A minister and a peace activist of yesteryears Frederick Norwood says that on D-Day, when the Allied forces were invading the coast of Normandy, he was sitting by his radio listening to the description of the invasion.

The announcer exclaimed in a sudden burst of emotion: “This is the most amazing demonstration of human power the world has ever seen.”

The clergy said he bowed his head and sunk in his spirit.

“Power? It is the most awful demonstration of human weakness the world has ever seen, that man should muster all the resources which his genius has produced to destroy his fellow men.”

The mastery of the present world through sophisticated technology and science which ought to bring blessings of peace and brotherhood seems to be used by man to enslave and destroy his brother.

No wonder there is much bewilderment in the minds of the world leaders about what to do in the explosive enemy fields, filled with IEDs or enriched uranium, as well as with the intertwined humanitarian crises.

How shall we reconcile the noble words of King David to God in Psalm 8:4-5?

“What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?

“Yet You have made him a little lower than God [angels], and You crown him with glory and majesty,” with the hating caricature that has brought the world into such bloodshed and chaos?

But, then there is another word about man in the scriptures, this time from St. Paul, that matchless soldier of the cross.

He said in Galatians 6:14: “May it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The New Testament never for a moment minimizes the failure of man.

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Yet the Christian faith never gives man up in despair, no matter how desperate his plight may become.

God has not forsaken man.

It is the ray of hope in the darkness. Though man has lost the glory with which he was created through his perfidy and sin, God’s redemptive love can restore him to his rightful place.

During my seminary days, I used to accompany a team of students occasionally to a downtown mission in Vancouver.

Night after night, human derelicts would find their way into the chapel, where they heard of a Christ who loves them and who gave Himself for them.

There was certainly not much in the appearance of any one of them to make him a likely candidate for the Kingdom of God.

But each of them was a man, with infinite possibilities — a man for whom Christ died.

Time after time, we saw miracles in lives that had known nothing but unspeakable shame.

Alcoholics became Christian teachers.

Outcasts of society became respected citizens.

Why? Because the power of Christ restored them to the glory in which they were created.

No wonder Paul gloried only in the cross of Christ.

God does not force His will upon the world.

Rather, He has chosen to work through the weakness of man to accomplish His purposes.

“We are workers together with God,” says St. Paul.

This is the exalted place to which God has again raised man.

We are a part of an everlasting Kingdom.

It is rather difficult for us to see the glory of that kingdom in these days when, on last count, 133 Canadian soldiers have lost their lives in Afghan battlefield.

Instead of a kingdom of love, we can see only a world divided by hatred and prejudice.

Instead of palaces of peace, we see our cities in shambles as violent battlefields bathed in blood.

The song of the angels —“Peace on earth and goodwill toward men” — is lost in the drone air attacks or the sickening explosion of suicide bombs and the terrified cries of little children.

Yet we know that the future belongs to Christ.

His is the Kingdom, the power and the glory.

Those precious words of the hymn writer Maltbie Babcock were never truer than today: “Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”

It is not easy to live with a glory in these days, nor is it a simple matter to keep alive either faith or courage.

And yet, there is no biblical ground for ultimate pessimism.

In spite of the tragic failure of man we know that God is depending upon redeemed mankind to establish His Kingdom.

So we cannot despair.

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.”

These days call for great souls — people who will not give in to the temper of the times — people who find their highest joy in the service of their King.

People who glory in the glory God has given them — people of faith and courage who believe in the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

People who can say when the world is at its worst that they have a glory because they have seen the glory.

Narayan Mitra is a chaplain at Thompson Rivers University

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