Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
June 4, 2023
Trinity Sunday, Year A
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
Affirming the Image of God In Which We Were Made
Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Three names, three persons, yet there is only one God. How’s that work? Welcome to Trinity Sunday. Folks have been confused over the idea of the Trinity for, oh, about 2000 years. How can we say the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Spirit is God and also say there is only one God?
Think in terms of relationship. Are you closer, more united to the people you love most in the world than you are to people you’ve never met? Of course you are. We feel great unity with our dearest loves. So, thinking of the Trinity, take that unity you feel with those you love, remove the limitations of our physical beings, multiply that unity by infinity, and we begin to have an idea of how God can be a trinity of persons.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons so perfectly united together in love that they are one. God is a relationship of person by God’s very nature, and we are made in God’s image, as we were told in the story of creation in Genesis. God created humankind in God’s image, male and female. All people are made in God’s image, every person who has ever been. That image is one of relationship, love, and creativity.
God created all that is. “Let there be light,” and there was light. Let there be dry land amidst the waters, and the dry land appeared. Let there be all of the plants and animals over all of the earth and sea, and they were created. We were made in that same image of creativity. Art, music, thousands of ways we create beauty and joy in the world. That’s part of the image of God in which we were made.
Of course, we also mess up and misuse our creativity. We’re hurt and broken, and so out of our hurt and fear, we create bad things too. Systems of oppression. Weapons for war. Marginalization and discrimination of people. These we create as well, and all of these things we create fight against our very nature. We were made in the image of love, relationship, and creativity so anytime we use our creativity to work against love and relationship, we are destroying the very best of who we are.
Many of us are celebrating Pride Month right now, celebrating the beauty of our LGBTQ siblings, people made in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity. Now, I know a lot of Christians say that there is something wrong with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, that there is something broken about the image of God in them? I’m here to tell you that just ain’t so. Reading and really understanding scripture affirms that our LGBTQ siblings are made in the image of God just as they are, and their relationships, genders, and sexualities are blessed by God.
When we affirm this, we’re living in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity in which we were made. When instead we marginalize, discriminate against, and oppress our LGBTQ siblings, we fight against and harm the image of God in which we were made. Rather than marginalization, discrimination, and oppression, we were made for love, relationship, and creativity.
Other ways we affirm the image of God in which we were made? Simply having good relationships with one another. God is three persons so perfectly united in love that they are one. In all of our relationships, we have three people as well, or rather two people and God. Whom do we invite into our marriages? God. Who is a part of each of our friendships, working and moving together with us in our relationship? God. Every relationship we have, therefore, is an image of God, an image of the Trinity. When we love others, or even when we like others, we are affirming the image of God in which we were made.
Additionally, when we remember others, we affirm the image of God in which we were made. One of our parishioners, a man named Matthew, died over the weekend. He was a tall, white man, grey hair, and he was very difficult to understand when he spoke. He was also a very kind man who gave the shirt off of his back to another could be warm. He even seemed to be at peace about the fact that he had cancer. We will have a memorial service for him sometime in the next month. Matthew was made in the image of God, and he should not be forgotten. Many people are forgotten, but they too are made in the image of God, and as scripture tells us, there is still memory of them, of their deeds, of the love and relationships they had, memory of the hurt, and memory of the healing.
Healing is a part of the image of God in which we were made. We all need healing, and that is a part of our creativity and love. In the beginning, we’re told the earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep.
Sometimes darkness ends up ruling us. We cease caring much about others. We are full of anger, full of hurt, and we do terrible things to others. Anyone who would rape another person has got a formless void of darkness within them. In seeking to fill that void, they harm others, tearing at the beautiful image of God in which that other person is made. "Let there be light," God says, to cast out the darkness.
Now, that light may need to come during time in prison, so that person doesn’t harm others and continue to rape others in the meantime, but that light can come. When God says pray for our enemies, God means for us to pray for those who harm others. God means for us to pray for healing for those who harm others, because everyone who harms another person has some amount of a formless void of darkness within them. If we’re honest, each one of us has some amount of a formless void of darkness within us. That darkness within us isn’t a part of our nature. Our nature is love, relationship, and creativity. The formless void of darkness within us comes from the times when we’ve been hurt and harmed. God sees our darkness, recognizes our hurt and harm, and God desires healing for us. God desires healing for all who harm others. God desires healing, and so God says, “Let there be light.”
Let there be light to shine and cast out the darkness within us. Let there be forgiveness and love to restore the image of relationship in which we were made. Let there be a deep recognition of the beauty of others, the image of God in which all were made, to cast out the oppression, marginalization, and discrimination we have against others. Let there be light to cast out our darkness and affirm the image of God within all of us, the image of love, relationship, and creativity.
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