I’ve used the word “incarnation” a lot in the last few weeks. This is the teaching that God became flesh, meeting us where we are in our likeness, to then restore us to who we should be in God’s likeness. The incarnation reminds us of one of the major themes of scripture: God has never given up on redeeming his creation. Since the fall of humanity and the brokenness of his creation, God has been in active pursuit of his creation to redeem it. This is one of the major teachings that sets Christianity apart from other world religions. God does not stay high on Mount Olympus, unreachable by mortals. The God of Christianity meets us where we are, in our brokenness, and carries us to the mountaintop. There is no one that is too far from him that he can’t meet them where they are. No one.
The church is called to be the body of Christ as it comes together in unity and love. This unity and love of the body of Christ is what makes Christ known to the world (John 13; 17). As those who carry the presence of Christ into the world, through the Holy Spirit, we continue God’s mission to redeem his creation back to him. This is the overarching theme of Luke’s Gospel: what the Holy Spirit began to do through Jesus, the Holy Spirit now continues to do through the Church to the ends of the earth.
We look back to the pages of the New Testament to see first century expressions of the gospel and church life as they navigated how to carry out God’s mission in their time and place. As the gospel reaches the Jews gathered in Jerusalem, we see expressions of the gospel and church life lived out in their context. When the Gentiles are brought into the church, the church had to reexamine how the gospel and church life was expressed in this new context (Acts 11; 15).
Throughout scripture, we see God speaking into different contexts ways in which the gospel can be lived out to reach new terrains. We look back to what God was doing in those times and in those ways to see how the gospel is breathed new and fresh into new spaces and new places. When we look back, we see the Spirit at work shaping communities of people for the mission of God in their day. We look back to then look forward to live twenty-first century lives as we walk in light of the revelation God gave to us in the first century. What the church needs today is a fresh blowing of God’s Spirit on our culture, in our day, and in our way. We must continually examine our practices to see where the gospel could better connect with the world around us and see how we can remove all obstacles from people coming to know Christ.
We’ve laid the groundwork over the last few weeks for how the Gospel takes on different metaphors and meanings as it is presented in different ways to meet people where they are. The gospel isn’t compromised in doing this but is contextualized to meet people where they are to then bring them into the story of Christ and be transformed into his image. This week we will look to the opportunities we have in the YMCA, NoDa, and in the area of the city where you live. How will we be proactive with meeting our community where it is for the sake of the gospel?
The passage for reflection this week is from Luke 7:11-17. I love this story because Jesus has no agenda for what he is doing other than his heart went out to the woman. When we develop the heart of Jesus in our lives, the Spirit moves in us to see situations around us with compassion. What are some situations in the world where you struggle to allow compassion to be the first response? What do you see people doing that invokes anger? How would viewing those situations through compassion first change your approach to the situation?