In the Image of God

Children: You are made in God’s image. No matter who you are, no matter how smart you are, how big or how small.

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The creation story in Genesis chapter one is old, so old we don’t know how old it is. It pre-dates writing and thus comes out of an oral tradition that goes back farther than we can ever know. Before we dive into it, it is important that we revisit where it comes from and why it is vitally important to our lives, our community and our future and is foundational to our faith.

This passage is not scientific. Science continuously develops knowledge that fuels progress in every human endeavor (what happened, how it happened, what could possibly happen), but it is confined to its realm of facts. It can never approach what something means. It can never tell us why something should happen or why something should not happen. For example, science can discover the portion of our brains and the biochemical processes that house and process our feelings, but love is the province of poets and artists. We can’t measure it in a beaker, yet when it comes down to it, what is most important? The people we love. Serious exploration of love as the most important thing to human life requires philosophers and theologians to consider the implications of radical statements like, “God is Love.”

Science itself came into being out of our search for meaning: “What difference does my life make? Why are we here? Where are we going? How can we make our lives better?” It feeds us helpful information. We desperately need science to help us defeat COVID-19, but science cannot say why we need to defeat COVID-19. Science cannot explain why someone else’s life might mean more to me than my own.

These ancient stories address such questions, and they are foundational to our entire framework for understanding life, ourselves and the universe – including science – whether or not you think a word of this passage is “factually” true. (Although, we should note that these ancient peoples had the general order of operation right. “Let there be light” is the “Big Bang.” There was a lot of matter which began to separate to form the planets and stars, the land emerged from the water, life began in the water then moved onto land, then people showed up last and rather recently.)

These are concepts that humanity has preserved across millennia. In one sense, Israel was the “Chosen People” because they were chosen to preserve them. No one should ignore them.

I’d like to hone in on a sentence that some say, and I am inclined to agree, may be the most important sentence in human history, verse 27: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

This verse proclaims that, without exception, there is an inherent spark of God in every human being, made in his image, male and female. That is foundational to God’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the essential grounding of human rights for all people, not just those who agree or even believe in it. It’s true regardless of whether or not people vote for it or choose to follow it. (For most of human history they have not.)

Science can tell you how your body works. It cannot tell you that you matter, that you have intrinsic value no matter who you are, what you’ve done or what anyone says or does to you. Whether you are in a nursing home at the very end of your life or in a neonatal ICU fighting to start it, you are made in the image of God.

It undergirds the very best hopes and dreams and visions embedded in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and other amendments. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and our freedoms all rest on this shared, mutual value of each other as human beings.

With our rights come responsibilities. Our laws and their just application are continually exercised and evaluated by this standard. We measure progress by it. We condemn our past sins and strive for a better future framed by it.

We establish sheriffs and police forces to protect the community and to contend with crime because the whole community matters. They are often directly in harm’s way, and potentially in it all the time. Likewise, firefighters and other first responders are always on call to preserve lives and livelihoods.  We thank and honor them for assuming those responsibilities on our behalf.

It is why we insist that our police and deputies also follow laws, regulations and rules respecting the rights and dignity of all people as they are enforcing the law, even in the dangerous situations they often encounter.

Each person being made in the image of God moves us to care deeply about the shocking death of George Floyd. It is why we insist on the arrest of the policeman charged with his murder as well as those who stood by and let it happen. And it is why we insist on a fair trial for them – as we do for everyone charged with crimes.

It is why we must give a fair hearing to the sincere protests about injustice in our criminal justice system and society as a whole. It is why we cannot ignore the wanton crimes and violence that have erupted in various places and various ways across this country. It is why we must respond to all of it, even the people who need to be arrested, with justice, keeping in mind they are all made in the image of God, too.

As I’ve watched the protests and the demands for equality and justice, I wondered how many of the young voices realize these axioms must be grounded deeper than mere popular opinion. They are true whether or not we vote for them, whether or not we achieve them. They are true because they reside in God.

It moves us to care about the rights and treatment and hunger of all people in our community and around the world. It’s why we are so involved and supportive of the Lake Wales Care Center, our Thrift Shop, feeding homeless children here, and sending direct aid to our sister church in Honduras. It moves our Kairos teams to care for prisoners, many of them hardened criminals.

It moves us to recognize that, being made in the image of God, each of us is not yet all God intends us to be. That drives the very best growth and self-improvements we can make, the course corrections for our life’s journey. We confess our sins, seek absolution and amendment of life because we know we are made in God’s image and he is continually making us better out of his love for us – if we will love and follow him.

I think of a teenager who is filled with self-doubt, as most are. Maybe they’ve been bullied or teased or abused. What they need to know first, or need to remember, is that their identity starts with being made in the image of God. No matter who you are or your stage of life, your successes and failures, you matter.

It is why Jesus went to the cross for all of God’s children, including you. It is why he commended his disciples and commands us to share this Good News with all nations, with all peoples, no matter their race or language, and through all time.

And it is why the words Paul wrote to the church at Corinth so long ago ring true today: “Finally, my brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11)

AMEN