Scripture passages can be found here…
If you are a person who believes in the ineffable—in the reality or possibility of a higher power, a being who is responsible for the creation of all that is, a being who is somehow personal, who loves—the truth of that can strike you at any moment. When the glory of a sunset makes it impossible to do anything but submit to its beauty. When a newborn baby is placed in your arms. When, against all odds, the good prevails, and you are flooded with gratitude. When you read a poem, or hear a piece of music, or watch a disciplined athlete or graceful dancer, and the perfection of what you are taking in astonishes you. When you fall in love. When you find your strength. When the smell of your mother’s cooking (or your own) fills the house, and signals: in this moment, all is well. In all these moments and more, we may think: there is a God, and God has made this world good.
Each of our readings today dances in and around the relationship between God and humanity.
Psalm 8 tells of the glory of God and the seeming insignificance of human beings. But, the psalm goes on, God has endowed us humans with a particular dignity, and great responsibility.
In our passage from the very first chapter of Genesis, the very first book in the Bible, we read,
So God created humankind in [God’s] image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
While from the letter to the Hebrews, we read,
[God’s Son] is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
To paraphrase Monty Python, God is so very big, so absolutely huge… and we are so very, very small. That we should be connected in any way defies logic. But scripture insists that we are made in the image of God. What does that mean to you?
What are the implications of being made in the image and likeness of God
After God creates the humans in God’s image and likeness, God gives them instructions—tells them how things are going to go, and what their role is. So, another question:
What is the nature of the dominion that God granted human beings
to have over the earth?
Our passage from Genesis comes at the very end of the chapter 1 liturgy of creation. After each creative act, God sees that what God has made is good, and at the very end, after the creation and commissioning of the humans, God sees that it is very good. So, a question for you:
What are the implications of God’s pronouncement that what had been created was “very good”?
God created a universe and a world in perfect balance. God in Christ sustains all these things. But one of the mechanisms God has put in place for the sustenance of all things is us… the creation of humanity. God’s “very good” creation includes children of God, those made in God’s image and likeness, joining with God in providing that sustenance. In Genesis Chapter 2 the human is placed in the garden and told to “till and keep it,” two verbs which can also be translated “serve and protect.” We are tasked with serving this world, with protecting its resources, so that life may thrive. Sometimes we do that very well, and sometimes we slack off, as you know.
We are also tasked with serving and protecting one another. The most infamous question in the Bible is from Cain, blood on his hands, asking God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s clear answer, then and now, is, yes. We are our siblings’ keepers—we are put on earth to care for all God’s precious creations.
We can plumb the depths of what it means to be made in God’s image, and never truly exhaust them. Scholar and Bishop Jesper Svartvik offers several possibilities for our consideration, this is the one that captivates me. He writes, “… we are not only images of God but also called to become even more so in word and deed: the term is not only indicative but also imperative. ”The Hebrew word for “image” is similar to the word for “shadow.” Medieval Rabbi Abarbanel (1437–1508) reasoned that we who are created in God’s image should follow God like a shadow. We do that by imitating God, Godself.[i]
If God sustains all things, and invites us to be partners in that work, we have been entrusted with a holy task. Each of us does this in myriad ways, whether we think of it that way or not, at home, at work, at leisure. Take a Sunday morning at church, a Communion Sunday. Think how many hours, and hands, and hearts go into the creative act of worshiping God together. The administrative assistant who edited and printed the bulletin, the ushers who welcome us, the musicians who plan and practice and play and sing God’s praises, the liturgists who lead us in prayer and proclaim the Word, the bakers of the bread we will break, and the grower of the grapes that became the contents of the cup we will drink, the Deacons who set the table for us, the Elders who will serve us, the media team who ensures that worship can be heard and seen, here and beyond. And I know—for certain—I’ve left lots of people out. But each one has done the work of sustaining God’s world through their work to sustain and support worship today.
How will you join in God’s work? When you leave here today, I invite you to think about the week ahead through this lens: sustaining all things. You are already doing it, I promise you. And you can choose where and how you will continue to do it, or in what new ways you will do it.
But before you leave here, you will be invited to do something that has sustained Christian community for nearly 2000 years. You will be invited to the table of grace, the table where God in Christ is the host, and we are the guests. God created this world, and made it good, and we are reminded of that goodness every time we come together to share this meal. God in Christ sustains all things, including us, providing bread for the journey and the cup of salvation.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[i] Jasper Svartvik, “Living By the Word,” October 3, 2021, Ordinary 27 B (Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12), The Christian Century, September 13, 2021, p.