Written by Drew Dixon, a contemporary minister, spiritual director, and author.
In a world increasingly mediated by technology, incarnation is one of the most important theological categories for us to recover…When Jesus came, the transcendent God became a body—the omnipresent God became local…The glory of God was tangibly experienced through embodied reality. This was true for the gospel writers, and it is true today…Though Jesus has ascended and is seated with the Father, there is still a way in which he remains incarnate on earth. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that, “For those who belong to him, Jesus’ departure does not mean a loss but rather a new gift. For the first disciples the bodily community with Jesus did not mean anything different or anything more than what we have today.” That “new gift” is the body of Christ that we know as the Church. Despite technology’s gifts, the great temptation of our age is to become increasingly disembodied being s living through pixels on the screens. But the Word is meant to become flesh and dwell among us in our localized, embodied expressions of the Church. This is where we are meant to see the glory of God. In our incarnated fellowship, we find our truest sense of belonging as we share meals, listen to stories, and wrestle with our common faith. Being face to face forces s to reckon with our differences. In mutual presence, we learn to really see one another and be formed by one another so that, together, we become more like Christ., As we are reconciled to one another and seek to love our neighbors, we show forth the glory of God on earth.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:14]
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