Being an Incarnational Christian
Tomorrow Kent and I leave for Guatemala.
I am excited, yet nervous. It is going to be a completely new experience as we are not going to be working with the same people in the same places we have for the past two years...completely new. I think it's good. I think we need to get pushed again. We have become comfortable with the places we've been, with the relationships we have been establishing - which is good, to an extent - but it's important to not get too comfortable. We need to continually push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to remind ourselves that we cannot rely on ourselves to "do ministry" but rather we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for guidance, to open our eyes and our ears, for strength, for providence, etc., etc., etc.
This will be my third trip to Guatemala City (Kent's 2nd). Each time I've gone, God has opened my eyes and my heart further and further. He has pushed me out of my comfort zone through street ministry. He has opened my eyes to see global injustice in a way that I never understood beforehand through the garbage dump. He has gently allowed me to further understand the depths of his love by looking into the eyes of gang members - murderers, rapists, burglerers, drug dealers - while singing "I'm forgiven because You were forsaken..." in their native language. He has opened my ears to the cries of the forgotten through La limonada. I am not the same person I was two years ago.
But I have found that it is much easier to be God's hands and feet in a foreign country; to love the unlovable who speak a different language than you do; to serve with a grateful heart on soil that is not your own in cities that are unfamiliar to you.
Things change as soon as you return home to the familiar.
Last year I was really intentional about asking myself, "How can I apply what I am learning here in Guatemala to my own home town when I get back?" I started asking myself that before I even left for Guatemala. I continually asked myself and the group that while we were there.
And then I got home.
And then it became a lot easier to not think about it because I had my daily routine to occupy my thoughts and to distract my eyes.
I am feeling restless. I want to do something right here in Whatcom County. I want to stop talking the talk but not walking the walk. I want to be like Jesus - not only in Guatemala where it's easier because I know I'm only going to be there for 10 days - right here, right now. I want service to the 'least of these' to run through my blood. I don't want to make myself think about it and try to be intentional - I want it to be a natural outpouring of the Spirit out of gratefulness for all Christ has done for me. I want to be an incarnational Christian - not just a Christian that goes to church and reads the Bible, yet sits on my butt at home the rest of the week and thinks only about my problems and my fears and my anxieties.
God has really been working in my heart since I first set foot on Guatemalan soil with Kent two years ago. And now God is opening doors for me to do something here (I'll give more details at a later time). I'm not sure where this is going to go or how long it's going to last, but I've finally said "enough is enough," so I'm taking that first step - with the Holy Spirit's help and guidance - to be an incarnational Christian on my 'home turf.'
I'm still only beginning to process what it means to be an incarnational Christian and each time I go to Guatemala, Joel Van Dyke challenges my understanding of what it means to be a Christian in a world full of injustice where, in many cases (not all, but many), the church just stands by oblivious.
Jesus came and lived among and served the people that were most despised by society - including the religious leaders of the time. Today, in our times, those people would probably equal: child pornographers, the homeless, homosexuals, strippers, prostitutes, drug and alcohol addicts, the mentally and/or physically disabled, people with AIDS, illegal immigrants, migrant workers, people of different religious affiliations, certain Hollywood movie stars, musicians...and the list could go on and on.
If Jesus lived among and served these kinds of people and loved them where they were at because he knew they needed the kind of love he could offer - but he didn't expect anything in return. He loved them, helped them with their physical needs and had relationship with them...and then he told them about the Kingdom of God. He did not condemn them for who they were or how they lived - he LOVED them. Period.
Why is it so hard for us (me included) to love the way that Jesus loved? Why is it so hard for us to serve the way Jesus served?
That is the GOSPEL.
I don't have an answer. This is a daily struggle of mine. I feel like I am only beginning to understand what it means to be an incarnational Christian.... I still have questions and I'm going to keep asking them and seeking answers to them. I need to keep reading the Bible, keep praying, keep listening and waiting, to seek God's face...and to keep trying to follow Christ's example of loving and serving through the power of the Spirit.
I am excited, yet nervous. It is going to be a completely new experience as we are not going to be working with the same people in the same places we have for the past two years...completely new. I think it's good. I think we need to get pushed again. We have become comfortable with the places we've been, with the relationships we have been establishing - which is good, to an extent - but it's important to not get too comfortable. We need to continually push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to remind ourselves that we cannot rely on ourselves to "do ministry" but rather we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for guidance, to open our eyes and our ears, for strength, for providence, etc., etc., etc.
This will be my third trip to Guatemala City (Kent's 2nd). Each time I've gone, God has opened my eyes and my heart further and further. He has pushed me out of my comfort zone through street ministry. He has opened my eyes to see global injustice in a way that I never understood beforehand through the garbage dump. He has gently allowed me to further understand the depths of his love by looking into the eyes of gang members - murderers, rapists, burglerers, drug dealers - while singing "I'm forgiven because You were forsaken..." in their native language. He has opened my ears to the cries of the forgotten through La limonada. I am not the same person I was two years ago.
But I have found that it is much easier to be God's hands and feet in a foreign country; to love the unlovable who speak a different language than you do; to serve with a grateful heart on soil that is not your own in cities that are unfamiliar to you.
Things change as soon as you return home to the familiar.
Last year I was really intentional about asking myself, "How can I apply what I am learning here in Guatemala to my own home town when I get back?" I started asking myself that before I even left for Guatemala. I continually asked myself and the group that while we were there.
And then I got home.
And then it became a lot easier to not think about it because I had my daily routine to occupy my thoughts and to distract my eyes.
I am feeling restless. I want to do something right here in Whatcom County. I want to stop talking the talk but not walking the walk. I want to be like Jesus - not only in Guatemala where it's easier because I know I'm only going to be there for 10 days - right here, right now. I want service to the 'least of these' to run through my blood. I don't want to make myself think about it and try to be intentional - I want it to be a natural outpouring of the Spirit out of gratefulness for all Christ has done for me. I want to be an incarnational Christian - not just a Christian that goes to church and reads the Bible, yet sits on my butt at home the rest of the week and thinks only about my problems and my fears and my anxieties.
God has really been working in my heart since I first set foot on Guatemalan soil with Kent two years ago. And now God is opening doors for me to do something here (I'll give more details at a later time). I'm not sure where this is going to go or how long it's going to last, but I've finally said "enough is enough," so I'm taking that first step - with the Holy Spirit's help and guidance - to be an incarnational Christian on my 'home turf.'
I'm still only beginning to process what it means to be an incarnational Christian and each time I go to Guatemala, Joel Van Dyke challenges my understanding of what it means to be a Christian in a world full of injustice where, in many cases (not all, but many), the church just stands by oblivious.
Jesus came and lived among and served the people that were most despised by society - including the religious leaders of the time. Today, in our times, those people would probably equal: child pornographers, the homeless, homosexuals, strippers, prostitutes, drug and alcohol addicts, the mentally and/or physically disabled, people with AIDS, illegal immigrants, migrant workers, people of different religious affiliations, certain Hollywood movie stars, musicians...and the list could go on and on.
If Jesus lived among and served these kinds of people and loved them where they were at because he knew they needed the kind of love he could offer - but he didn't expect anything in return. He loved them, helped them with their physical needs and had relationship with them...and then he told them about the Kingdom of God. He did not condemn them for who they were or how they lived - he LOVED them. Period.
Why is it so hard for us (me included) to love the way that Jesus loved? Why is it so hard for us to serve the way Jesus served?
That is the GOSPEL.
I don't have an answer. This is a daily struggle of mine. I feel like I am only beginning to understand what it means to be an incarnational Christian.... I still have questions and I'm going to keep asking them and seeking answers to them. I need to keep reading the Bible, keep praying, keep listening and waiting, to seek God's face...and to keep trying to follow Christ's example of loving and serving through the power of the Spirit.
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on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 8:05 AM.
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