Incarnation

Wow! The hustle and bustle has been unreal this year. I cannot believe how busy things have been. So much seems to go on at any one moment. A party here, basketball practice, winter concerts.

All month long, I have been thinking about things I'd like to blog about like incarnation. I enjoyed preaching on the incarnate Christ and how we too are to be incarnate. Truth be told, I like to think of myself as missionally incarnate in my thinking. For those of you who aren't readers of modern books about issues relating to church; it basically means I see all of us as missionaries to the world in which we live and that church is not our escape but our anchor in the depths of the deep lostness of the world.

Today, however, I was reminded I still have a long ways to go in taking on that full way of thinking. I was reading some of Rick Warren's response to the criticism he has taken for agreeing to offer the inaugural prayer for president-elect Obama and for openly admitting that he loves the music of Melissa Etheridge all while participating in a muslim relations forum. Criticism has naturally followed, some from groups who are offended that a Bible-believing conservative would be allowed at the inauguration. The harshest criticism comes from those who think he is a sell out to participate with people who have an agenda that is not Bible-based.

I'm not sure I could do what he has done, but I hope that I can get to the point where I am more concerned about making a difference in a lost world than pleasing those who hide behind their church walls hoping for heaven on earth. Christmas really doesn't make sense. Could not the angels have asked why God would soil his name by taking on human flesh? Joining Christ means to join Him in all the lost places in the world, in places where lost people hang out and loving them right where they are.

It requires another type of re-birth in my life, to grow up all over again in my faith. Incarnation means, I will go to that length to reach those I can. Join me in incarnation!

Merry Christmas!