All Glory Be To Christ

 

“Should nothing of our efforts stand

No legacy survive

Unless the Lord does raise the house
In vain its builders strive
To you who boast tomorrow's gain
Tell me what is your life
A mist that vanishes at dawn
All glory be to Christ

All glory be to Christ our King
All glory be to Christ
His rule and reign will ever sing
All glory be to Christ”

I started this year behind a camera at Chi Alpha’s SALT conference in Dallas, Texas (as seen above, I’m the one at the bottom with the camera). I was filming video footage for promotional usage and highlight videos. I’ve got some pretty cool footage hanging out somewhere of the moment pictured above. The clock hit zero and 2019 became 2020 as confetti cannons went off and we celebrated the new year. I started the new year and decade (observed, as the new decade technically starts in 2021) with the same optimism as everyone else pictured and everyone else celebrating across the country. In the same hotel where this picture was taken there’s an annual New Year’s Eve party hosted by some cover band (I think) where drunkenness and debauchery ring in the next 365-day cycle. In another side of the hotel some of the best college football teams in the country were ringing in the new year either celebrating a victory or wallowing in defeat (I believe in was Memphis and Penn State this year), as at least one of the teams stayed at this hotel. And in the SALT side of the hotel, we shot of our confetti, then took communion. After communion, we sang “Good Grace” and went to bed (well, most went to bed, I got to stay behind and deconstruct the stage and screens and whatnot).

SALT kicked the year off with the same optimism that the cover band across the hotel did and the same optimism the Penn State Nittany Lions felt on the other side of the building. But our optimism came from a different source. While the cover band party brought optimism based on empty promises alcohol, and the Nittany Lions felt the optimism of winning a big bowl game, the optimism at SALT came from another source, a higher Source. You probably can guess where I’m going with this.

As we took the holy communion in the very first moment of the year and decade (observed), we remembered what Christ did for us on the cross, and the resurrection that followed. And we clung to the blessed hope that comes with this, that He is in control, and that He is coming again. And that’s why we could even sing about His “good grace” shortly after.  And it is such a good thing our hope is Higher.

The lyrics above are from Kings Kaleidoscopes’ 2012 song “All Glory Be To Christ”, sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. Only a few months after SALT would the world find its efforts no longer standing and its legacies not surviving. I don’t have to tell you what kind of year this has been as we all lived through it, but this year, the most “sure things” were no longer sure, the things we strived to build could no longer stand, and everything was turned upside down. And for those who place their hope in things of the world, be it health, safety, the stock market, or things as trivial as football (let’s just say that Penn State didn’t make it back to the Cotton Bowl this year), they saw these things get taken away so quickly. For those whose hope is Higher, however, we are not shaken.

This year, from the point of a world that places its hope in itself, has been the worst year ever. But we who place our hope above know that the mist that has vanished at dawn has vanished for the glory of Christ, who is our hope. Our big plans were ruined, our churches were closed, our lives shaken, loved ones dead, but our Hope remains and stays the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

So, though I’m not holding a camera surrounded by thousands taking communion and singing “Good Grace”, I will enter 2021 with the same optimism as I had in the picture above, because my Hope, as Hebrews says, is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

“ When on the day the great I Am

The faithful and the true
The Lamb who was for sinners slain
Is making all things new
Behold our God shall live with us
And be our steadfast light
And we shall ere his people be
All glory be to Christ”

(Actually now that I think about it, the Nittany Lions were probably back in Pennsylvania by the 31st, but they were definitely in the hotel at some point that weekend)