Incarnate

Week 1: Hope Incarnate
This week, Jason Feffer shared the tangible, embodied hope we have in Jesus. In the advent season, we celebrate the three comings of Jesus – his incarnation, his presence with us today, and his returning one day again to put the world to right. These three comings of God in the flesh demonstrate God’s great love for us and His desire to be connected to us relationally, not abstractly. The reality of Jesus’ incarnate presence with us can stir in us a hope for what is to come one day, as well as a grounded expectation for encounters with Christ in the here and now.

Kingdom Practice
This week, please continue with the Immanuel Journaling practice Jason led us through If available to you, commit to doing the practice four times a week this week, staying with the relational idea of hope. Where are you grateful for who God is in your life? How is God responding to you in these places? You may want to keep your journal with you as you go throughout the week, so you can utilize moments of time as they come.

Week 2: Peace Incarnate 
This week, Rebecca Moss helped us contemplate the meaning of true and lasting peace in light of the incarnation. As we consider the chaos and turmoil Jesus was born into, we join with those who longed for a peace that prevails over darkness and ushers in the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. But this kind of peace is not achieved when warring nations merely cease fighting. Rather, the peace Jesus lived out – and calls us to imitate – is found when we also work together for each other’s benefit. It’s the kind of peace that pulls us “out of the trenches and into each other’s good company.” (Jim Schapp)

Kingdom Practice
This week, please continue with the Immanuel Journaling practice Rebecca led us through (here is Sunday’s handout). If available to you, commit to doing the practice four times a week this week, staying with the theme of peace. Where are you grateful for the peace of Christ in your life? Are there places you are longing for peace? How is God responding to you in these places? You may want to keep your journal with you as you go throughout the week, so you can utilize moments of time as they come.

Week 3: Joy Incarnate
This week, Gail Donahue explored how Jesus embodied deep joy in every circumstance – even the most unlikely ones. Jesus experienced relational joy in his personal connection to the Father, responsive joy as he walked in obedience and surrender to God’s will, resilient joy in the midst of trials and suffering, and reconciling joy as he extended radical hospitality to the lost and vulnerable. How might we imitate Jesus in these four areas, making joy a tangible reality in our own lives?

Kingdom Practice
This week, please continue with the Immanuel Journaling practice Gail led us through (here is Sunday’s handout). If available to you, commit to doing the practice four times a week this week, staying with the theme of joy. Where are you grateful for the joy of Christ in your life? Are there places you are longing for joy or find it harder to recognize? How is God responding to you in these places? You may want to keep your journal with you as you go throughout the week, so you can utilize moments of time as they come.

Week 4- Love Incarnate 
In John 15:13, Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend. We see this kind of self-sacrificial love generously displayed in Jesus’ crucifixion – not just for friends of Jesus but for his enemies, too. And yet, we don’t always stop to consider that long before he laid his life down on the cross, he laid it down in the manger. Though being equal to God, Jesus gave up his status to become human – one of us. The God of the universe made himself vulnerable – woundable – so that he could join with us in our suffering even as he worked to heal it. This is love incarnate.

Kingdom Practice
This week, please continue with the Immanuel Journaling practice Nicole led us through (here is Sunday’s handout). If available to you, commit to doing the practice four times a week this week, staying with the theme of love. When is the last time you felt really loved? For which moments are you most grateful? Are there places you are longing to be seen or loved or find it harder to recognize? How is God responding to you in these places? You may want to keep your journal with you as you go throughout the week, so you can utilize moments of time as they come.