"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." –John 1:14

Incarnation and Constancy in the Information Age

This new era can be unnerving, especially if you are a creature of habit. The constant stepping into a new palette, the continual discovery of fresh ground, the never-ending job of being a pioneer can take its toll on some. But there is something common to even the world moving at our speed today. It is a thing that anchors and gives basis and meaning in this fast-paced flow. It is the person and presence of God. The Scriptures say before the mountains were made, God was, and that he is God from generation to generation. And that one generation comes and another goes, but God remains the same. The formula of incarnation is not just being present. John 1:14 makes it clear that Jesus was present with a fullness of Truth and Grace. Those are unchanging attributes of God. They existed before the incarnation. It was God being present in human form that amazed the Galilean fishermen.

Temptations of the Ages

Presence alone leaves us imbalanced and with only the empty draw of the age. The Industrial Age could tempt people into pragmatism, to think that simply by creating an acceptable system, they could make something work without the presence of the Holy Spirit. This world without artifacts—the world of constant change—can mesmerize many with dizzying daily revelation of the new. In the Information Age, the nightmare is that people, especially church leaders, could become so enamored with the novel that they could forget the Eternal and the Permanent. They could leave Christ out as they incarnate. They could move into time without Truth, excitedly entering an age without God, and bringing to flesh—incarnation—only themselves.

Sociology to Missiology

Without understanding our cultural environment, we could become self-marginalizing people, holding the truth in an odd isolated bunker, sadly outside of the cultural norm. And yet, if we become people who are obsessed with culture without the love of Christ—hip without being grounded in the Eternal, trendy without Truth—ironically we are made irrelevant by our idolatry of relevancy. Sociology is only valuable to the church when it connects to eternal truth and becomes missiology. To be continued.