Incarnational Living?

Help me think through this. Most of you have heard the term "incarnational living" used to refer to those who go and live in the hood to minister the gospel. Some ministries even term their workers "incarnational", if they come from somewhere else, or "indigenous", if they are from the area. But I am not sure that the term "incarnation" is an accurate term for this ministry. Furthermore, it seems to bring some dangerous implications with its use. And what is worse, it probably creates a wrong mindset in those who would consider themselves "incarnational".

I will begin by saying that everyone I have ever met who calls himself (or herself) an "incarnational" minister of the gospel has sacrificed much for the sake of the gospel and has had no ill-intentions in using the phrase. But that said, the term may still be a dangerous one. First, the term "incarnation" refers to a spiritual being taking on flesh. Jesus did that, and no one else has. True, he stooped to take on flesh. But if we minister to the poor, we do not stoop in a "spirit taking on flesh" way. We may need to sacrifice to minister to the poor, but we do not incarnate when we do so.

Second, it seems using this term puts the poor in an awkward position. How are they to relate to the "incarnational" ones? As Spirit filled believers, are the indigenous not just as "incarnational" as those from the outside?

But mostly, it seems that the term runs a huge risk for those who apply it to themselves. There are some qualities of Christ that he called others to take on. And there are others that only he has. Jesus was a teacher, and he called others to be teachers. Jesus was a shepherd... And Jesus was fully God who became fully man (the incarnation), and he did not call anyone else to do that. So by using this term, we may be inadvertently applying a uniquely divine attribute to ourselves. Not intentionally, of course, but not without risk of shaping our thinking.

Please don't hear what I am not saying. We absolutely are called to sacrifice for the sake of our brothers and sisters. We are to defend the cause of the poor and the oppressed. We are to watch out that we don't let money and luxury consume us. And some of us are called to live among the poor, just as Jesus at times did. But I am sure that most "incarnational" Christians will tell you that while they have sacrificed much, they have received and learned even more from their poor neighbors. Then the question becomes, who is really ministering to whom?

Realtors and Consultants

It occurred to me the other day as I was painting, that realtors are a bit like consultants. They come on to your property, charge you more that you think they are worth, and then tell you what you already knew you needed to do but didn't want to do. Then they leave.

As a former consultant, I can say that there is both hyperbole and truth in that statement. We recently interviewed three realtors to list our house and all of them gave us a task list a mile long of things we were hoping not to have to do (like the two story back porch). But the truth is that we did need to do those things. And, of course, our realtor has done a lot more than give us that initial list. See for yourself - www.4160botanical.com.

Anticipation

I have been reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to Olivia (and Joseph for that matter) for well over a year. For a long time she would just play in the room while I read. I would read only a page or two, and repeat a lot of pages that I was sure she missed. I know I am reading ahead of her developmental level, but I push that envelope on a regular basis just to see what the kids pick up on. I try not to push to the point of exasperation.

Part of my interest in making these stories a part of their early childhood is based on my not having read them until my adult years. So you can imagine my excitement now as Olivia is starting to show both comprehension and excitement. She asks about the beavers. She knows the witch is bad. She didn't know who Father Christmas was based on the description Lewis gives, but that's our fault for not doing the Santa Claus thing.

But Lewis foreshadows Aslan's arrival brilliantly, and Olivia went to bed tonight asking when she will get to see Aslan. She is very excited to see the great lion king, the hero of the story. What a great picture of excited anticipation, the kind that is building for each of us as believers to see the return of our great king, the hero of the story of history, Jesus!

The Big Test

Who says it better than David Brooks? He says in this one article what it takes many an entire book to explain. Thomas Sowell explains a similar point in "Conflict of Vision(s?)". Brooks' article basically says that we have no way of knowing all of the unintended downstream impacts of the new stimulus plan. And as much as he thinks those will be negative, he is holding out hope that they are not... because the cost otherwise is simply too high. But read his words, they are much more graceful than mine.

Tiger is Back

This will be old news by the time most people read my blog, but Tiger Woods is back in play next week at the Accenture Match Play! That's particularly exciting since I worked for Accenture for eight years before leaving for seminary. Here's the article.

Too many cooks?

Karl Rove wrote an interesting op-ed in the Journal a couple of days ago about the Obama White House. I find these little peeks into life at the White House fascinating. But more than that, he raises some good points about organizational structure. Obama's organizational leadership experience is slim, and this may be indicative. But I expect Rahm Emanuel will provide some helpful corrective.

Drives and Hypocrisy

The drives were some of the most interesting parts of our trip (I know, this is contrary to the premise for my blog name, "The Approach"). Puns aside, after the drive through the orthodox Jewish part of town on Tuesday morning, that evening we drove from Jerusalem to Ma'agan, via the highway following the Jordan River.


You might notice from the map that the drive was through West Bank territory. We were planning to stay out of the West Bank prior to the trip, but after talking with some of the locals we gained some confidence. The previous day, when we were done at Qumran, we had the decision to either cut across the West Bank into Jerusalem (30 minutes) or drive all the way back around (2 hours). We chose the former, and it was all highway and no big deal to pass through the check point.

So when we were coming out of Jerusalem that evening to go north, we didn't think twice about taking the shorter route again. This would have been no big deal had we stayed on the main roads. However, the GPS system evidently didn't prefer the main roads and took us right through a densely populated part of East Jerusalem (i.e. West Bank). It's tough to say if we were ever in any real danger. It felt in many ways like we were driving through an inner-city neighborhood - small convenience stores with bars, unattended kids running through the streets at night. We got a few looks from passersby, but the car that followed us most of the way was probably just taking the same route to the highway we were.

We got to the highway, breathed a sigh of relief and said thanks to God, and drove on. I was driving at the time, and after a cumulative 6 hours of sleep the previous two nights Erik asked me if I wanted him to drive. I said yes.

As we continued along, we discussed our heightened fears. I took some comfort in having a fair bit of experience in the inner-city. Somewhere along the way I said, somewhat boastfully, "Erik, you need to spend some more time in the hood." Of course Erik has spent some time in the hood, and I have been fairly naive in some of my experience. He got offended. I fell asleep.

I woke up occasionally and somewhere along the way I think I apologized. It's tough to remember. What I do remember is waking up on a particularly rough part of the road saying, "Oh no, we have a flat tire." The memory of Bill Cosby's son being shot dead while changing his tire on the side of an LA freeway immediately shot through my mind. Next I thought about how hypocritical my earlier comment was. Now I am reminded of Peter's denial and the many other examples of hypocrisy found throughout Scripture. It was a pertinent lesson to learn in the Holy Land.

The rest of the drive was non-eventful. And since it was dark, we didn't get a look at the Jordan River until the next morning.