“Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling
All thy faithful mercies crown!”
~Charles Wesley

I have been visited by an ear worm, one of those songs that gets stuck in your head and seems impossible to shake. Songs that find a home in the deep unconscious of waking in the morning and become a mantra when trying to find the keyhole of sleep at night. Songs that create a soundtrack for washing the dishes, eating lunch, walking to and from the car. You know those songs. Ditties like ‘It’s A Small World’ and  ‘Feelings’. Tunes that can drive you to the edge of reason.

But my ear worm for some reason is this old Charles Wesley hymn of my childhood. I can’t even remember the last time I sang it in worship or any place else. So why did it come to me? In fact the whole hymn did not come to me. What has been floating through my brain was my favorite phrase as a child: ” Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.”

I loved, I should say I love, the idea of being changed from glory into glory. Don’t you? The crown part is not too bad either. After all, to cast a crown must mean wearing one! But it is the glory I want to stand in. By definition glory means ‘great honor, praise, or distinction accorded by common consent, to be renowned.’ Somehow this definition does not do the word glory justice. When I say glory, I think of shimmering, of shining. To me, the idea of being changed from one shimmering glory-being to another is a lovely thought.

As I reflect on this hymn, I wonder what was going through Charles Wesley’s mind when he wrote the words. I have to also admit that I don’t often think of him as someone who might think that, as humans, we are glory that can then be transformed into even greater glory. It makes me feel more warmly toward him knowing he wrote these words.

As a little girl I remember certain older people use the phrase ‘Well, glory be!’ These people were mostly older women in flowered aprons with ample bossoms who hovered over church dinner tables and served up mounds of mashed potatoes and fried chicken. At the sight of something they thought amazing, like a new baby or a perfect cherry pie, their voice might rise above the supper din, ‘Well, glory be!’ Heads would turn and take in the glory recognized in the moment.

What does glory feel like to you? Have you had an experience of glory these days? How are you moving from one glory to the next?

More importantly, how are you be-ing glory? The world needs more shimmering and shining. I expect we all best get busy.