Message of the Week

 

 

SIMPLE THINGS

THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY
Fr. John E. Taylor (RIP)

"...... For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen."  (Some modern versions render this as "the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever".)  This Doxology closes the Lord's Prayer for most Christians.  Roman Catholics do not include it, no doubt because those words do not appear in Gospel accounts of the prayer.  We do not know who added this doxology to Jesus' own words, or at what point in history this was done; however, we cannot conceive of Jesus objecting to this heartfelt ascription of supremacy over all things to His Heavenly Father.

"Thine (Yours) is the kingdom."  This clause was composed at a time in history when kingship was the highest position to which humans might aspire.  Sovereigns were accorded the highest exaltation and obedience (sometimes WORSHIP) by their subjects.  To ascribe "the kingdom" to God, therefore, was to acknowledge Him as exalted above all other beings.

Thine is "The Power."  Ascription of "the power" - that is, "total power" - to God acknowledges Him as its Source.  The word "almighty", meaning "all powerful", is often associated with our Creator.  One of our Collects reminds that "we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves".  Any power possessed by humans, therefore, derives from God, to be used justly, with compassion.  Someday, power wielders must account to the Almighty for the way they have used or abused His gift.

 Thine is "The glory."  "Glory to God in the highest!"  We recite or chant these words each Sunday at the Eucharist, except during Advent and Lent, penitential Seasons.  They are words first sung by angels to the shepherds on Christmas night, so it is fitting that they be repeated at the close of the Lord's Prayer.

Often when we are commended for some unselfish act we say, "To God be the glory", because we know that it is by Divine inspiration that we are enabled to accomplish anything acceptable to God.  In a hymn to God the Holy Spirit we sing:
"......And every virtue we possess,
 And every conquest won,
And every thought of holiness
Are His alone."

Kingdom ..... Power ...... Glory.  To ascribe them to God at the close of the prayer His Son taught us is to keep in mind the SOVEREIGNTY of God, compared to our own "low estate" - to use Mary's words in her Magnificat.  It is to recall our own powerlessness compared to God's limitless MIGHT – even when we are at the peak of health and fitness.  To use these words underscores how "the heavens declare the GLORY of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork".

In the Lord's Prayer, having made our petitions from God for His whole human family as well as for ourselves - for that is what we do when we pray for daily bread, for forgiveness, for overcoming temptation, and being delivered from evil - we end our conversation with the Most High God, our Father, with this Doxology which Christians have voiced for hundreds of years.

This must be pleasing to God.