In
God's Likeness
“Let
us make man in our own image, in our likeness.”
Genesis
1:26
This
will be the topic in today's Spirituality Group. What does it mean to
be made in the image of God? We understand best what it does not
mean—it does not mean that we are gods, or that we are godly, or
that we have god-like rights over others or our earth. It certainly
doesn't mean that God is an old, white man, a Gandalf-like wizard, or
Father Christmas, and we are mini-mes.
What
it does mean is far more complicated. It means, I believe, that we
have consciousness, intelligence, the capacity to choose, and the
ability to be creatively innovative. In the book of Genesis, God gave
man life by breathing on him. Ruah, the Hebrew word for breath, or
spirit, was given to humanity, but it was also God's breath on the
face of the deep that brought about creation. We share this gift of
spirit with all of creation.
I
heard a TED talk yesterday about the interplay of all of nature and
what happens when we remove any one part. The noise of jet planes,
for instance, interferes with the rhythmic, synchronized sound of
frog song. The interruption allows predators like owls and coyotes to
identify individual frogs and eat them. That, in turn, creates fewer
frogs, thus more insects. Some of these insects destroy crops and
spoil our yards, so we spread pesticides to kill them. Those
pesticides also kill our bees, the pollinators of much of our food
supply. You get the picture. We all share the gift of the same breath
of God, and each layer of creation depends upon the others.
What
if being made in the image of God were understood to mean simply
taking our place in the created order? Being conscious that we share
life and breath with all creation, and choosing to live in mutuality
with that life. We alone can choose. We alone have the intelligence
to understand the consequences of of our actions. We alone can create
a different outcome.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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