Let’s make 2020 a year of incarnate living.

What does that mean? It means that we live the way that Jesus, the word made flesh, taught us to live. First, it means that we are truthful with ourselves and one another. Truthful about who we are and who we are not. Truthful about our strength and our frailty, truthful about our successes and our failures, truthful about our hopes and our dreams. Truthful about our own messiness.

And it also means that as we grow in truth with ourselves, with one another and with our incarnate God, that we grow in grace. Grace that is modeled by God’s willingness to become one of us. Grace that is shown in the life of Jesus who interpreted scripture for his world. Grace that is known in the expansion of God’s word from the page to the real world. Grace that understands and accepts human messiness and still chooses to jump into the mess. Grace to let the mess inform our reading of scripture and our practice of faith. …Grace that helps us listen to one another, welcome one another, and support one another every step of the way.

No matter who we are. No matter where we come from.

Broken and messy as we may be.

For if we want to become children of God, it all begins with incarnation.