In the Image of God – Musings on Diversity

When I’m leading worship, I often make reference to a particular statement of faith that we are all created in the image of God. (It could be argued that not just humanity, but all of creation expresses the image of God.) This notion comes from the creation story in the Book of Genesis. (1: 26-27)

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion (meaning: care and nurturance) over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Sometimes this passage is used to argue that God is really a human being, only infinitely bigger and stronger. Sometimes it is used to argue for a particular model of sexual relations. But both of those require a level of concrete thinking that while tempting, leads to a gross oversimplification. I think the idea is important enough to encourage our attempt to move beyond superficiality towards a fuller understanding. By the way, without the attempt to go deeper, the only other option for thinking people is to adopt an atheistic stance (and many people choose to go that way). I am convinced, however, that many self-described atheists are really people who have a deep spirituality, but do not have the words, concepts or symbols that are necessary to express deeply spiritual matters. Concrete language is simply inadequate.

It is my hope that “Healthy Liberal Christianity” can foster difficult conversations like this, and, furthermore, that hope is a primary motivation for the creation of this blog.

One of the “fundamentals” of the liberal perspective is that God’s created reality is more relational than absolute. God does not “stand over there” and create humans who are then placed into existence “over here.” In fact, from a liberal perspective, it is meaningless to see God standing anywhere. Our liberal affirmation is that, somehow in the creative process, the essence of God and the essence of the “stuff of creation” interpenetrate (or become one by some other, unknown process). We, then, cannot talk about God apart from God’s participation in that spiritual relationship that we believe is central to every bit of known, imagined, or unimagined reality in creation.

So, what can we say about this God in whose image we presume to be created? For myself, I begin with the “name” that God reveals to Moses from the burning bush. “YHWH” means something like “I am, I will be, and I am becoming who I am.” I take this to mean that somehow, the divine image is present in all “becoming”. When I think of myself as a separate person, I wonder how YHWH is in the process of developing in me. At any rate, I believe that my growth, development, thinking, feeling, relating, and experiencing is all part of God’s “becoming” process. And so is yours; and so is the growth, development, thinking, feeling, relating, and experiencing of every other person who has ever lived, or will ever live.

How, then, do I relate to those who I don’t know well enough (strangers), those who seem very different from me (aliens), and those who seem to be working at crossed purposes to me (enemies)? If I simply react with fear, scorn, or prejudgment, then nothing can be learned and no relationship can develop. In effect, such reactivity builds a wall between me and my opportunity to learn anything about these different (perhaps exotic) expressions of God.

Humanity is delightfully diverse, and every unique aspect of that diversity expresses God in some way. Human experience is delightfully diverse, and all that experience contains varying paths to God. Creation is not exclusive. It does not make some people more holy or worthy than others. Rather, creation is inclusive and it gives each of us a lifetime of opportunity to discover the diversity of the image of God.

So in your human relationships and other dealings, make good use of your curiosity. Welcome the stranger in your midst, and take the opportunity to learn and get to know one another. Be curious about the alien who comes from and expresses a different cultural story than yours. And pray for your enemies, not that God will “deal with them”, rather pray that you will increase your understanding of your enemy and that your enemy might increase in understanding of you.

Diversity is good. Diversity is enriching. Diversity expresses the image of God.

Wayne Gustafson

“No matter who you are, or where you are in life’s journey, you’re welcome here.”
The United Church___of Christ