Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth by Hugh Halter

For many years, I have noticed a major disconnect between the Christian church as Jesus established it, and what Christianity has become, especially in American churches.  It bothers me that so many Christians don't go any further than letting people know what they're against, and viewing Christianity as merely a set of rules to follow.  I longed to come away from legalism, and find true Christ followers who could mentor me as I learned to live like Jesus.

One of the first resources I was blessed to find was The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter. After reading this book, I began to understand more fully what it means to be missional and incarnational.  In his most recent book, Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth, Hugh explores how transformational it is to come away from what has become "churchianity," and learn to truly live as Jesus modeled for us.

I enjoyed how Hugh broke down the order of how Jesus came to us and outlined the book in the same way: Incarnation - Reputation - Conversation - Confrontation - Transformation.  He asks in another section: "How does it make you feel to think about a God who longs for you and traded in the life of His Son so that every aspect of your life could be redone, renewed, redeemed?" This is a very different perspective from what I grew up learning about God, and is in line with what the Bible teaches.  I especially appreciated the chapter called Spiritual Vertigo: Reorienting the Spiritually Disoriented.  After being spiritually battered for a long time, what Hugh shares is helping to me to see God as He is, and not through the flawed lens of a religious perspective that bears the name of Jesus, but not His nature.

A little over a month ago, my husband and I started a bi-weekly online Bible Study called Enjoying Christ, which is named as a tribute to another spiritual mentor of ours who first started us on the road of thinking of Christianity differently.  We're planning on reading Flesh with the group because we believe that it will be a blessing to those we fellowship with.  I praise God for how He's using Hugh to remind us about how Jesus intended for us to live.