Reading the Bible Relationally

Reading Robert Webber's, Ancient-Future Worship, is a inspiration and pleasure. I'm particularly enjoying how he is shaping my approach to the Scriptures. We have a strong emphasis on relationships here (being a community after all) and our theology and practices reflect this. Webber doesn't disappoint in this regard either:

“To stand within the Bible and under it, we must also read the Bible relationally. The Hebrew mind does not describe God intellectually in the abstract as though God is an object to be studied. Instead he is always pictured as the God who enters into a relationship with his creatures. Whether we are standing alongside Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, David and the kings, or Isaiah and the prophets, God is always visualized in relationship.”

I'm constantly seeing that dramatic changes will take place in our lives when we move from a legal understanding of the gospel to a relational one. Not the least will be how we read and understand the Bible.