MINIMALISTIC THEOLOGY AND THE IMAGE OF GOD

 I said something a couple of days ago that would certainly get me shunned in some Christian circles.
Backdrop:
I had been thinking again about being made in the image of God.  (See “Created in the Image of God: Forgotten Aspects,” 2/1/2024.)  So, that was on my mind.  The main thought is that all people, male and female, are to be God’s representatives/regents, bringing order into chaos as God did in creation and continues to do.
Story:
I was working side-by-side with a wonderful, gnarly old guy with a braided gray beard named Tom at a rescue supply center.  (We have been hit hard by Helene in western NC.)  Tom works at the center regularly as a volunteer to help families who need food.  It quickly became clear that Tom had had too many bad experiences with religion in general and Christians in particular.  So, he had a “question” for me – more like throwing down the gauntlet.  Our conversation bobbed and weaved around the general issues of theodicy: Why would a good God make a world that has disasters as well as evil people, including Christians?  Why then believe there is a God?  I spoke about God being relational and the need to seek God, about God entering human suffering in Jesus, etc.  He was not ready for any of that.  At one point I mentioned that the commandments are summed up by, “Love God with your whole heart… and your neighbor as yourself.”  His reply was that he could not love a God he did not believe in, but he did love his neighbors.  I put my hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eyes, and said, “Whether or not you believe in God, when you love your neighbor, you are being God’s representative and that makes you my brother.”  He nodded.  There was peace.
------
Lord, thank you for people like Tom who is serving as your representatives even when they do not know it.  Please forgive me and the Church for our failure to attract people like Tom to Jesus.  Please draw him and all estranged people, people made in your image, into your Presence.  Amen.