On the Incarnation

I’m currently reading a book entitled The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry by Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster. The book has been sitting on my shelf for some time, but I’m glad to be reading it finally. The book begins with some thoughts on incarnational ministry (focusing on people rather than programs). The following quote at the end of the first chapter stood out to me.

“The whole concept of God taking on human shape,… had simply never made any sense to me. That was because, I realized one wonderful day, it was so simple. For people with bodies, important things like love have to be embodied. That’s all. God had to get embodied, or else people with bodies would never in a trillion years understand about love.”

-Jane Vonnegut Yarmolinsky, Angels without Wings

For me, this quote resounds with the message of 1 John 4:12-16 (NRSV):

“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”

As we find ourselves on the other side of the Advent and Christmas seasons, it’s important to continue reflecting on the act of incarnation. We rejoice in the fact that God came in the form of a child and dwelt among us. However, as we have relived the story of Jesus’ coming in recent weeks, we are reminded that God’s love was fully expressed not with words alone but through the life and ministry of the Incarnate Word. Jesus showed us God’s love through every act of mercy, healing, generosity, and selflessness.

Though Jesus is no longer with us, we look forward to his return, and we trust that the Holy Spirit is present in our lives, reminding us that God’s definition of love is not found in a dictionary or a lexicon, but it is now written on the hearts of his people. We continue to attest to the love of God by living as Jesus did. We must now be the ones that express God’s love to the world through our acts of mercy, healing, generosity, and selflessness. Use every word that you possess to tell of God’s love, but more importantly, allow God’s love to be characterized in all that you do.*

*Portions of this entry were excerpted from my devotional found in the UHBC 2007 Advent Devotional Guide.