Think back on the night Jesus was born:

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”

(Luke 2:13-20)

Glory was given to God in the highest heaven: the angelic chorus glorified God as they announced Jesus’ birth.

Glory was given to God in the lowest places on earth: by those who came to the dark, hay-filled dwelling where the baby was placed in a manger, and by the shepherds who left to tell the world what they had witnessed.

Glory was given to God from the heart: Mary treasured the happenings surrounding the miracle of her son’s birth and contemplated them in her innermost heart.

What is glory, and how do we give glory to God?

The glorias the angels sang were about the magnificence, the splendor, the beauty, the wonder, and the grandeur of God! The angels gave credit to God; they spoke of the triumph of His plan for humanity; they openly and loudly admired Him and His fame throughout the universe; they sang His praises!

The glorias the shepherds offered to everyone who would listen were about God’s redemption of humanity; of fulfillment of His promise of a Savior.

The glorias Mary reflected upon in her heart were of the wonder of birth, and the immediate and tangible fulfillment of God’s plan in her life, and what it meant for the rest of the world – forever.

Christmas is the time for our hearts to be overflowing with glorias to our heavenly King!

When I was a child, we would sit around at Christmas and listen to dad read the Christmas story from the gospels of Luke and Matthew. We would light candles and sing Christmas carols, then we’d go around the room and tell everything we were thankful for, and everything we wanted to say to God for what He’d done at Christmas. It was our time to give our “glorias” to God.

At first, all that the kids would talk about were the presents and the tree and the goodies to eat. But, we learned little by little from mom and dad’s example, that there was much more to be thankful for and much more to credit God with at Christmas: health, happiness, our home, jobs, a loving family, food to eat, our freedom.

There was also Jesus Himself: come to be born as one of us, to live among us to show us how to live, to die in our place so we wouldn’t have to die eternally, to show us the way to life everlasting in a perfect, wonderful heaven waiting for us at the end of our lives.

What were your glorias this Christmas? Surely you had at least one? Maybe it was something obvious? Home, family, friends? Perhaps it was something that has been fleeting or just out of your grasp? Your health, a new job? Maybe it was something you’ve been going through that has been challenging to you, but has been strengthening your character?

Do you have a gloria for God?

Frederick Buechner once said:

Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of Him again. Once we have seen Him in the hay of a manger, we can never be sure where He will appear or to what lengths He will go in His wild, loving pursuit of us. If the holiness and the awesome power and majesty of God were present in the least auspicious of all events - this birth of a peasant’s child - then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too! And this means there is no place where we can hide from God, no place where we are hidden from His power to break in two and re-create our human heart - because it is just where He seems most unable and life seems most hopeless that He is most strong, and just where we least expect Him that He comes to us most fully.

Where did God surprise you this last Christmas season? What was the gloria you should give to God?

Henry Nouwen wrote:

Songs, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presence, big dinners, and sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying yes to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying yes to a hope based on God’s initiative, which has nothing to do with what we think or feel. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work and not ours.

Christmas is giving God His due - because it is at Christmas that His plan for humanity begins to take shape as the manger points to the cross, and new life shows the way to eternal life.

Thousands of years have passed since His birth – yet each year we take time out of our busy schedules to celebrate the birth of the Christ-Child. Not even a month has passed since our most recent celebration of Christmas, yet we are swiftly forgetting to give Him our glorias. The joy of that first Christmas should still be alive and moving in our hearts - not only once during a season but each and every day of our lives.

On Christmas Eve this past season, some of us took the challenge to write down some of our glorias to God. We tied them as ornaments on our Christmas tree, to give Him praise and honor and glory. I’ve included some of them here.

Take time right now to pause and remember His eternal promise of peace and everlasting life, and offer to Him your gifts once again of adoration and gratitude and praise – gifts from your life that bring Him glory. Don’t stop offering your glorias to God each and every day throughout the year. Don’t let your glorias end at Christmas!

Glorias to God:
• You – the God of the universe – accepted me!
• Restored health and family.
• I want to praise You, God for the gift of Jesus Christ, for my family and their health, for my wife and the challenge of our marriage, for all the wonderful and great things that You have shown me this year.
• My health, my husband, my sister, children and grandchildren, my friends.
• Family.
• Thank You for my loving, healthy family.
• Thank You for teaching me to live with all the ups and downs in my life.
• Glory to God for a great job and a wonderful girlfriend.
• For the love of my wife and family, for the memory of my loving parents.
• Eternal life.
• Love.
• I am thankful for friends, family, health; I’m alive.
• Everything!
• Thankful for joy.
• I love You.
• I’m thankful for my family.
• Thankful for my family and the confidence in me through the tough time of school and life.
• Family, life, and Quarry Ridge.
• Helping me forgive, and still accepting me!
• I give You glory, oh Lord, for Your never-ending love and forgiveness; for NEVER forsaking us. I love You, Lord.
• I’m thankful for my family and friends.
• My family. Thank You for Your peace and contentment.
• My wife and family, my mother, and my loving God.
• Lord, my Gloria to You is to thank You for choosing to have me in Your life.
• I pray for peace for my marriage; help me meet my spouse’s needs.
• Coming home to Quarry Ridge!
• Glory to God for the gift of a loving family.
• Thankful that Jesus took my place on the cross.
• I’m thankful for my family being home for the holidays and that I can spend time with them.
• Family! Yay, God!
• I give glory for a full life of music and love.
• Relationships.
• Gloria for an amazing family of loving support.
• Glory to God, my wife is still with me.
• I’m thankful for being healthy.
• For salvation and knowing that my son lives with You daily.
• Love of God blessing through family life and Quarry Ridge.
• Thank You for my wonderful family.
• Father, thank You for Your blessings.
• I thank God for an earthly father to teach and be an example for me.
• Thank You for bringing an old friend back into my life.
• I’m thankful for everything that You have done for me this year and forever; in the past and future. There is nothing better.
• My brother.
• Glory to God for my mother – I praise You for her life.
• Thanks for my parents’ love and for my children.
• My glory is that He made me the way I am.
• Forgiveness and love.
• For giving me the family that I never dreamed of!
• Jesus.
• Your praises.
• Family and husband.