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Embracing Sacred Mystery A study of Romans.

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11:33 36 on the Daily Bible Refresh.

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Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

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This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

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In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

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The reading is understandable.

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I use the Message version relatable.

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Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

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We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading.

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The reading from Romans 11:33 36 from the Message have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God?

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This deep, deep wisdom is that's way over our heads.

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We'll never figure it out.

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Is there anyone around who can explain God?

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Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?

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Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask for his advice?

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Everything comes from Him.

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Everything happens through Him.

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Everything ends up in Him.

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Always glory, always praise.

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Yes, yes, yes.

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Well, we have just a power.

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A short but powerful passage of Scripture in today's reading, where Paul is really kind of bursting with power.

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Here about the poet, the poetic wonder, as it were, of the unfathomable nature of God.

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So let's talk about some points to ponder.

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Number one is about going beyond certainty.

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Paul's explanation is we'll never figure this out challenges both religious and secular certainty.

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Progressive faith embraces mystery as a feature, not a bug.

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This humility before the unknown invites us to hold our beliefs more lightly and remain open to continued revelation and understanding.

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A second point is about divine interconnection.

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Everything comes from him.

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Everything happens through him.

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Everything ends in him.

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Suggest a Panatheistic view that is a divine presence which goes through and permeates all of reality.

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This cosmic perspective aligns with both contemporary physics and environmental theology, seeing all creation as interconnected and sacred.

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A third point is about questioning authority.

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Paul's rhetorical questions challenge human claims to any kind of divine authority.

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No one can explain God or tell God what to do.

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This undermines religious hierarchies that claim an exclusive understanding or control of divine truth, encouraging us to question systems that weaponize certainty about God.

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Let's talk about an action step practice today.

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Holy uncertainty that is choose some strong.

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Belief you have, it might be political.

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Or theological, personal, biblical, and spend 15 minutes or so thinking about it, talking about it, journaling about it, about all the complexities of that ideology.

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What questions emerge?

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What might you not fully understand about your own perspective?

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And how might embracing uncertainty actually help you to deepen your understanding about this belief?

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We'll come back to have a closing prayer here in just a minute.

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I just want to share with you that if you like getting into the Scriptures like I do, then maybe you want to do it not only by.

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Listening to what we have here on.

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Daily Bible Refresh, but by studying it at home.

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It's free.

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Let's pray.

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God, you are a mystery beyond understanding.

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When we try to box you into our certainties, remind us of your vastness in a world.

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Demanding answers help us to rest in questions when we encounter difference.

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Let us see your presence there too.

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Open our minds to wonder, our hearts to possibility, our lives to the sacred flow that connects all things.

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Take Teach us to praise not just with words, but with humble curiosity and endless openness to surprise.

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Yes, yes, yes my friend.

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I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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Thanks much.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

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His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.