Incarnational living... what does it mean to you?

Incarnational living... what does it mean?

First of all, what is it?  Is it another one of those words that religious folks use or is it some type of odd flower?  (okay, I'll stay away from the "yuk, yuk" jokes.... or rather "yuck, yuck")

Incarnational living.... living as Christ lived. 

Over the past couple of years I've read quite a few books that have enlightened me on this subject.  Of course, the Bible tells us some good stuff too about how Jesus lived.  Yet, somehow, we tend to get it all messed up.  I don't know whether it's because we pick and choose how we're going to live or whether we're just trying to find an easy path or what. 

What I do know is that over the past several years, living the Jesus way resonates with me. 

That reminds me of a book I've been reading over the Spring and Summer (and reminds me I need to finish it).  The Jesus Way: a conversation on the ways that Jesus is the way by Eugene H. Patterson (Eerdmans: 2007)

Though challenging, this book is insightful.  From the introduction: "This is a conversation on the spirituality of the ways we go about following Jesus, the Way." (1) 

"The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped--it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstance that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversations with one another and with him." (18)

Living the Jesus way, living incarnationally.... it means more to me than living out 'what would Jesus do?' though that's not a bad saying to remind oneself how to act or react.

If I were to have to pin it down, I would actually give two Scriptures to show what living incarnationally means to me.

Micah 6:8 (NIV)

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God.

Here is that same verse in the New International Reader's Version, a version for younger readers:

The Lord has shown you what is good.
      He has told you what he requires of you.
   You must treat people fairly.
      You must love others faithfully.
   And you must be very careful to live
      the way your God wants you to.

I like the focus from this version on "treating people fairly, loving others faithfully, and carefully living the way God wants me to".  I know it's a semantical issue, but sometimes a different version can help us see things differently, grasp something anew.

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)  [Jesus had just been asked by the Pharisees 'what is the greatest commandment of the Law and this is the response.]

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'^[This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

These two Scripture references sum it up for me, though the last one can encompass the first one. 

Being hands and feet, ears, heart, and voice in this world for others, just as Christ was, is being incarnational. 

It doesn't just happen.  It requires paying attention, listening, following through, being intentional.

Here is another book I've read that relates to incarnational living:

God in the Alley:  Being and Seeing Jesus in a Broken World by Greg Paul (Shaw: 2004)

Here's just one quote from God in the Alley that fits today's conversation:

 "I enjoy the fact that Jesus called himself "The Way," and that the early disciples were referred to as "belonging to The Way."  It reminds me that this way, although it is in some respects new to me, is really very old, and a great many others have walked it.  More importantly, it reminds me that the journey is as important as the destination.  In fact, it could be said that the journey is the destination, for the journey itself is Jesus himself." (19)

As I close my thoughts on today's blog, I want to include a quote from Diana Butler Bass from Strength for the Journey: A Pilgrimage of Faith in Community. As I read this the other day, it resonated within me and articulates into where I've been beginning to live into over the past several years.

“I was starting to understand that earthly passion was not so bad—nor was fear or doubt or suffering or sin. All the “stuff” of humanity needed to be brought into the center of God—as God had come to the center of humankind in becoming one of us in Jesus. I was beginning to live into what Christians call the doctrine of the Incarnation—the belief that an embodied God blesses our embodied lives.” (174)

How's your journey?

May you be encouraged today to seek, follow, and live "the Way".

~Debra