Crystal Springs United Methodist Church Text: Genesis 1:27-28 2145 Bunker Hill Dr, San Mateo, CA By: Rev. Hee-Soon Kwon, Ph.D. Phone: (650) 345-2381 Date: 2013 and female. Genesis 1:27-28 God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male What does this phrase in the image of God mean to you? Does this mean that we are equal to God or exactly like him? I would like to invite you to think individually about how you would answer this question: What does it mean to be created in the image of God? The Sunday school teacher gave the children in her class free time to draw a picture. Paper and crayons were provided, and the boys and girls went to work on their pictures. The teacher looked over the shoulder of one of the boys in the class and saw that he was drawing an old man with long white hair and a long white beard. Wondering if the boy was drawing Moses or perhaps Elijah, the teacher asked him just who it was that he was drawing. He replied, This is a picture of God. God is a Spirit. when I am finished. The teacher responded, No one has ever seen God. No one knows what God looks like. The boy responded, They will We question, What does the image of God looks like? What sort of image do you have of God? How do you conceptualize the Divine Presence? The very word image moves us usually toward thinking of God in terms of physical attributes. You may remember Michelangelo s painting of God, wild hair, white beard and all, stretching out his hand to Adam. But scripture is ambivalent about conceiving of God in terms of physical attributes. John Wesley explains about the image of God in his sermon (1760), The New Birth. He talks about the image of God which is chiefly for the moral image, a relationship, marked by love. He says, it is righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4: 24) in this image of God was human made. Because God is love, we are to reflect God s love, continually receiving it and reflecting it back to him in love, obedience, prayer, praise, works of mercy, and so on. Wesley teaches that though the image has been compromised by sin, the fact remains that all people were created to bear God s image, and therefore all are called to experience God s restoring grace through Jesus Christ. If you read Wesley s sermons, you will notice that he often begins his sermons with a description of the image of God before the fall. That is, he does not begin with the problem of sin, but with God s intention for all of Intellectual materials property of. All rights reserved. page 1
humanity, and the dignity that all human beings bear by virtue of their original creation in the image of God. So we are made in the image of God, which means that there is that of God in every one of us. Every one of us bears the Maker s mark, the Maker s image; and it also means that there is that of every one of us in God. How do you know you have God in you? Let s have a simple exercise. Who do you think you are? Would you describe yourself? for example, grandmother, homemaker, human being, Methodist, Tongan, anything. You may also describe yourself like competent, impatient, flexible, generous and so forth. If you do this kind of exercise, you may notice that you observe yourself as if you were watching another person. You may notice you have got I observing me. This is an interesting phenomenon. Philosophers, theologians, scientists, psychologists, have wonders that the I can observe me. Robert Assagioli, a spiritual psychologist says, I have thoughts, but I am not my thoughts. I have feelings, but I am not my feelings. I have a body, but I am not my body. Then who am I? I is something other and more than a body, thoughts and feelings. You might say the body is part of I, but it is a changing part. It keeps changing. What constantly changes is me. Does I ever changes? Does the observer ever change? No matter what labels you think of, you should apply them to me. I is none of these things. So when you step out of yourself and observe me, you no longer identify with me. You may experience dis-identification process between I and me. The I is never threatened. This is we may be awaken that we have God within. This is a glimpse that we have God within. Moses encountered God in a voice coming from a burning bush. When Moses asked the voice its name, a voice of God replied, I am that I am. If you say in deep down yourself and say, I am, then you may feel some grounded/ centered, and authentic, which you may feel or experience. This is a glimpse of God within, whose name, I am that I am. Do this exercise to call God s name, whenever you need it, I am Godconsciousness. Wesley also teaches that the image of God means the ability to form and be in loving relationship that is indicative of the image of God in us -- that capacity to love and be loved is what makes us like God. Intellectual materials property of. All rights reserved. page 2
We are created in the image of God. We will never lose it. This is our identity as a Christian. We are made in the image of God, which means that there is that of God in every one of us, that every one of us bears the Marker s mark, the Maker s image. So a person who rejects another person rejects a part of God. Any person who rejects any other person rejects not just that person but a part of God, and anyone who rejects God rejects the image of God to be found in brothers or in sisters. Because we are created in God s image as human beings, we are able to have fellowship both with one another and with God. Our identity is not from what we do, or from what we have, but from whom we come. Our identity is from whom we come: God. But we dehumanize others in order not to have to accept people and ignore them as the same creatures of a Creator God. We see it all the time. Lately we experience it through the tragedy of Boston. And we learn our lessons only when we recognize in that diversity of human experience the presence and the image of that same God. God is not just nice to people other than ourselves, God created them in His image as well. In the 19 th century, America has a painful history. The white Christian slave owners understood this truth that we are all created in the image of God and are therefore equal and so they had to define their slaves as less than human beings, for if they were human beings they would have to be treated them as equals, then the whole slavery system would begin to fall apart, as surely it did. Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop of South Africa, writes: For Christians, who believe they are created in the image of God, it is the Godhead, diversity in unity and the three-in-oneness of God, which we and all creation reflect. Whatever our race, gender, education, and social or economic status, we are precious in God s sight. That worth is intrinsic to who we are, not dependent on anything external, extrinsic. Thus there can be no superior or inferior race. We are all of equal worth, born equal in dignity and born free, and for this reason deserving of respect whatever our external circumstances. We are created freely for freedom of right entitled to respect, to be given personal space to be autonomous. If you know this, if you understand this, if you realize in some moment of insight or inspiration, that you are indeed a child of God, that you as you are now with your white skin, yellow skin, brown skin, male or female, your part of the image of God that you Intellectual materials property of. All rights reserved. page 3
intended, then you are empowered, you are liberated, bearing the image and the mark of the maker. If we know that we are a child of God, then nothing or nobody can destroy us, either. A friend of mine was badly physically abused by her husband for a long time. One day she realized the truth that she is a child of God, God in her. So she realized that she shouldn t be abused. She also remembered that she was raised like a princess by her parents. She was empowered. Finally, she had courage to get out of the abusive relationship. She was liberated. Her dignity was restored although it took a long time. We are created in the image of God, and that it is God s intention for you that you should represent God in the world. We treat others well because they are created in the image of God, as we are. We expect to be treated well not because we deserve it but because the God who created us all requires it. One day a young man, trying to hide himself from the enemy, entered a small village. The people were kind to him and offered him a place to stay. But when the soldiers who sought the fugitive asked where he was hiding, everyone became very fearful. The soldiers threatened to burn the village and kill every person in it unless the young man was handed over to them before dawn. The people went to the Rabbi and asked him what to do. The Rbbi was torn between handing over the boy to the enemy and having his people killed. The Rabbi went to his room and began to read his Bible, hoping to find an answer before dawn. In the early morning, his eyes fell on these words: It is better that one man dies than that the whole people be lost. Then the Rabbi closed the Bible, called the soldiers, and told them where the boy was hidden. And after the soldiers led the fugitive away to be killed, there was a feast in the village because the Rabbi had saved the lives of the people. But the Rabbi did not celebrate. He remained in his room to overcome with a deep sadness. That night an angel came to him and asked, What have you done? He said, I handed over the fugitive to the enemy. The angel said: but don t you know that you have handed over the Messiah? How could I know? the Rabbi replied anxiously. Then the angel said: If, instead of reading your Bible, you had visited this young man just once and looked into his eyes, you would have known. In our daily life, we are challenged to look deeper into the eyes of the people we encounter and to see in them the image of God? Perhaps just knowing that they are also Intellectual materials property of. All rights reserved. page 4
beloved children of God will be enough to prevent us from handing them over to the enemy. We are also challenged and encouraged to look more deeply at the way God sees us beloved, accepted, affirmed, and worthy of salvation. The truth that being created in the image of God extends to everyone we meet, even the people who look very different than we do. Even the people we might consider enemies. I love what the Hindus say on greeting people: Namaste. Which translated means: The divinity in me greets the divinity in you. In this way they honor each other. I have meditated this passage over and over especially this week since I am going through the process of the event of boming in Boston. How could we respect ourselves and others in our society? I also encourage you to meditate, God created the human beings in the image of God this week. Let s keep in mind that you and I, we all have a marker of Maker, the Image of God, I am that I am. I also hope that you will remember a practice of Godconsciousness: I am. Amen. Intellectual materials property of. All rights reserved. page 5