{"id":23182,"date":"2023-12-08T10:51:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T15:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23182"},"modified":"2023-12-08T10:59:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T15:59:42","slug":"the-privilege-of-life-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=23182","title":{"rendered":"The Privilege of Life Itself"},"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=\"Fires (Lyric Video) - Jordan St. Cyr [Official Video]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H-ggZd-SmSs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>CAC teacher Brian McLaren identifies awe and wonder as essential to encountering creation:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first pages of the Bible and the best thinking of today\u2019s scientists are in full agreement: it all began in the beginning, when space and time, energy and matter, gravity and light, burst or bloomed or banged into being. <strong>In light of the Genesis story, we would say that the possibility of this universe overflowed into actuality as God, the Creative Spirit, uttered the original joyful invitation: Let it be! And in response, what happened? Light. Time. Space. Matter. Motion. Sea. Stone. Fish. Sparrow. You. Me. Enjoying the unspeakable gift and privilege of being here, being alive\u2026.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Creator brought it all into being, and now some fourteen billion years later, <strong>here we find ourselves: dancers in this beautiful, mysterious choreography that expands and evolves and includes us all.<\/strong> We\u2019re farmers and engineers, parents and students, theologians and scientists, teachers and shopkeepers, builders and fixers, drivers and doctors, dads and moms, wise grandparents and wide-eyed infants.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t we all feel like poets when we try to speak of the beauty and wonder of this creation? <strong>Don\u2019t we share a common amazement about our cosmic neighborhood when we wake up to the fact that we\u2019re actually here, actually alive, right now?\u2026&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The romance of Creator and creation is far more wonderful and profound than anyone can ever capture in words. <strong>And yet we try, for how could we be silent in the presence of such beauty, glory, wonder, and mystery? How can we not celebrate this great gift\u2014to be alive?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be alive is to look up at the stars\u2026. and to feel the beyond-words awe of space in its vastness. To be alive is to look down from a mountaintop \u2026 and to feel the wonder that can only be expressed in \u201coh\u201d or \u201cwow\u201d or maybe \u201challelujah.\u201d To be alive is to look out from the beach toward the horizon at sunrise or sunset and to savor the joy of it all in pregnant, saturated silence. [It\u2019s] to gaze in delight at a single bird, tree, leaf, or friend, and to feel that they whisper of a creator or source we all share.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Genesis means \u201cbeginnings.\u201d It speaks through deep, multilayered poetry and wild, ancient stories. The poetry and stories of Genesis reveal deep truths that can help us be more fully alive today. They dare to proclaim that the universe is God\u2019s self-expression, God\u2019s speech act. That means that everything everywhere is always essentially holy, spiritual, valuable, meaningful. All matter matte<\/strong>rs\u2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Genesis describes the \u201cvery goodness\u201d that comes at the end of a long process of creation\u2026. That harmonious whole is so good that the Creator takes a day off, as it were, just to enjoy it. <strong>That day of restful enjoyment tells us that the purpose of existence isn\u2019t money or power or fame or security or anything less than this: to participate in the goodness and beauty and aliveness of creation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>___________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Note from Bethany&#8230;.from Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It is my prayer that I may learn to walk in love with friends, family, coworkers, strangers, and those who are difficult to love \u2013<\/strong> the ones who have a lot of rejection or the world see as unloveable. 1 John 4:11, \u201cDear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. <strong>No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In closing I thought I would share something that I have pinned next to my mirror. It\u2019s written on a random piece of paper from over a year ago. At the time I didn\u2019t fully believe the words but oh, I so wanted to. I\u2019m not exactly sure where I got it from, I believe it wrote it down while listening to a particular broadcast on the radio my mom recommended. I treasure the things that I write on random pieces of paper the most. It\u2019s believe it\u2019s the most authentic expression of our heart cry. <strong>I\u2019m happy to say that in a year\u2019s time my belief has caught up to my longing. Christ is my everything. You can take away whatever you want, including my body, but nothing will touch what I carry inside. My love relationship with my Savior.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Christ is my significance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christ is my self-worth<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christ is my security<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christ is my life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear Lord, thank you for giving me life and all that I need to experience it fully! Teach me to always draw my life from you. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CAC teacher Brian McLaren identifies awe and wonder as essential to encountering creation:&nbsp; The first pages of the Bible and the best thinking of today\u2019s scientists are in full agreement: it all began in the beginning, when space and time, energy and matter, gravity and light, burst or bloomed or banged into being. In light [&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":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23182"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23186,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23182\/revisions\/23186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}