As I was reading The God of Israel and Christian Theology by R. Kendall Soulen, several thoughts about blessing stuck out to me. Just thought I would share and perhaps it won't be a year until I post next time :) Please feel free to comment and offer your thoughts.
What is blessing? What comes from God's blessing? "Blessing which persons seek from God and which he promises to provide belongs to all times and place, to the continuity of life (birth, fertility, health, peace, prosperity, the presence and favor of God, a place to live, means of life, protection, and care." Or as Bonhoeffer states,"[Blessing] includes in itself all earthly good. In that blessing the whole of earthly life is claimed for God." God is not blessing us as a means of escape from life and relationship but as a way to engage IN life to its fullest. "The Lord's blessing is available only through the blessing of an other (117)." To bring creation to completion there is an assumption and requirement of mutual blessing between those who are different. "Human life is seen in terms of mutual relationships: first, the most fundamental relation, between man and woman, then between parents and children, then between families and clans and nations. The Bible does not speak about "humanity" but about "all the families of the earth" or "all the nations." It follows that the mutual relatedness, the dependence of one on another, isn't merely part of the journey toward the goal of salvation, but is intrinsic to the goal itself (117)." To engage in life and relationship brings us closer to the goal for which God created, that we might live in the fullness of relationship with him which is ultimately grounded in earthly life, as seen with Adam as he walked with God in the cool of the day. God intends for us to have life ON earth not apart from it. There is no life apart from the real true life that we experience. There is life separate from sin, but that life is the fullness of blessing which is the reclaiming of all of earthly good and the strongest relationship of mutual blessing between all the families of the earth to the glory of God.
