The Image of God: Part 4

How can the Church live into being the reflection of the image of God in the world?

Jürgen Moltmann, in his book Theology of Hope, describes three roles the church can assume in society that will dim our ability to reflect God’s image.  

First, the Church can become the place where faith is only personal. Our society often thinks of faith as something we don’t talk about – our churches can become the place where faith is an inner matter. Faith is never explored in the social reality – faith is separated from the world. John Wesley would have something to say about this – for him, faith is a matter of both inward and social holiness. It’s hard to love God with all of our heart if our heart is only focused on ourselves. 

Second, the Church can become only the mediator of fellowship. When I was studying to become a Certified Lay Minister, I was exploring the role of the church, so I asked my Facebook friends to tell me what the church means to them.  Lots of people responded that the church was family – it was where they came to be renewed – it was the place where they belonged. None of that is wrong – that is part of what the church is, but if our community is only us – only the people who gather here in this room, then we are isolated, and we are not anticipating the coming of the Kingdom of God. It’s hard to love our neighbors if we are excluding them.

Third, the church can become faith as an institution – it can become the authority in all questions of meaning. If that happens, then we stop struggling with the questions – we just accept the answers the church provides. It’s hard to love the Lord with all of our mind if we aren’t using it.

Moltmann says we as the Church should instead “be living within the horizon of expectation of the coming of the kingdom of God.”  The church is called to be a revolutionary force in the world. We are called to reflect God’s image so much that we transform the world. (Note: The information about Moltmann is from Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 4)

We can get behind that as United Methodists, right? Transforming the world is literally our mission. 

We can’t change the world if we are only focused on ourselves, isolated from society, excluding others, or relegating our responsibilities to an institution.  

In our churches and in our lives, we are called to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.  It’s not an either or question, but it is also not an equally balanced answer.  Yes, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but we have a much higher role in the world. We are God’s image in the world, and we can’t let Caesar – or whatever is Caesar in our world today – define what that means. There is one God – and we are God’s people, made in God’s image and inscribed on God’s hands. 

How can you live into being God’s image in the world? How can you love God and our neighbors so much that God is seen in what you do? How can the church become the revolutionary force in the world that transforms the world – that anticipates the coming and the presence of the Kingdom of God. 

Go from this place into the world and live into the image in which you were created. Be God’s image.