Saturday, November 21

Today’s Readings: Psalm 122; Nehemiah 7:73b-8:3, 5-18; Matthew 18:21-35; Revelation 22:14-21

Last night we had the second session of our young adults’ confirmation class at Woodland Hills Community Church. We spent our time together talking about the nature of the Bible.

As we were finishing a part of our discussion on the New Testament, one of the participants asked, “So does God’s revelation end with the last book of the Bible or is God continuing to say more?” What a profound question that was!

There are certainly those who believe that once the biblical cannon was closed and the Bible as we know it today was finalized that that meant God was absolutely done speaking. Those who understand the Bible that way would point to today’s passage from Revelation in order to prove their point. “I warn anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,” the author wrote, “if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book” (Revelation 22:18 from the NRSV).

There are others such as myself, however, who do not believe that God stopped speaking/communicating with us when the biblical cannon was closed. We – many of us who are members of The United Church of Christ – would counter by saying, “God is still speaking.” By this we mean that the Holy Spirit continues to be active and speak to us in new and exhilarating ways.

My question for you today is this: what is your take on all this? Do you believe that the fullness of God’s revelation to us was fully captured once and for all within the pages of the Bible, or do you believe that God’s truth continues to reveal itself outside the bounds of a printed page? Til next time…