Tag Archives: Made in God’s Image

Curious Agnostics

Living in the Spirit

June 14, 2021

Scripture Reading: Job 38:1-11

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
   I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together

   and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb?—
when I made the clouds its garment,
   and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
   and set bars and doors,
and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
   and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?

Having had a hectic week, I was ready to kick back and watch a movie. Angels & Demons was available. Although I have seen it several times, it was a good choice. It is the story of a professor who specializes in symbolism, particularly that of religions. He is contacted to help the Catholic church deal with a problem that demanded his skills. At one point in the movie, a church representative asked him if he believed in God. He stumbled around responding and demonstrated that he was a curious agnostic.  The above scripture challenges those of us to say one way or another whether we have faith that there is a God. If we come done on the side that says yes, there is a God, then we must deal with the question: where are we in our relationship with and service to God?

The interesting thing about this series of movies, starting with the Da Vinci Code, is that it is almost impossible to tell who the good people are and who the bad people are until the very end. My book club recently read, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep: A Novel, which addresses the same question. How far afield can we go in our attempts to serve God when we invest much of our energies in defining God in an image of our own making. But, unfortunately, Job and his pals had become tangled in separating their idea of God from God.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in the search for understanding how we dwell with you in fuller understanding, resulting in our having a better understanding of who we are. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Loving our Enemies Making them Friends

Living in the Spirit

November 17, 2020

Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. –Ezekiel 34:20-24

As the Body of Christ in the world today, how do we deal with bullies? First, let us get this out of the way. I think Jesus meant it when he said that he was God’s appointed judge. I also think Jesus meant it when he said we are to love our enemies and our neighbors. And Ezekiel is right in warning those taking advantage of others that they will ultimately be judged for those actions.

What I see in our world today are a lot of scared people whose way of life is slipping away from them and they do not know how to stop it. When I have discussed this status with some of these people, they cannot necessarily name the perpetrators.  So, they fall in line with names that really mean nothing to them—socialist, liberals. One of our senators ran an ad that proclaimed socialists and liberals were not Oklahomans. He won. And scared people line up with the principalities and powers because they appear to have found the key to the kingdom. The powerbrokers cast blame on others like people of color and the LGBTQ population as being at fault for the scared people’s dilemma.

I do think we must start by recognizing that all people were made in the image of God and, thus, all people are equal. I worked at a large teaching hospital in the 1970s that was under major renovations. The former parking lot became the ground for a new building. Land purchased a few blocks away was converted into parking space for staff. Prime parking places were reserved next to the hospital for top administrators and all doctors including interns and residents who were mostly young healthy men.   Most of the very essential cleaning staff were women and men over the age of 50 who spent their days on their feet pushing brooms and mops, bending and stretching to sanitize every nook and cranny of rooms and surgical theaters. Several of us raised the issue with the administration. I remember saying that it does not matter how talented a surgeon is if that surgical room is not sanitized properly. The hospital finally provided a bus to transport staff from the distant parking lot. Most people in our nation today are as essential as those cleaning staff who work hard every day and have a right to be respected for the contribution they make to the wellbeing of our society.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the importance of all your children in our work to make a better world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Rekindle Us

Kingdom Building

October 10, 2019

Scripture Reading:
2 Timothy 2:8-15

The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. –2 Timothy 2:11-13

The origin of this hymn is unknown, but it appears to pull from several of Paul’s writings creating a piece to be used in worship like the doxology that some Christians use today. For example, it reflects some of the information found in Romans 1:3-4: the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

The line if we deny him, he will also deny us; struck me as being rather harsh and very final when I first read it. I then thought about the Good Fisherman, Peter, denying Jesus not once but three times (Matthew 26:69-75; Luke 22:54-62) who went on to become the Rock on which the church was built. The story does not say that Jesus denied Peter, but if he had, he might have saved his life for as Jesus’ supporter Peter could have been arrested too. Of course. Another possibility is that Jesus never forced himself on anyone, following Jesus is always a choice. Even in some quarters in the first century, it was probably safer to not openly follow Jesus.

The next line, I think, tells the real story. if we are faithless, he remains faithful. Jesus never withdraws his love, his pledge to be faithful to us, even if we at times are found to be without faith. Jesus sees the image of God in each of us and he cannot deny himself.  We need to look a little harder at seeing the Christ in ourselves and in everyone.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when our faith stagnates or even fails us. Rekindle us to faithful love and service. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Following Christ

Ordinary Time
February 8, 2018

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I fear we are all guilty at times of creating and following a god made in our own image when we cannot see clearly the God in whose image we were created. Jesus confronted Peter, the rock, for his well-meaning but shortsighted response to the realities of first century Israel. I wonder how many times in Peter’s life he replayed this scene in his mind checking to make sure he was on the narrow path. *

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ (Matthew 16:21-23)

When Jesus taught the beatitudes** can we envision him including our innermost thoughts, the stances we take, the words we say? I have difficulty imagining Jesus spewing out the hate speech so prevalent in our world today and the subtle shades of bigotry spoken and practiced in not so subtle acts. We seek credence for our positions by clustering with others who share our god images.

We follow the example of our ancestors in faith assailed by the Hebrew prophets for being blinded to the will and the ways of God by the self-serving choices they made. In creation, God envisioned a world where all would be blessed, and all would be a blessing to one another. This is the Kingdom for which we strive.

Prayer:  Christ clear our vision so that we can see and follow your example. Amen.

*See Matthew 7:13-14
**See Matthew 5:3-10

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright One1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

One in Christ

Advent
December 14, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.
–1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

In the current craze of what is called fake news, we are challenged to test everything. Paul advised us to test everything in the first century. I do that all the time in my genealogy work. I read the probate of one of my 4th great grandfathers dated in December 1859. When I visited his gravesite, I noted his birthdate was July 15, 1860. I seriously doubt that the county probated his estate before he died. My guess is the headstone was placed several months after the death, and the engraver etched in the current year. That is not so much fake news, I doubt that anyone was trying to sway my thinking one way or the other, but it was wrong information.

My first supervisor with the then Department of Public Welfare once advised me that I needed to add the phrase, in my opinion, before or after I made a statement because in my conversational style I was so sure of myself, I sounded like I was quoting from the Bible. She was right because I always think I am right until objectively proven wrong. Had I visited the cemetery before the probate records I would have sworn my 4th great grandfather’s birthdate was July 15, 1860, which I now am just as sure is wrong.

I doubt I am as sure of myself as Paul was and it possibly took him three years to work out the challenge to his faith he encountered on that road to Damascus. He went from persecuting Christians as a devout Jew to being the leading missionary for Christ. It is hard to change particularly long-held concepts, but I take great hope in the example of Paul that we can change when the availability of new or different and compelling information becomes available.

Our world is in cultural chaos directly related to long-held beliefs about white privilege, the place of women in society, and sexual identity. Division results tearing the Body of Christ asunder. I believe people with other motives fuel the flame of this divisiveness to their ends, not God’s. A house divided against itself cannot stand. (See Matthew 12:22-28) Christ called us to oneness, and I believe that oneness is essential to the welcoming of the Kingdom of God. In my opinion, the first step to moving toward that oneness is truly accepting that God created all people in God’s image, and we must find ways to see the image of God in everyone and love them as the children of God they are.

The second step, even if it is a baby step, is to find the things on which we can agree.  We then work together toward attaining them with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength letting the issues on which we may never agree lay fallow until we have completed the work on the things we hold in common. Such action requires us to leave the thorny issues that plague us to God. They are draining us of energy better spent on say addressing the needs of the least of these.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, open our eyes to see your image in everyone, open our hearts to love each person as your child. Open our minds to recognize the step we need to be taking to actualize your Kingdom in this world as we invest our energies in doing your will as one. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved