{"id":26160,"date":"2025-11-26T08:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26160"},"modified":"2025-11-26T08:55:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:55:17","slug":"26160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26160","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude, Grace, and Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Servant Song\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kdmgpMfnjdU?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\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Theologian Christine D. Pohl describes how gratitude impacts our relationships with others:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When our lives are shaped by gratitude, we\u2019re more likely to notice the goodness and beauty in everyday things. We are content; we feel blessed and are eager to confer blessing. We are able to delight in the very existence of another human being. In a grateful community, individuals and their contributions are acknowledged and honored, and there is regular testimony to God\u2019s faithfulness, through which the community experiences the joys of its members. Expressions of gratitude help make the community alive to the Word, the Spirit, and God\u2019s work.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such a community is \u201ca beautiful land\u201d whose culture is grace and whose inhabitants see life as a gift. In this land, we often find abundant forgiveness and frequent celebrations. While we might assume that individuals and communities grow toward holiness and goodness primarily through the hard work of discipline, correction, and challenge, we tend to underestimate the importance of grace. <strong>The emphasis on loving God and loving neighbor \u2026 is most fruitful as it is rooted in a deep understanding of God\u2019s prior love for us.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pohl shares how a small Christian inter-racial community in Mississippi was able to find grace and gratitude for one another in the midst of conflict:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During a time of crisis in their community, a friend from the outside explained to them, \u201cThe way you grow into God\u2019s love isn\u2019t by making demands of each other\u2026. You do it by giving each other grace.\u201d Grace expressed as love \u201cwhen it didn\u2019t seem fair, or reasonable,\u201d and \u201cwhen others were being complete jerks.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their wise advisor continued,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>The truth is, we can\u2019t stand the idea of not fixing each other. But <strong>insofar as we can fix people at all, we can do it only by forgiving them, and giving them grace, and leaving them to our loving Father<\/strong>. Grace assumes sin. When we ask you to accept each other, we aren\u2019t asking you to ignore hurts between you. People of grace speak the truth. But in an atmosphere of grace, truth seems less offensive and more important\u2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>[A church leader] describes the community\u2019s delight when it was introduced to the recipe for a \u201cnew culture of grace.\u201d The ingredients for life in community were surprisingly simple: <strong>\u201cIt is enough to get the love of God into your bones and to live as if you are forgiven. It is enough to care for each other, to forgive each other, and to wash the dishes.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we more fully understand the grace we\u2019ve received, we are able to turn outward in gratitude and generosity. Gratitude becomes \u201cour home in the presence of God,\u201d or, in Henri Nouwen\u2019s words, an \u201cintimate participation in the Divine Life itself\u201d that \u201creaches out far beyond our own self to God, to all of creation, to the people who gave us life, love, and care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>=====================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>NOV 26, 2025<br>Seeing Beyond \u201cMe and God\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>      Can I have a relationship with God without going to church? Church leaders want people to believe that church participation is essential and that committing to a local congregation is part of one\u2019s Christian duty. On the other hand, the American church\u2014perhaps more than any other\u2014has emphasized having a \u201cpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ.\u201d The notion that it\u2019s just \u201cme and God\u201d fits our romantic notions of rugged individualism. Our culture champions the independent spirit of the explorer, the cowboy, the pioneer, and the entrepreneur. So, it makes sense that in the religious realm, American culture would also emphasize the individual\u2019s connection to God.<br><br>Some biblical characters appear to fit this pattern of \u201cme and God.\u201d Think of Moses facing down the power of Egypt, or David defying the might of Goliath and the Philistine army. Daniel stands his ground repeatedly while exiled in Babylon, and eventually gets thrown to the lions as a result. Each of these stories fits our cultural narrative of a heroic individual whose faith compels him to defy both the odds and popular opinion. <br> <br>But a closer inspection of Scripture may reveal the \u201cme and God\u201d framework is one we\u2019ve imposed&nbsp;<em>on<\/em>&nbsp;the text rather than one we\u2019ve learned&nbsp;<em>from<\/em>&nbsp;the text.A closer look at Daniel\u2019s faith, for example, reveals an important challenge to our assumptions about having a \u201cpersonal relationship\u201d with God. Daniel is a very unusual character in the Bible. He is one of the very few heroes with a blemish-free record. Nearly every Old Testament figure (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc.) failed in a significant way or sinned dramatically against God. But not Daniel. I\u2019m not saying Daniel never sinned, only that it\u2019s never recorded in Scripture. He seems to epitomize the rugged, righteous, individual faith our culture esteems.<br><br>That\u2019s why his prayer, recorded in Daniel 9, is so remarkable. Notice the pronouns he uses: \u201cO Lord, the great and awesome God\u2026<em>we<\/em>have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled\u2026<em>we<\/em>have not listened\u2026to&nbsp;<em>us<\/em>&nbsp;belongs open shame\u2026because&nbsp;<em>we<\/em>&nbsp;have sinned against you\u2026.\u201d.Daniel\u2019s prayer is accurate\u2014God\u2019s people were guilty of sin, but there is no evidence that Daniel himself ever participated in their wickedness. So, why does he include himself in their guilt? It\u2019s because Daniel recognized a facet of relating to God that we often overlook. <br><br>While we have a \u201cpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ,\u201d we also have a collective relationship with him. <strong>It\u2019s not just \u201cme and God,\u201d it\u2019s also \u201cus and God.\u201d Belonging to Christ also means belonging to his people. Sharing in his glory also means sharing in their guilt. Calling God our Father also means calling those within the church our sisters and brothers.<\/strong> The testimony of the Bible is clear that Jesus is not merely reconciling separate individuals but&nbsp;<em>a people<\/em>&nbsp;to God.<br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/withgoddaily.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=87188c8737bc50c1a2fb8e2c9&amp;id=f2ec493163&amp;e=f52fc38132\">DANIEL 9:4-8<br>1 CORINTHIANS 12:14-16<\/a><br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER. From William Laud (1573 &#8211; 1645)<br><br>Most gracious Father, we most humbly beseech you for your holy church. Fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in need, furnish it; where it is divided and torn apart, make up its breaches, O holy One of Israel.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theologian Christine D. Pohl describes how gratitude impacts our relationships with others:&nbsp; When our lives are shaped by gratitude, we\u2019re more likely to notice the goodness and beauty in everyday things. We are content; we feel blessed and are eager to confer blessing. We are able to delight in the very existence of another human [&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\/26160"}],"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=26160"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26166,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160\/revisions\/26166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}