“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:”
Revelation 19:1 KJV
We see the presence of the holy three ideals of worship over and over in Revelation. First salvation, then glory, with power following. Together these represent a type of holistic worship that is largely unseen in western American Christianity. When one looks at the Lord’s Prayer, we often glance over the opening and closing and head straight for the supposed meat of the passage. It should be noted that in heaven, and when all of this life is finally summed up, the bones of that prayer are all that is left. Our “Father who art is heaven, hallowed be thy name…for thine is the kingdom and the glory forever, amen!” As finite creatures, it is right to emphasize the parts about daily living, but as eternally minded finite creatures, we ought to remember that our existential language will eternally be Salvation, Glory and Power to our God. Praying this way, here and now, in the midst of the needs of our daily bread, is not only correct theology, but appropriate orthopraxy. We should think deeply about upending these sentiments and shifting them to the core of our prayer, rather than just the bookends. It will be our eternal song, and that can begin today.
