Incarnational Motherhood

March 5, 2008

At Fuller Seminary I learned an important missionary/ministry principle: “incarnationally living.” Some may recognize this word from the oft-repeated doctrinal phrase: “Jesus is the incarnational son of God.” Essentially it means “in the flesh” and refers to Jesus’ ministry of descending from heaven to earth, leaving his throne room and throngs of worshippers to muck around in dirty sandals with a rag-tag group of disciples from an oppressed people-group.

At Fuller when I heard that the only way to cross-cultures was to live as the indigenous people lived, accept their customs, poverty, way of life, I thought: “Awesome! That’s how I’m going to live and minister!”

We attempted to organize our first mission trip for WAC around this concept. We came to poor villages of Honduras and sleep on concrete floors in little houses, went a week without a shower, and used spider-infested out-houses. From this experience I deduced that incarnational living was sort of hard, but definitely worth it and inspiring. The best way to show people we care for them is to live among them, like them.

The other day I was sitting in a hot, dirty closet in AFE, with Elijah laying in a crib that belonged to the babies of the dump. Flies buzzed around and Elijah’s sobs cut through the thick air. I was distraught at what I was subjecting my son to. Incarnational living in fine for me, but it is much more difficult to put Elijah through it!

We have been looking for a high chair for him. Rey came up with the idea: why not just buy one from AFE and then they can use the money to get a new one! No way. If there is anything that needs to be clean and germ-free for a baby, it’s a high chair. They come in direct contact with their food and their mouths as they teethe on the tray.

Essentially, I want Elijah to have better things, to be more comfortable than the babies of the dump. My value of incarnational living stops with my son. Why can’t I be like the Father and sacrifice my son’s comfort for the sake of others?