From Incarnation to Incarnational

Did we just celebrate the incarnation of Jesus?

Do we really know what the incarnation is all about?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine excitedly mentioned the word the Apostle John used to speak of Christ's incarnation. In English it's usually translated "dwelt" but in Greek it's "tabernacled" (John 1:14). That is, as the glory of God was contained and present among the people of Israel in the wilderness, so the glory of God was contained and present among the people of the earth in the incarnation.

Paul, like wise speaks of the incarnation as gracious and glorious:

"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8)

And why does Paul tell us this? To exhort believer to: "make [him] truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had" (Phil 2:2-5).

Churches often speak of "incarnational ministry." And it references the incarnation:

• in- (entering);
  
• -carna- (flesh);
  
• -tional (state of being)

or, fleshing out in ourselves what Jesus did when He fleshed out what it was to have God among man. Paul calls us to have the same attitude that Jesus had. And it should be easier for us, because we aren't God: "thinking others as better than yourselves" -- imagine God thinking others as better than Himself! And yet, He gave everything, His throne, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His glory, for dirty diapers, hunger, sweat, tears and finally, death. Why? Out of love for us. To reunite our sinful selves with Him.

And so we are to give our everything to Him first, and in giving ourselves to Him, we follow Jesus' example, and give ourselves to others, our friends, our neighbors, those whom we share the street with, people in our city, people in need, and for me and some of you readers out there, the people of Turin.

Incarnation. The state of being entered into flesh.
Incarnational. The state of being like Christ.

Surprises (sorry so long)

I heard two comments the other day that surprised me.

One was at WalMart, where I was hoping to get all three things that I needed. (I left with only one.) The long lines were not worth staying in to pay for my 94¢ box of colored pencils, so I went up to customer service and asked if I could pay there.

Usually there's a small line, but when I got there, there was only one lady at the registers, and waited for her to signal me forward while she finished what she had been doing. I asked her nicely if I could pay there. As I was asking, a second lady came up to the registers and waited for more customers, but there were none. As my cashier rang up my single purchase, the second lady answered her cell phone saying hurriedly, "Hey, I'm the only one here and I've got a long line, I'll call you back later, bye." And hung up.

I smiled at her, because, though she spoke in Spanish and maybe thought I didn't understand, I couldn't help grin at the ridiculously apparent lie she just gave to someone privvy enough to have her phone number. I wanted to say something like "you are such a liar!" (obviously smiling, so it wouldn't sound so harsh) or "I can tell you really love and respect that person." But I knew better and left, pondering her situation. She could have just not answered the phone if she didn't feel like speaking with them.

How she could answer her phone on the job, lie about being the only one there, and lie about the long line, hang up the phone and just stand there idlely, when I know there's ALWAYS something to do when you work at a big name place like WalMart? I feel sad for those around her who lie just as easily to her, for she must've picked it up somewhere, and those who she is teaching to do the very same things. Her children, perhaps.

The second comment was entering Michael's, where I was forced to make another stop since I didn't get what I needed at WalMart (!). As I approached, a mother was ushering her two kids, approximately 6 and 8 and just out of school, into the store. I was stalled a moment behind them as the mom stopped to grab a cart and in those few seconds were long enough to give me the second surprise of the day. I had no reason to linger, so I missed what followed. But, as the mother clammored over her kids, grabbing cart, dropping her purse, maneuvering all their belongings, the daughter, the eldest, started speaking. "You know," she began her philosophical observations, "some people say that Santa Claus doesn't exist and that other things that people believe in, like the tooth fairy and the easter bunny." Here she paused momentarily. "Or God, or ghosts don't exist."

No one was really listening to her, and her mother was too busy preparing the cart and trying to take the first steps out of the doorway to address her daughter's discovery that what one person may believe in may be refuted by another. I couldn't just stand at the entrance to the store waiting for the mother's reply, so I walked on, wondering if I should be surprised or sad. This mother, because I could see her not paying attention, was focusing on the "real meaning" of Christmas, that is, shopping, buying presents and decorating the house to give wonderful feelings to family members that she missed a great opportunity to address this life predicament.

Which brings me to another thought. I hear every Christmas people all around, in conversations with others, in groups, in emails throw a big stink about how people don't say "Merry Christmas" anymore and that this "Christian" greeting has been replaced by "Happy Holidays" and rawr! rawr! rawr! Perhaps this is not very 21st century Christian of me, but please, go ahead, say Happy Holidays all you want. If everyone says Happy Holidays and few remain saying "Merry Christmas," which will stand out when it is spoken. I even got an email with an article from some Christian magazine rating retail stores on how "Christmas-friendly" they are this year. Barnes and Noble, where I am currently employed, received a "Christmas-negliable" rating, meaning they marginalized Christmas. The third and worst category was "'Christmas-offensive' retailers — apparent abandonment of 'Christmas'". And my response is: so what? These same magazines and people go on and on about how America is no longer a Christian nation and then they expect those same people to hold on to "the real meaning of Christmas" and say "Merry Christmas."

What does "Merry Christmas" even mean?! Because the holiday season is about family, making and recalling memories, and giving. And Merry Christmas really just means "Happy Holidays" just one greeting is "Christian-ese" and the other is "secular." The church has done the same by baptizing Halloween and calling it "Fall Harvest," full with costumes and candy. And what does Decemeber 25th have to do with Jesus anyway? He was probably born in springtime, I've heard and the wise men did not show up on the scene till years later NOT by the manger at the innkeeper's.

So - all this ranting and raving is not in vain - at least, I think I have a point.

This woman lies so easily - and yet, we all have sin that we do so easily. Justify. Excuse. Permit. Indulge. And Jesus died because of that. Every time you (I) permit sin to fester, your nature to conceive and give birth to sin, no, Jesus doesn't die all over again, but you can imagine Him hanging there on the cross, gasping for breath and then submitting His Spirit to God, giving up the pursuit of breathing because you (I) justified that sin.

And we all go about our daily lives ignoring the important conversations and rushing through this life as if the most important thing is 5 minutes away. I constantly rush to work, postpone getting up in the morning, put off going to bed, calculate the minutes I could gain if I could switch lanes and the other one is going faster and TICK TICK TICK (because in our now digitized world, clocks and watched don't "tock") life is a rush.

But Jesus' timing is perfect. He postponed His arrival in Bethany until after Lazarus had died. He set Himself up for capture at the Garden of Gethsemane. He let the disciples in their boat go out before Him and walked out to Him later that night. "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem [us], that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5). At the perfect time He came...

Not at Christmas. Not on December 25. But it was on a certain day (perhaps its better we don't know exactly when) that God, emptied Himself of certain attributes, such as complete omniscience (Mt 24:36) and omnipresence (obviously contained in human form), entering time and history, "taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man" (Phil 2:7). He was subject to thirst and pain, sadness and death. He did these things to adopt us, redeem us, perfect us, strengthen us, and glorify Himself (Eph 1).

Not for lip service to His birth once a year.

Even as Peter told Jesus "God forbid it!" to His suffering and death - Jesus was on His own time table for us. As the disciples urged Him to send the crowds home because it was getting late and everyone needed to eat, Jesus "had compassion on them" (Mt 15:32; et al).

What are we urging God to do that is not in His timing? "And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice [sin]. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

So what's your attitude this Christmas season? Yes - the world is full of evil, but the prince of darkness is also the prince of the world. Yes - most do not acknowledge God. No - "Merry Christmas" is not PC. But we cannot force people to bow their knees until Jesus reveals Himself to them. Think of the rich young ruler, with Christ and the offer of life before him, "went away grieving." Jesus did not force Him.

God, give us compassion, patience and love. Help us do your will.

Johana

Recently I've placed a challenge before people asking them what $1 a day means. I believe that one dollar a day, or $30 a month can literally change lives in Torino. When speaking about this challenge many bring up supporting children in poverty-stricken countries. So, to contradict the "wise" proverb: "do as I say, not as I do," I decided to also take up the $30/month challenge - giving $30 a month out of my salary, in the place of whatever pleasure I may like - this time, however, by supporting a child a very impoverished situation through a Christian organization.

I'll call her Johana. She's eight years old and her parents can hardly provide for her and her brother. She does not go to school, but instead works at home by caring for the animals. She lives in a village in Europe. My welcome packet said the following: "Your sponsership commitment will help provide [Johana] and her community with clean water and improved healthcare facilities. Your support eill also help your child receive a quality education." In the letters I plan to write to her, I hope to shine Light in her life and Hope. But one thing is radically different between sponsering a child and bringing Light to Torino:

In my letters to Johana, I cannot name the name of Jesus.

The welcome packet told me that some countries are sensitive, and supporters are asked to refrain from talking about Jesus. So I wrote to the organization and asked if this was the case in her country. This was the reply: "At this time [her country] is considered a sensitive country and we ask that you refrain from mentioning Jesus or Christianity in your communications
with [Johana]."

And so while my $30 a month will help this child tremendously in this life - what about the next? What use is it to give someone fresh water and withhold Living Water (Jn 4)? Or teach them to harvest grain but tiptoe around the Bread of Life (Jn 6)? Give education, but not purpose (Eph 1; Rom 12, et. al.)?

I purposely chose a child in Europe so that after some time of communication I may visit the child and take the risk upon myself of sharing the Hope of life with Johana and her family. Money can only go so far. We can send money to dig wells, to provide food and housing, to improve cities. But unless we send people, unless we send the message of Hope, we do nothing but humanitarian aid. And humanitarian aid falls short of work that is of Kingdom value - that is, God's kingdom.

And that's why I'm not just asking people to send money to Torino, but to send me and my team so that we can share the good news of Christ's substiutionary death and glorious resurrection that brings forgiveness and hope to a people who, though they have running water, electricity, jobs and homes, do not have God.