Thoughts on the Divine Service
6. The Gloria Patri
Dear friends,
A brief devotion on a bit of liturgy that’s easy to take for granted: the Gloria Patri, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” We chant it to conclude the introit, any psalm, or the Nunc Dimittis, and it pops up here or there in different forms.
One of my “rules” for worship is that if we don’t know why we’re doing something, we should either stop it or learn why we do it. So why do we chant the Gloria Patri?
One reason is that it’s sort of a short creed about who God is. Faith loves to speak of God, and the Gloria Patri makes three bold assertions. First, it confesses the one true God to be triune—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because this is how the Lord has revealed Himself to us. Second, it declares the eternal nature of God, that He is always and forever. Third, it rightly proclaims that God, who is glorious, deserves to be glorified by man. Is there ever a time when the triune God will cease to be glorious? No. While old Adam keeps telling faith that faith is betting on the wrong horse, faith loves to sing the Gloria Patri.
A second reason is that, while all of this is true by itself, the Gloria Patri is never chanted by itself: it’s included with a psalm or song in which God is at work. For instance, tomorrow’s introit is drawn from Psalm 31:1, 3, 5, along with the antiphon from Revelation 7:14b. In those verses, we will rejoice that the glorious, triune God is our refuge who has redeemed us and will deliver us out of this great tribulation to heaven. The Gloria Patri embraces the works of God as well as His person: in other words, is there ever a time when the glorious triune God will not be our refuge, redeemer or deliverer? No. Take that, old Adam.
A third reason to chant the Gloria Patri at the end of psalms is to point out the truth that Jesus doesn’t just appear at the start of the New Testament, and that the Old Testament is about Him: He is the Son who is begotten of the Father from eternity. When Psalm 31 declares that God is our rock and our fortress, it’s not just about God the Father while Jesus waits in the wings saying, “Just wait until I’m born of Mary and can start to do something.” As the second of person of the Holy Trinity, the Son has been your refuge from the beginning.
That’s not a bad confession of faith in such a few words.
A couple of nerdy notes to finish up.
First, as I’ve explained before, I’ve adopted the old tradition of bowing during the Gloria Patri (when I remember, anyway). The gesture is an acknowledgment of the words, that God deserves all glory and we deserve none. As is common among believers as time goes by, the distinction between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness only grows in my mind, as well has how undeserving I am of His grace. It thus seems only fitting to bow as I acknowledge His glory and grace for me. You’re welcome to bow during the Gloria Patri or not, depending on whether that helps your faith and piety. You can stand up straight or bow in complete Christian freedom.
Second, we also have what are called “doxological stanzas” at the end of some hymns. These verses, like the Gloria Patri, acknowledge the triune God and ascribe all glory to Him (“doxology” literally means “a word of glory”). These verses stand out because they’re marked in the hymnal with a triangle; and rather than bow, we respond by standing to sing them. I will, at times, also bow during the part of the verse that speaks of the Holy Trinity; but sometimes the verse is so constructed that bowing would be awkward.
The truth of the Gloria Patri is a foundational comfort to faith. Your salvation is not a temporary thing, because the triune God remains forever. That means your life in Christ is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen!