Call for Incarnation - Rev. Christopher Shabu

The title ‘continuity in between church and community’ has gone under various deliberations and the results were ambivalent in nature. Extremely inclusive, exclusive and merely passive were them. Here our postmodern nativity entails an evangelical exegesis and a creative commitment. Church is called out to ‘confront and contact’ community to permute it into Divine Kingdom.

Here my endeavour is to annotate ‘our Divine call’ towards community, which is a call for an Incarnation, in order that we may view our community with optimism and applicate ourselves on it creatively. Implementation of the concept ‘incarnation’ in church’s mission towards community is not recent in emergence. Since it connotes a profound practical truth it should be adopted here. At the event of incarnation Christ took ‘the carna’ (flesh) or extended His tent among us (Jn.1:14).

Behind this act He has borne an explicit cause of emancipating the estranged creation (Jn.1:29). Well-accepted and appreciated form, of this concept is ‘emptied deity’ (kenosis) of Paul (Phil 2:6-8). ‘Extended deity’ another mode of the same concept does belong to John (Jn.1:14). How could these be connected with church’s mission towards community? As for me ‘church’ could be defined as ‘encountering divine cause’ for it encounters the community with ‘the cause’ of erecting ‘Divine Kingdom’ on earth.

Everyone within the church is entrusted with an obligation of ‘encountering’. Above-mentioned forms of incarnation could shed light on this process of ‘encountering’. Emptied deity: Christ renounces splendour and shares Himself with the deformed world in order that they may be reformed and share the splendour with Him. Here is an extension of Christ’s incarnation in which He wants us to empty ourselves and incarnate in to this deformed world and it’s systems by which the power behind incarnation could transform it in to an ordered kingdom.

Extended deity: The idea of emptying is negated here. Christ reduced nothing, but remained same in essence. Manifestation of Him in to this humanity was for the functioning of His existence. Called out of own community and commissioned to the same explicates it is not an obligation but an extension of our function. Christ’s usage of paradigm ‘salt’ could guide us in to the depth of the theme incarnation. ‘Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men’ (Mt.5:13). Though the ‘salt’ here is to denote its saltiness, its permeation value should not be overlooked. Church as entrusted with this task should permeate in and through the sinews and tissues of community, with its saltiness. It is evident only when it is used. Salt is meant to be used.

Except the matter of its utility its existence is ignored. Church’s saltiness is ‘sum of its utilizable essence’. Only in church’s process of permeation it is identified as an entity. Saltiness of church is composed of three distinct things. Cognition, Commitment and capability. Cognition – Cognition is church’s sense of commission or its dogma. Commitment – Church’s response towards this cognition is its commitment. Capability – Capability is the endorsement of Divine Principle on church’s cognition and commitment with presence and power.

Though we all differ in perceiving the reality our corporate appreciation of the most holy faith once delivered to the saints is our cognition. Should we not go so close to our Lord through the Word to give answer to the quires of this contemporary world? How is our commitment toward our ‘sense of realty?’ Are we expecting it from our genetic past? A personal encounter with Christ the Lord of all is the solution. How will you be capable enough to respond on your commitment?

Consorting intellectual impulse or other non-Divine excitements could thwart us from the mainstream of God’s will. What is expected from us is to put on the power of resurrection that Christ has made us available on the cross. What is the purview of permeation? Loving each other is considered as our paramount law. The New Testament term for love shows its emptying nature. When we define the core of love from a new testamental point of view, it is a desire to be satisfied in the satisfaction of object.

Love’s fulfilment is in its embodiment or demonstration. Desire is not love in itself, or the demonstration. But love is when desire exists subjacent to demonstration. The term ‘satisfaction’ does show its figure back to a need. Since the concept of the need is universal. Satisfying is essential. Approaching the need with a stereotyped vested interest is menial. Need, whether spiritual or physical, the purview of our permeation is extended throughout all the needs, even the last one of our community.

What will be the first thought emerge in a person when he hears of Christianity? A negative sense that recalls colonialism, capitalism and schism. It obstructs our evangelism and their commitment. Healing of this presupposition will be done only when we opt to incarnate the gospel through our lives, not with lips. It is more a thing to know a fact and believe it. Incarnating gospel is incarnating Christ. The fact that we are in Christ is explosive and emancipating. Incarnation is not emulation but abiding fully in Christ so that He may reincarnate to the world through us.

Then there will sprout a novel sense in the world that would let them to surrender to the already heard gospel. What is the cost of incarnation? A life long abnegation or cross. The proto type for us all is ‘The servant of the Lord.’ ‘He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street’ (Isa.42:2). ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth’ (Isa.53:7). This is how He lived. Incarnation is emptying ourselves and clothing ‘Servant of the Lord’ for our community. Opting for servant-hood when our egos push forward is a struggle. The pain of this struggle is our cross that will in turn bring perseverance, character and hope. Our call is a call for an incarnation, incarnating ‘The servant of The Lord’ to this needy world, which demands our abnegation of self. This is the prerequisite for Kingdom’s establishment on earth.