{"id":21036,"date":"2022-02-10T09:56:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T14:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21036"},"modified":"2022-02-10T09:59:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T14:59:45","slug":"devine-diversity-and-oneness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21036","title":{"rendered":"Devine Diversity and Oneness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jsXZEBNem7Q\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>During a CAC conference on the\nTrinity, Richard spoke about how the three-in-one God shows God\u2019s love for\ndiversity:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God clearly loves diversity. All we need to do is look at the animal world, or the world under the sea, or each human being: who of us looks exactly alike? We are always different. <strong>Is there any evidence to show where, in all creation, that God prefers uniformity?<\/strong> But we consistently confuse uniformity with spiritual unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mystery that we\u2019re talking about is revealed in the Trinity: the three are maintained as diverse, different and distinct, and yet they are radically \u201cOne\u201d! The foundational philosophical problem has been called the problem of the one and the many. How can there be one and how can there be many? In the Trinity, we have the paradox at least metaphorically resolved. <strong>But most of us don\u2019t easily know how to be both diverse and united. We want to make everybody the same. And the church has become more and more an exclusionary institution, instead of a great banquet feast to which Jesus constantly invites sinners and outcasts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ego is much more comfortable with\nuniformity, people around me who look and talk like me, and don\u2019t threaten my\nboundaries. But in the presence of the Trinitarian God, God totally lets go of\nboundaries for the sake of the other. Each accepts full acceptance by the\nother. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In an article for&nbsp;<\/em>Sojourners<em>, Richard writes\nabout how understanding the Trinity can heal our tendency to \u201cother\u201d people who\nare different than ourselves:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe racism is often rooted in\n distorted view of divinity; rather than reflecting the One who created all things in God\u2019s own \u201cimage and likeness\u201d (Genesis 1:26\u201327), <strong>we instead make God into a mascot who, as Anne Lamott brilliantly quips, hates all the same people we do. [1] . . . <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It took them [early church fathers] three centuries to make full sense out of Jesus\u2019 often-confusing language about what he named \u201cFather,\u201d how he understood himself, and what he named the \u201cHoly Spirit.\u201d <strong>Our common form of dualistic thinking just could not process such&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>three<\/strong><\/em><strong>-fold and&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>one-<\/strong><\/em><strong>ness evocations at the same time. . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Godhead itself maintains separate\nidentity between Three, with an absolutely unique kind of unity, which is the\nvery shape of Divine Oneness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>God\u2019s pattern and goal has never been na\u00efve uniformity but radical diversity (1 Corinthians 12:4\u20136) maintained in absolute unity by \u201ca perfect love\u201d that infinitely self-empties and infinitely outpours\u2014at the same time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Divine pattern is, of course, most beautifully revealed in \u201call the array [<em>pleroma<\/em>, or fullness] of creation\u201d (Genesis 2:1). <strong>God is forever \u201cmaking room\u201d and \u201cinfilling\u201d; this is the Way of the Flow.<\/strong> This is, in our finite understandings, an utterly new logic and is the foundational template for the success of the human project for those ready to embrace at the level of experience what they already confess in [their] creeds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_______<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TRUST ME ENOUGH to spend ample time\nwith Me, pushing back the demands of the day. Refuse to feel guilty about\nsomething that is so pleasing to Me, the King of the universe. Because I am\nomnipotent, I am able to bend time and events in your favor. You will find that\nyou can accomplish more in less time after you have given yourself to Me in\nrich communion. Also, as you align yourself with My perspective, you can sort\nout what is important and what is not. Don\u2019t fall into the trap of being\nconstantly on the go. Many, many things people do in My Name have no value in\nMy kingdom. To avoid doing meaningless works, stay in continual communication\nwith Me. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will\ncounsel you with My eye upon you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LUKE 10:41\u201342; Martha, Martha,&#8221;\nthe LORD answered, &#8220;you are worried and upset about many things, \u2074\u00b2but few\nthings are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it\nwill not be taken away from her.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HEBREWS 1:1\u20132; In the past God spoke\nto our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, \u00b2but\nin these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of\nall things, and through whom also he made the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 32:8 NASB: \u230aThe Lord says,\u230b. \u201cI will instruct you. I will teach you\nthe way that you should go. I will advise you as my eyes watch over you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning\nand Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 84). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&gt; During a CAC conference on the Trinity, Richard spoke about how the three-in-one God shows God\u2019s love for diversity: God clearly loves diversity. All we need to do is look at the animal world, or the world under the sea, or each human being: who of us looks exactly alike? We are always different. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/21036"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21036"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21039,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21036\/revisions\/21039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}