Revelation
Revelation is an intuition
the world is not as we thought it to be;
a glimpse of difference;
a moment of insight one might easily miss,
which fades and is fast forgotten unless practiced
and tested
and proved to be a new truth.
Revelation evolves
and yesterday’s insights are now
not so true
but partial and pointing
and still too much of this age,
corrupted by the present.
Revelation allows us to construct a language
and see the world anew.
Not a world
in which we struggle alone
to make sense of ourselves
but a world which suspects and hopes
and finds a growing confidence
that something outside us and outside our reality
has intruded—truly a break-in—
Revelation is in-tuition, not mere contemplation.
Scripture is not revelation.
Scripture is the record of revelation, and its witness.
Scripture teaches us to listen,
filters the noise of this age,
challenges our bias,
opens our eyes to hard won pathways,
and warns us of fruitless diversions.
Without scripture I would pretend
to be Moses or Abraham
as though I could father the faith again,
naïve without measure—
although perhaps very clever—
of how much my perceptions are shaped by my time.
But if scripture is revelation,
set, complete, unchanging,
then I make myself the Father—
denying my God—
an idolater who understands God!
and does not know
or is afraid to know
that “the Lord has yet more light and truth” for us.
Revelation passes under the scrutiny of scripture and doctrine
and then walks beyond to face the final test of love.
Andrew Prior (April 2021)
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Poetry
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