'In all things...' - Weekly Reflection 22nd March 2026

 On Saturday if I don’t have anything on I like to go for a longer run. And maybe a tad ‘old school’ but I like to listen to the radio and my go-to for very many years has ben Radio Two. I love the mixture of banter and music and the various features. One of those features from the time when Claudia Winkleman was in the saddle was ‘little wins.’ People were invited to tell of their little wins, something in the grand scheme of things is insignificant but helps to cheer us up and make us feel positive.  I had a little win on Wednesday.  I was at a meeting of the Farming Community Network (www.fcn.org.uk) and was tasked with setting up our Zoom link and especially to bring our speaker into the room via a Zoom link. I had tried to facilitate a hybrid meeting before but never quite managed to get it to work. But on Wednesday I managed to get everything working.

On Friday I was with the group who meet at St Andrew’s, Rugby for a discussion around Scripture or a theological issue, or during Lent and Advent a book. Currently we are working our way through ‘Meeting God in John’ by David Ford. On Friday we discussed the idea of glory, what it means and how we give God glory.

This linked in with our Gospel reading for this Sunday morning, the 5^th in Lent, sometimes called Passion Sunday, John 11.1-45, the story of the raising of Lazurus.

John 11.4 ..."This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's ‘glory’, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

The Hebrew word for glory is ‘kabowd’ and carries the sense of weight or heaviness. This is a common metaphor in common usage in English, consider, weighty matters, not understand the gravity of the situation.

On ‘glory’ I can highly recommend The Bible Project podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5uldfj3NinUEJPu2YUWxzp?si=Z1biI2rbSVyDkWpJR8ejug

Weighty, important, attributes of God the creator and sustainer of the world.

In 1 Cor 10.31 we read, ‘whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’

Whatever you do! I wonder how good we are at recognising that in everything we do we are to do it to the glory of God, so that God may be glorified. That includes getting a Zoom link to work!

Because humans are called to reflect God as image bearers, the Imago Dei. 

St Irenaeus from the second century wrote, ‘The glory of God is man fully alive.’

When we are at our best, and living the best life, we are glorifying God. Like the moon reflects the light of the Sun so we are called to reflect the light of the Son. 

In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, a historic Reformed Christian summary of doctrine that was written in 1646 by a group of English and Scottish ministers there is the quote “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

That is our calling, something we pray for when we say the Lord’s Prayer.

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’

Hallowed means to be held in highest honour, to show respect. Something we do by bringing glory to God by the way we live.

And we do that as we read in Matthew 5.16 by letting ‘our’ light shine out,

 ^‘In the same way, let ‘your’ light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’

Last Saturday I didn’t go for a run but instead had a cycle ride. One of the things I do when riding my bike, day or night, is to have lights on. Last week I had to get new batteries for my rear light so it would shine out. 

I wonder where I might shine my light in the week ahead. Is my light needing some new batteries, does the lens need a good cleaning, are the contact points working well.

And the biggest challenge, will everything I do, in word, thought and deed bring illumination and glory, honour and praise to God the Father. Helping others shine out and glorify God and bringing hope into the dark places in our world. 

Perhaps you might like to step into that challenge as well.

In all things, at all times, in all places and in all circumstance may we give glory to God in the highest...

https://youtu.be/RM5C7Pr-SKU?si=RW3u7C9SOMgwLpif