God With Us: Unperverted Medievalism

"Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth!" Ps. 113:5-6

"What is man that Thou are mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" Ps. 8:4

"[Jesus], being in the form of God, thought equality with God to not be a stolen prize, but made Himself of no reputation, and...humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 2:6-8

If there is one great ignorance today that every Christian must be embattled against (in word and deed, art and activity), it is the prevalent yet unspoken assumption that God (if He is there at all) is detached and disconnected from us and our lives. Pay close attention to the popular mindset of western culture: if the average person believes in God at all, it is usually a God that is more distant than the furthest star; He is far and away, and thus is small. He may be great, and even good; but He is ultimately inconsequential (and perhaps a bit distracted). This accounts for the strange way in which God is typically "handled" by most people (in and outside of the arts): the friendly buddy, the deadpan business exec., the booming voice in inaccessible light, etc. Regardless of the form, the theme remains: distant, inconsequential, or both. In a kind of perverted medievalism, we believe that we are far removed and sequestered off from God, that the only worse spot than us is the icy fires of hell. God is over "there" and we are over "here" with an immeasurable gulf fixed between us, and that is the end of the discussion.
Such a scenario is "perverted" medievalism because it is missing the truth of the Incarnation, and thus it is robbed of all hope; for what is Incarnation but the reality that God has stepped in (or rather down) into our sequestered area with us. Herein lies the proper response (again in word and deed) to the aforementioned ignorance: Immanuel, i.e., God with us. The concept of Immanuel is a heavy theme throughout the entire Bible. It is, of course, a strong New Testament topic, but the Old Testament Hebrews were not foreign to it. God's literally and personally meeting with His people in the Temple and tabernacle is a constant historical motif, while plenty of stories abound of the "visitor" God, whether it was discussions of faith and promise over a meal (Gen. 18), a fight in the night (Gen. 32:22-30), or a whirlwind in answer to a question (Job 38). The theme of the visitor-God crescendoed in Christ, but it remained the constant melody of the symphony of Scripture; and it is that theme that we must reassert today.
Mankind cannot take a disconnected deity. Though much lip-service is given to the thought of how happy we would be if God would "just leave us alone," the truth is (logically as well as historically) that His silence disturbs us; we could fare better with His non-existence than His indifference. Thus, if there is one thing that Christianity must do, it is to assert with absolute clarity and beauty the reality of God with us. "Immanuel" must be our constant theme. We must, in a sense, "unpervert" the current medievalism and reassert the old, i.e., though our Sin has separated us from God, He has come incarnate to us to save us from our Sin, so that now our silent planet can be filled to the brim with His song.

-Jon Vowell

Alone Amongst Other gods

"...the people which are to come shall praise the Lord; for He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from Heaven did the Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner [and] to loose those that are appointed to death...." Ps. 102:18b-20

Christianity does not worship God because He is a supernatural being, viz., a spirit. As Mr. Lewis put it, there's nothing special about being a spirit; the Devil is a spirit after all. So God is not worshipped simply because He is a spirit.
Neither is He worshipped (or found worthy of worship) because He is powerful, even more so than all the other gods of men. Power per se is nothing; it is the action that stems from the power that matters. A powerful God is not as important as whether or not He is good.
God, however, isn't even worshipped for His goodness. Like power, goodness per se is meaningless without action. Goodness that is static and still is useless; admirable and noble, perhaps, but still useless.
The God of Christianity is worshipped because of incarnation, i.e., His power and goodness, and all that he is (i.e., His holiness), has lead to practical, benevolent consequences in the woop and warf of space and time. Along amongst other gods, the God of the Christian is Immanuel--God with us. Not created by us, projected by us, realized by us or in us; not anything by us. He is "God with us." Our God has come down to us and has brought salvation with Him (Is. 59:15-16), for salvation is the goal of incarnation (I John 3:8b). We had fallen into a deep and miry pit, but He did not leave us there. He reached down to us; or rather, He jumped down to us and lifted us up. He came to us and saved us; and for that we worship Him.
Of course, God can be worshipped for His power and goodness and other things for what they are. However, the foundation of all worship towards God begins and ends with Jesus Christ, who is the demonstration and revelation of God and His holy character. Without Christ, God's goodness and power (and other things) is meaningless to us, without purpose or plan. God without Christ is just another deity; more powerful and benevolent than most, but still just one more in the mix. Christ, however, reveals the reality of the God who is there, a God beyond the invention and intention of man, a God actually "mindful" of man (Ps. 8:4), a God that comes and saves man. Only such a God is worthy of worship and obedience.

-Jon Vowell