The Relational Mission

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” —Exodus 34:6-7 I grew up going to church. Back then, I would hear sermons at least two times per week. I went to Sunday School and attended an additional Bible study every week. There was a lot of sitting and listening to people talk about God and the Bible. This continued when I went to college. Then after getting married to Shawna, we were are part of a church where we listened to three sermons per week. To say the least, I’ve heard a lot of sermons. While I do not remember the details of each, I can honestly say that there was not one sermon given on this passage. This is a bit problematic since these verses serve as a foundational core to the Old Testament. They are like a thesis statement in a term paper, as they define how the Israelite people were meant to view who ...

The growth in knowledge of any object depends upon the encounter between someone who wants to know about that object and the object itself. This the only way to develop an understanding of any thing, of any animal, or of any person. The experience of a personal encounter is rudimentary. This claim may appear obvious when it comes to the knowledge of something like a rock, for instance, but understanding how we develop a battery of information about a rock can help us understand the way that God is understandable.  The character of a rock is effusive, that is it is self-showing. What I encounter when I pick up a rock and assess its characteristics is an actual manifestation or performance of the nature of what it means to be a rock. The rock’s “rockness” is shown through the encounter. In some ways, it’s like a dramatic performance. If you want to know the meaning of a play like Hamlet, you must look at the performance of the play itself. You will never understand Hamlet if you only...