AUTHOR: Robin Dugall DATE: 12:59:00 PM ----- BODY:

Hey - you may not have clicked here to see inside of my head...that's a sight that merits a horror film. But occassionally, I simply have to 'write out" what I'm thinking about. I know I might have something to say about it in a few days...I might "recant"...I might rant some more...I might claim insanity. But, you know, mental regurgitations are good for the soul...so here goes! I was just thinking about revelation - how God has revealed Himself in the world. God is all about "incarnating" Himself...giving us an opportunity to see and experience Him through a variety of means. Paul says in Romans 1 that creation is an unmistakable manner by which God speaks to us and reveals Himself. John 1 says that God's Word became flesh and "moved into the neighborhood" (Message translation is tasty in this regard). Historically, Christianity has seen revelation as that which occurs by God's direct action in our world. In other words, God reveals Himself through not only creation and "the heavens" (the Psalms consistently expound on the revelation of God through the stars and heavens), but God also reveals Himself: * through the Word of God - the Bible has been consistently seen throughout faith history as a means of revelation * through God's people - relationships are where people see the action and love of God contemporarily incarnated. WAsn't it jesus who said that people will know of the love of God as they witness the love that we share in redemptive, Kingdom community? * through the "sacraments" - I know I'm walkiing into a minefield here because of the various traditions of Christendom. I wish we could all just get along with these matters...but entire denominations have been birthed over something that has been instituted as a snapshot into the love and nature of God. Whether you are just a "two sacrament" person or a "seven sacrament" person or a "whatever" person, no one truly and seriously debates the revelation of Jesus in and through sacred acts like baptism and Holy Communion (although don't get me started on the grape juice issue) I know that there are numerous ways that God reveals Himself that I'm not even going to attempt to comment on...or else I'd be attempting to author a theological treatise which, truthfully, I have no interest in penning. Rather my point in this...my thoughts lately have focused around the question, "why is it that so many people are so defensive about the scriptures?" Why is it that we have "fundamentalists" who will go to the mat over the inerrancy question...or proving the historicity of the bible...or pounding away at the infallability question (despite how important those topics may be)? Why is it that some people "worship" the Bible and get threatened by having even the most simple discussion about its content and/or origins? Well...this is what I've been thinking...we have to argue about revelation through scripture because we cannot depend or trust or enter into on any significant level God's revelation through people and community. In other words, we have to fight for the integrity of scripture because we can't or, better yet, won't fight for the integrity of community. We have to trust in the revelation of God in the bible because we CANNOT trust in God's revelation through people or community. I think if YOU think about it, you may agree. Community is a mess...it is full of tension, unresolved conflict, superficiality, fallness, brokenness and sin. Very few Christ-followers have ever experienced community and relationships the way God intended. To quote the verse, "they'll know we are Christians by our love" is really a joke. If we didn't have the bible and ALL we had were relationships and community as we experience it now, the world is lost. There would be NO significant voice of revelation because for most of us, we don't take community seriously. When I talk to married couples about how Ephesians 5 tells us how marriage is supposed to be a "snapshot" for the world on the love of God for people, they sometimes say, "woa, that's heavy...I don't know if I can do that". I wonder...if we all saw community and relationships as THE most significant revelation to the world on what the Kingdom is all about and who God really is...what would happen? What if that was the ONLY way God revealed Himself? We'd be in trouble huh? Maybe that's why we pound the bible...we can pound community or the other Christ-honoring relationships we have because so many of them are bankrupt of any divine design. Maybe you should think about that too...email me your thoughts. If we didn't have the bible and ALL we had was Christian community...if we were calling people to enter into authentic community in which we all experienced the Kingdom and the "nearness" of the revelation of who Jesus is...would it make a difference? Or would the world have lost the revelation of God because we just can't do it? Mmmmm...I wonder!

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