{"id":20936,"date":"2022-02-01T12:33:09","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T17:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20936"},"modified":"2022-02-01T12:38:14","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T17:38:14","slug":"20936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20936","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1T2tMt0Ky6g\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Revelation through Relationship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Using the book of Job as an example, Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) teacher Brian McLaren suggests that God\u2019s revelation through the Bible comes from the ongoing dialogue and relationship the Bible inspires between God and ourselves. He teaches:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Revelation occurs\u00a0<em>not\u00a0<\/em>in the<em>\u00a0words and statements of individuals<\/em>, but in the<em><strong>conversation among individuals and God<\/strong><\/em><strong>. . .<\/strong> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Revelation accumulates i<\/strong>n the relationships, interactions, and interplay between statements. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To say that the Word (the message, meaning, or revelation) of God is in the biblical text, then, does <strong>not mean that you can extract verses or statements from the text at will and call them \u201cGod\u2019s words<\/strong>.\u201d It means that if we enter the text together and feel the flow of its arguments, get stuck in its points of tension, and struggle with its unfolding plot in all its twists and turns, God\u2019s revelation can happen to us. We can reach the point that Job and company did at the end of the book, where, after a lot of conflicted human talk and a conspicuously long divine silence, we finally hear God\u2019s voice. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we listen and enter into the conversation ourselves, could it be that God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s speaking, God\u2019s self-revealing happens to us, sneaks up, surprises and ambushes us, transforms us, and disarms us\u2014rather than arms us with \u201ctruths\u201d to use like weapons to savage other human beings? Could it be that God\u2019s Word intends not to give us easy answers and shortcuts to confidence and authority, <strong>but rather to reduce us, again and again, to the posture of wonder, humility, rebuke, and smallness in the face of the unknown? . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we want the Bible to be a constitution, it isn\u2019t enough. It isn\u2019t at all. Nor is it enough as a road map for successful living, as a set of blueprints for building a life, institution, or nation, or as an \u201cowner\u2019s manual\u201d . . . . But as the<strong> portable library of an ongoing conversation about and with the living God, and as an entr\u00e9e into that conversation so that we actually encounter and experience the living God\u2014<\/strong>for that the Bible is more than enough. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope [this approach] will try to put us in the text\u2014in the conversation, in the story, in the current and flow, in the predicament, in the Spirit, in the community of people who keep bumping into the living God in the midst of their experiences of loving God, betraying God, losing God, and being found again by God. In this way, <strong>by placing us\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>in<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0the text<\/strong>, I hope this approach can help us <strong>enter and abide<\/strong><em><strong>\u00a0in<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0the presence, love, and reverence of the living God all the days of our lives<\/strong> and in God\u2019s mission as humble, wholehearted servants [<em>Richard: and friends, I might add<\/em>] day by day and moment by moment. Even now.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"327\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image-500x327.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20938\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image-500x327.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image-300x196.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image-768x502.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image.png 1868w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revelation through Relationship Using the book of Job as an example, Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) teacher Brian McLaren suggests that God\u2019s revelation through the Bible comes from the ongoing dialogue and relationship the Bible inspires between God and ourselves. He teaches: Revelation occurs\u00a0not\u00a0in the\u00a0words and statements of individuals, but in theconversation among individuals [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20940,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936\/revisions\/20940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}