Docents of Glory: Gerard Manley Hopkins (2)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings isto search out a matter. Proverbs 25.2

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest yourhope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ… 1 Peter 1.13

Glory in all things
Perhaps every believer knows Paul’s familiar exhortation concerning living for the glory of God: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10.31). But let’s not glide over this important text too quickly. I want us to note a couple of important points.

First, Paul suggests that everything in life is fraught with potential for glorifying God. Even such mundane, everyday, ordinary activities as taking a meal can “flame out” with glory, giving, if only for a moment, a glimpse of the grandeur of God. If only we knew how to “shake out” the glory, or if only it would “ooze” like precious olive oil from our every gesture!

Second, note that this text is in the form of an imperative. This is a command of the Word of God, and as such, it should receive our careful attention. Apparently, glorifying God – making His glory known – in everyday situations and circumstances is something every believer is capable of doing, and is expected to do.

Being docents of glory, in other words, is not an option. It is the glory of God to conceal His “dearest freshness deep down things” in the everyday situations and things of our lives. It is the calling of His royal children to “search out” His glory and to make it known in all we do.

But in order to do this, we’re going to have to heed the exhortation of the Apostle Peter and get our minds in gear.

Get curious!
We turn to a sonnet by Gerard Manley Hopkins to help us in learning how to apply our minds to the task of discovering and declaring the glory of God. This poem is entitled, “Spring,” and I want you to listen for the very practical instruction that appears about half way through:

Nothing is so beautiful as spring –
   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden – Have, get, before it cloy,
   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning.
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

Three things to note here. First, Hopkins shows us that we must learn to look with wonder and appreciation at the many familiar ways the glory of God flames and oozes around us every day. The weeds that invade our gardens, the songs of birds in the trees, trees greening against the blue sky, little creatures gamboling and scrambling around us – all this, Hopkins insists, is “beautiful,” and should command our careful attention.

Then, second, we need to ask questions about what we’re seeing: “What is all this juice and all this joy?” In seeking to answer such questions, let your mind be guided by, first, the teaching of God’s Word and, second, the mind of Christ, which all who believe in Him possess (“Innocent mind”). How can we associate what we’re observing with what God teaches in His Word? And how can we see the evidence of Christ in the glories of creation, so that we grow in appreciation of His power, beauty, faithfulness, and love?

All together
Finally, we should seek the Lord to help us put everything together in such a way as to make some conclusion about His presence and glory. Hopkins could write a beautiful sonnet. We can’t all do that, but we can all point to something familiar, something everyday and ordinary, consistently overlooked for the glory it displays, and wonder aloud about the simple beauty, elegance, life, or power it manifests. And then we can trace that back to God and what we know about Him from His Word.

This is neither rocket science nor brain surgery, my friends. It is rather the calling of everyone who intends to live for the glory of God in every aspect of life. Fulfilling our callings as docents of glory, however, will require that we begin to use our minds with renewed focus, attention, wonder, and insight. Our King has concealed His glory in everyday places, and He expects us, His royal children, to search out that glory and hold it up with wonder and worship for the world to see. Make it your choice to take up this calling each day, and you’ll discover that it is indeed a choice “worthy the winning.”

For reflection
1.  One way to begin paying more attention to everyday things is to learn and use their names. See how may different trees or birds you can identify today. Or describe in your own words the various sounds you hear outdoors.

2.  Focus on one everyday object within your immediate purview. How many different questions can you think to ask about this? How might you connect this object with God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture?

3.  Hopkins kept journals in which he wrote down his observations for subsequent meditation. Have you ever considered doing this?

Next steps: As you take a meal today, how many different ways can you “search out” the glory of God “concealed” in that meal? Talk about what you observe with the people with whom you share the meal.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.