Article

Incarnation Reflections

God's incarnation... and ours

Steve Argue

God, you, me, incarnation...

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The season of Advent calls for the Christian faith community to anticipate incarnation- the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ- the second person of the Trinity becoming human… God connecting with us completely… God entering our personal space… God connecting with us at our most human level.

We often aspire for our youth ministries and our volunteers to be “incarnational.” We use the term as synonymous as  “meeting students where they are at,” or we use it as the driving reason that half our budget is spent on candy and video games. Bringing focus through Advent inspires us to look deeper toward the Christmas event and to anticipate something more compelling than simply following Jesus’ example.

I wonder if that “silent night” was silent, not because it was tranquil (it most certainly wasn’t), but because heaven and earth held its breath as creator became as the created… the eternal took on the temporal… the transcendent became imminent.

The incarnation helps me reflect upon

… Jesus’ dependence upon his creation

[They] found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2.16)

Think about it. The one by, through, and for whom the world is made, becomes a baby. What do babies do? They are dependent upon their mother, their family, their community. I had a good friend, who became a dad recently, say to me, “All junior does is eat, poop, and sleep.” Replace “junior” with “Jesus.” Here comes the creator of the universe, the savior of the world… eating, pooping, and sleeping.

Incarnational ministry is often misconstrued as a creative way to “relate” to people so that we can influence them. If we can convince students that we “care” maybe that “listen to what we have to say.” While there might be good intensions in this sentiment, it misses a central piece of incarnation that must be considered. Jesus’ incarnation begins with a simple statement: I need you.

One is incarnational when one starts with a simple admittance “I need you.” Instead of trying got reach students, maybe we need to let our students reach us. Where do we open ourselves to our dependence on them? Where do we say, “I can’t live without your input into my life.” Let’s not reduce youth ministry to telling students that we “need them” to further our own cause, accomplish our own tasks, or attend our own retreats. We need them… because we can’t survive without them. Unless we recognize our dependence upon those we seek to serve, we miss the essence of incarnation and the essence of youth ministry.

·       How do you and your volunteers need students and their families? Be specific.

·       What does interdependence with them look like? Again, be specific.

·       What agendas masked in “incarnational” sentiment need to be left behind? Be honest.

…. Jesus’ communion with others

And as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favor with God and people. (Luke 2.52)

“Savior of the world” seems like a solo project. Our western lenses can shape Jesus into the rugged individualist… the “Terminator” of evil with a supporting cast brought along for drama and comedy relief (Just look at those disciples… or our churches!). What we see, instead, is a Jesus continually dependent upon his community. Jesus’ mom and dad and siblings had to play a role in shaping who Jesus became. Where did he learn about his surroundings in order to come up with those great parables? Where did he learn carpentry? Who drove him to the temple? How was he introduced to his village? How did he learn about his heavenly Father

Jesus 30 years wasn’t spent in a mountaintop awaiting his big public debut. Maybe that’s why some didn’t get the “savior” thing: “Mary and Joseph’s son? Seriously?” Often we (appropriately) focus on Jesus last three, public years of life, death, and resurrection. But his last three years only make sense if we look at his first 30. If Jesus “dying on the cross” is all that Jesus’ incarnation is about, it seems that it be easier to teleport him in for the dirty deed than to encase him in a human body for a 30 year waiting period.

No, the first 30 years incarnate communion- Jesus’ communion with his community and with His heavenly Father. There were things that Jesus had to learn (Jesus learning?), experience, understand. Maybe what we see is the creator of the universe more interested in the people he came to save than just “saving” them. Maybe the essence of “gospel” extends beyond “doing something for someone” but actually connecting with the person, simply to connect with them. This is part of redemption… self-giving love as expressed through the eternal, Trinitarian relationship. The relationship is gospel. God is a relationship.

·       In your youth ministry, has incarnation become a means to and end?

·       Have you or your volunteers been more interested in saving students than in the students themselves?

·       Might gospel be understood best within communion together rather than being reduced to a flashy Bible study or some sort of “commitment” made?

·       What does your youth ministry emphasize or value? Again, be honest.

… Jesus’ self-giving love

And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself… (Philippians 2.8)

If we stop at the cradle, we worship a cute Jesus. If we stop at young man Jesus, we worship a socially conscious Jesus, we must keep going all the way through and beyond the cross. Philippians 2 reminds us that the extent of incarnation takes us to and through the cross.

Again, this is more than a stand-alone event. It demonstrates the extent of incarnation. God, through Jesus, is willing to come close to our deepest fears, our darkest sins, our greatest disappointments, and our most overwhelming paints… and remain close, embracing it with us. Jesus is the one who “suffers with” and sees us through. Out of all the ways to defeat our greatest nemesis, death, Jesus embraces the violent, the obscene, the ludicrous, the abusive, the inhumane. Nothing is out of reach. No one is out of reach.

How far does your youth ministry reach? Forget programs or websites or “outreaches” for a minute. Where does your church go to truly be with adolescents? Where do you and your volunteers “suffer with” adolescents outside convenient, scheduled times? This reflects our understanding of incarnation and shapes your translation of “gospel.”

·       Do you talk about sacrifice with your volunteers or are you trying to fit ministry into convenient scheduled space?

·       To whom does your youth ministry reach? Celebrate this.

·       To whom in your community is your youth ministry missing? Grieve this.

Reflecting reflections…

Let’s not reduce incarnation to “reaching out” and miss being the ones to whom others reach.

Let’s not reduce incarnation to a leadership model and miss our need for interdependence.

Let’s not reduce incarnation to convenient, trendy methods and miss extending ourselves all the way to sacrifice.

Let’s follow Jesus into incarnation. Here we embrace life, death, and resurrection and live out gospel.

Oh come let us adore him…

Excerpts from Group Publishing’s Inside Track, December 2008

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