{"id":25421,"date":"2025-06-24T09:57:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25421"},"modified":"2025-06-24T10:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:41:21","slug":"25421","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25421","title":{"rendered":"Living, Visible Models"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Build Your Kingdom Here - Rend Collective | LYRIC VIDEO\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r-4bEbk1m_c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Living, Visible Models<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard teaches that we can only practice new ways of being in the world if we maintain some degree of nonattachment from the systems around us:<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of Jesus\u2019 social program is what I will call&nbsp;<strong><em>non-idolatry,&nbsp;<\/em>or the withdrawing of our enthrallment from all kingdoms except the kingdom of God. <\/strong>This supports <strong>a much better agenda than feeling the need to attack things directly<\/strong>. Nonattachment (freedom from loyalties to human-made domination systems) is the best way I know of protecting people from religious zealotry or any kind of antagonistic thinking or behavior.&nbsp;<strong><em>While there are certainly things<\/em>&nbsp;<em>we are against, we must keep concentrating on the big thing we are for!<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul tries to create some \u201caudiovisual aids\u201d for this big message, which he calls \u201cchurches\u201d (a term Jesus used only \u202ftwice, found in Matthew 16:18 and 18:17). Paul knows<strong> we need&nbsp;<em>living, visible models of this new kind of life to make evident that Christ\u2019s people really follow a way different from mass consciousness<\/em><\/strong>. They are people who \u201ccan be innocent and genuine \u2026 and can shine like stars among a deceitful and underhanded brood\u201d (Philippians 2:15). To people who asked, \u201cWhy should we believe there\u2019s a new or better life possible?\u201d Paul could say: \u201cLook at these people. They\u2019re different. This is a new social order.\u201d In Christ, \u201cthere are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus\u201d (Galatians 3:28).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Paul\u2019s thinking,<strong> we were supposed to live inside of an alternative society, almost a utopia, and from such fullness \u201cgo to the world.<\/strong>\u201d <strong>Instead, we created a model whereby people live almost entirely in the world, fully invested in its attitudes toward money, war, and power\u2014and sometimes \u201cgo to church.\u201d<\/strong> This doesn\u2019t seem to be working! In Christianity, groups like the Amish, the Bruderhof, Black churches, and members of some Catholic religious orders probably have a better chance of actually maintaining an alternative consciousness. Most of the rest of us end up thinking and operating pretty much like our surrounding culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many people now find this solidarity in think tanks, support groups, prayer groups, study groups, house-building projects, healing circles, or community-focused organizations. <strong>Perhaps without fully recognizing it, we\u2019re actually heading in the right direction. Some new studies indicate that Christians are not so much leaving Christianity as they are&nbsp;<em>realigning with groups that live Christian values in the world<\/em>\u2014instead of just gathering again to hear the readings, recite the creed, and sing songs on Sunday<\/strong>. Jesus does not need our singing; we need instead to act like a community. Actual Christian behavior might just be growing more than we realize. <strong>Behavior has a very different emphasis than mere membership.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Remember, it\u2019s not the brand name that matters.<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><em>It is that God\u2019s heart be made available and active on this earth.<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 CORINTHIANS 13 IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTIONS OF LOVE, A CHAPTER OFTEN USED AT WEDDINGS. SO, MOST OF US ARE FAMILIAR.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The chapter describes love as patient and kind and continues by laying out the stunning attributes of God. Tucked between&nbsp;<em>\u201cLove isn\u2019t easily angered\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>\u201cLove doesn\u2019t delight in evil\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>is a powerful world-changing truth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cLove keeps no record of wrongs\u2026.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus, Love in human form, hanging on a cross between heaven and earth, His body battered, the lie of separation a veil between Him and His Father, the myth of abandonment cutting Him off from sensing His Father\u2019s affection; the fiction that God punishes screaming its message through the iron nails that tore His flesh and held Him fast to a cross, reveals the power of a free will submitted to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus\u2014fully God, fully Man, one with Father, intimate with Holy Spirit\u2014forgives. And His forgiveness confronts the transactional, sin-counting, retributive justice payment system\u2014<em>\u201cWhat seems right to a man.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<em>(1)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Casting back to before the beginning and looking forward to after the end, Jesus keeps no record of the wrong humanity has committed.&nbsp;<em>\u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do,\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>He said. And the power of that Greater Love saves the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you know what happened when Jesus kept no record of our wrongs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He couldn\u2019t justify His right to hold onto offense\u2014and all creation was reborn in that powerful conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we\u2019ve been invited to live in that same powerfully transformative freedom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All creation has been invited to awaken to that reconciling measureless revelation. Love doesn\u2019t count sins; it keeps no record of wrong!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(1) Proverbs 14:12<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This article is excerpted from my book,&nbsp;<strong>Leaving and Finding Jesus.<\/strong>    Jason Clark.  ReThinking God with Tacos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Living, Visible Models Father Richard teaches that we can only practice new ways of being in the world if we maintain some degree of nonattachment from the systems around us:&nbsp;&nbsp; The foundation of Jesus\u2019 social program is what I will call&nbsp;non-idolatry,&nbsp;or the withdrawing of our enthrallment from all kingdoms except the kingdom of God. This [&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\/25421"}],"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=25421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25426,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25421\/revisions\/25426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}