Unfinished Glory

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Saints abide in the unfinished glory of God’s hallowed Name, knowing that the glory of the Name they name does not exhaust the ineffable glory of the hidden Name of God.  The hidden Name is radiant with the glory that deifies the saints, who never call themselves saints, but sinners who fall short of the glory that deifies them.  They neither grovel in self-centred despair nor inflate themselves with thoughts spawning presumptuous pride.  Instead, they abide in the mystery of glory that glorifies them because grace loves to transfigure poverty of heart.  The source of uncreated grace is the Father, whose boundless grace embraces saints through his Son, whose Spirit awakens wisdom beholding the glory of grace, restoring glory to the Father.  Transcending what I tell myself, glory transcends what we tell ourselves, telling instead the story of grace which glorifies all who turn and see.  Falls from glory bear witness to the unfinished glory that completeness completes when incompleteness abides in the completeness of grace.  The glory of grace lies in its infinite capacity, pouring itself out without reserve, but whose possibilities are never exhausted.  The well-springs of wisdom keep open unlimited possibilities of graced completeness, telling a story of glory that is hidden, yet ever-present and translucently aware, unveiling the completeness of the Name beyond all named names.

Unfinished glory welcomes saints and sinners without discrimination, transforming sinners into saints by revealing the completeness of glory at the heart of awareness.  Grace generates grace from glory to glory, revealing worlds within worlds of unfathomable capacity.  Glory is ever-present, fulfilling all in all, because grace is infinite in its timeless generosity.  Grace is way ahead of the saints, upholding them from beneath.  Despised and rejected, grace is forever straight forward and simple, humble in its generous scope, neither competing nor controlling in its incomparable radiance.  Unclenched wisdom expands into ineffable openness, releasing wayward agitation into oneness of sound action.  Awareness loves presence in action, as wisdom embracing glory, purifying the heart with dazzling illumination, restoring the mind to the heart in hidden glorification.  Love’s glory does not impose, so never abuses love’s trust in the grace of the hallowing Name.  This is what keeps grace spacious and free, uncontrolling and liberating in its generous embrace.  Original oneness is shared by the Father with the Son to be extended by the Spirit to all, so no-one is excluded from the hallowing union that cures separation, generating indivisible communion.  Wisdom steps back from warring thoughts into the freedom of the Great Peace, transfiguring divisive sights with pure insight, discordant sounds with pure resonance, broken incompleteness with wise completeness.

Wisdom stands steadfast whatever happens, leaving elders empty for God’s Name’s sake, empty for the sake of God’s saints.  Elders love saints as themselves, not sentimentally as a fiction they concoct, but as insight into the Name that deifies them from within.  Wisdom trusts the Name as the way things actually are, not as a belief that comes and goes, which cannot therefore be truly trusted.  Grace is uncreated yet invisible, deifying yet incomprehensible.  The glory of grace restores the imageless image of God by mirroring God’s ineffable likeness, transforming transfigured sinners into glorified saints.  Glory remains unfinished even though it truly is unveiled by grace, empowering saints to unseal its hidden mysteries in humble translucence.  Inconceivable, yet lived, wisdom has no beginning whilst its glory has no end.  Even when warmly loved and known, uncreated wisdom discerns the uncreated glory of grace concealed with Christ in God before the beginning and after the end.  Receptive and clear, wisdom manifests in the heart once the mud of obscurity settles and right action happens without self-interest.  Unfinished glory remains unfinished even though the completeness of grace is already revealed, completing incompleteness at the heart of wisdom’s unfinished business.  Wisdom beholds Great Peace, aware of God’s presence concealed in the midst of warring enemies, present before wars begin and after they end.  In time, glory remains unfinished whilst being timelessly complete from the beginning, fulfilling glory past and future in timeless presence.   Unfinished glory returns to its source in the serenity of timeless stillness, sustaining the Son’s love of the Father’s glory, restoring in the Holy Spirit, all glory to the Father.