relation to God?
• How do you keep worship focused on God rather than primarily on your own experience?
• When have you sensed something of God's glory in an ordinary moment?