Tuesday, January 24, 2006

25 January 2006

Today is more from Thomas Merton in "Opening the Bible."

From the very start...we must clarify the meaning of the Bible's basic claim to the "the word of God." We must understand that this claim does not mean that the Bible is an entirely unworldly book, a message from eternity, a contemptuous dismissal of the world in a promulgation issued from "out there" beyond the confines of time and space. The Bible is not a denial of the world, a rejection of (man), a negation of time and history and a condemnation of all that has been done by man in his world and in history. Nor is the Bible something that is meant to be superimposed upon the world, (man) and history from outside, an added revelation of a hidden extra meaning, something entirely beyond (man's) everyday concerns and (his) ordinary existence, something that has to be accepted even though superfluous, and given preference over the ordinary familiar reality which seems to us more relevant.

What a wonderful way to look at the Bible. At the same time, there are many who would read this and think it was terrible - even blasphemous. The real blasphemy is to deny the earthiness of the Word made flesh and the way God participates in the life of ordinary people...not to make them something other than the people they are...but to make them extra-ordinary...to make us the creatures we are. One of the great misfortunes of literalism today is that people have become afraid and disenchanted with the ordinary...the common...the broken that is embraced by God. Therefore, people try to make the "story" into something that will somehow take us out of the ordinary or make the ordinary dirty and "unholy." Why would it be then that the God of the Bible becomes nothing more than ordinary...human...even someone that the state would find fitting for execution. The more I listen to preachers who try to turn our eyes from the glorious revelation of God in the ordinary and the mundane, the more I wonder about how much fear religious people place in the hearts of people. It is as though who we are is wrong...what we do is wrong...how we go about being is wrong...unless we abandon all that is exactly what we are...our humanity. God is "with us" not separate from us. God enters into all that makes up the world as we live in it. This takes place not to pull us from our lives...but rather, to give us a fullness of life within the reality that is our humanity and to carry us beyond all the limits and powers of the day. In the meantime, blessed are we.

Connection: So what will the God who comes in the flesh be doing to shape you today. What can we bring with us into all the dynamics of life today that will help us to give praise to God within the glorious ordinary of our lives?

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest within this day that we will begin to see how holy are all the moments of our lives because you have made us to be here and now as your beloved children. Amen.

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