Pastor’s Monthly Reflections
Pastor Ron Hartman
Pastor’s Reflections:
February 2012
I once read a powerful story of a nun who had labored for years in an inner city parish. She was of an order that had shed their habits and lived in apartments in the community they served. One cold winter night she was walking home when confronted by a young man with a ski cap on and a gun in his hand. She look her hood off as he said, “Give me your purse!” She could see his eyes get big as he recognized her and she recognized him in spite of the mask. He was one of the neighborhood children she had taught and fed in the parish free lunch program when he was little. She said, “Jamal, Did I teach you nothing? Created in the image of God, how can you point a gun at another person?” The boy threw the gun in a sewer hole and walked away with tears in his eyes.
In the first chapter of Genesis we are told that human beings are created in the image of God. Unlike any other earthly creatures we are more than animal, for we share something with the transcendent creator of the cosmos. We may have feet of clay, but our hearts, heads, and our spirits have a connection with God. This gift of pure grace, to be made in the divine image, gives us dignity and worth, and a responsibility and obligation, unlike any other earthly creature. We were made to be in communion with God. We share a language with God and our language was confirmed when God became human in Jesus Christ.
To be made in the image of God means that you have the capacity of acting and exerting power, that you are not first and foremost, not a victim nor a bystander, but actor and an agent, who bears responsibly for your actions. To be made in the image of God is not solely to have an inner freedom, but also the responsibility to move from thought and feelings to actions. You can chose how you will react even when freedom is limited by circumstances.
To be sure we humans, created in God’s image, are not mini-Gods. We are all infected with sin from birth, but sin does not have the power to erase God’s image in us. Nor does sin have the power to erase our responsibly to proclaim God’s good news of salvation. May you show forth, in the best and most positive ways, the image of the living God so that your neighbors give glory to your Father in Heaven! To be fully human is to understand that with freedom and the capacity to act, comes the obligation to be God’s person and not simply jour own. As we journey with Christ to the cross we gain the gift of new life. Surprisingly we are most free when we give our freedom to God, and with Jesus say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
Lenten Blessings to you,
Pastor Ron