The Spitting Image of God - Christian Worship Tools

Trinity Sunday - Year A

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

“Daddy, do I look like God?”

Doug Christianson was used to such questions from his daughter, Tori. She was one of those kids who had been slow to start talking, but after saying her first word she never again stopped, not even to take a breath, or so it seemed. And the questions she could come up with never ceased to amaze her father. And starry skies, like the one they were enjoying now, seemed to just inspire Tori with even more questions.

“Daddy, do I look like God?” she repeated.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve never seen God. So I’m not sure what God looks like.”

“I think God must be very, very pretty,” Tori continued.

“Why do you think God is pretty?” her father asked as he lay back in the grass looking up at the stars overhead.

“Well,” she began to explain, “you and Mommy tell me that I am pretty.”

“Yes.”

“So, if I’m pretty and God looks like me; then God must be pretty too. And since God never does anything in a little way; then God must be very, very pretty.”

“I guess that makes sense, but what makes you think that God looks like you?”

“The Bible says so,” Tori answered with great certainty.

“It does?” her father asked somewhat amazed. “Where does it say that?”

“Right in the front.”

“Is that right? I’m going to have to read the front of the Bible again. I must have missed the part where it said, ‘God looks like Tori Christianson.’”

Tori laughed, rolled over toward her dad, and gave him a punch on his shoulder. “Daddy, you’re so silly!” she said as she laughed some more.

“Why am I silly?” her father asked. “You’re the one who told me that the Bible said that.”

“Not that!” she insisted. “The Bible doesn’t say ‘God looks like Tori Christianson.’” And she laughed some more at how silly her father was.

“Well, what does it say?” Doug asked, wondering what kind of answer his daughter would give him.

Tori stopped laughing, and answered, “It says.…” Then she paused to lower her voice as much as possible so that she would sound more like God. “God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image.” Then she shifted back into her normal voice and added, “Mommy read that to me this morning – right from the front of the Bible.”

“Hmmm,” Doug thought, “that would be the creation story. And you’re right, Tori, Genesis is right in the front of the Bible.”

“Uh huh,” she agreed, then added, “Mommy told me that meant that I was made in the image of God.” Then, realizing that her father wasn’t as smart as her mother, she explained, “That means that I was made to look like God.”

“Then I guess you are right,” Doug admitted. “If God looks like you; then God must be very, very pretty.”

“Yes,” Tori said very satisfied with herself. “God must be very, very, very pretty.”

A moment of silence settled on father and daughter as they lay on the grass gazing up at the stars. Doug was thinking that he had never heard God described as pretty, but that it was not a bad way to describe the attractiveness of God to the people of God’s creation.

But neither Doug’s thoughts nor the silence lasted long. Tori had another question. “Daddy,” she said, “who was God talking to when he said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image?’”

“Hmmm. Good question. I’m not sure I know the answer. God hadn’t created any people yet, so God wasn’t talking to any person. I don’t know, but maybe it was Jesus. The gospel of John says, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ (meaning Jesus) ‘and the Word was with God.’ John’s gospel also says that all things came into being through Jesus, and without Jesus not one thing came into being.”

Tori thought a few seconds about her father’s answer. Then she used her deepest voice again, and said, “Jesus, let us make humankind in our image.” She thought some more about the appropriateness of the words she had just said, and then announced, “Good answer, Daddy! Jesus talked to his Father all the time. So, I guess his Father also talked to him. We just don’t hear as much about that.”

“You’re right,” Doug agreed with his daughter. “I wonder why we don’t hear more about that?”

“Yeah, God has some really good ideas. We should hear more about the things that God is thinking.”

“Want to know what was one of God’s best ideas?”

“Yes,” Tori answered expectantly.

“You,” her father said. “You are one of the best ideas God ever had.”

Tori smiled, and said, “Do you suppose God talked with Jesus about me?”

“I bet they talked about you for a long time,” Doug chuckled, “and I bet they are still talking about you.”

“You know what,” Tori said.

“What?”

“That makes me feel pretty all the way inside.”

“Honey, you are pretty all the way inside, because you are the spitting image of God.”

Questions for Meditation, Discussion or Preaching

Is God pretty, appealing and attractive, to you?
Tori thinks that being made in the image of God means that she and God share some of the same external physical characteristics, such as being pretty. At the end of the story, her father hints that there might be more to being made in the image of God than just external similarities. What do you think there is about human beings that is made in the image of God?
Some biblical scholars suggest that the image of God is what differentiates humans for all the animals that populate the sea, sky, and land. What human characteristics stand out as unique and totally different from any creature, large or small? Do any of these characteristics allow us to have dominion over other living creatures? Are any of these unique human characteristics shared in common with God?
If humans are made in the image of God; then is there within us some spark that is divine, or possibly even eternal?
Can you identify what it is within you that is made in the image of God? Can you nurture these characteristics to make them grow and develop more in you – thus making you a more godly person?
The next story of creation, in the second chapter of Genesis, suggests that Adam and Eve’s sin is their desire to be like God. How is it good to want to be a godly person, but sinful to want to be like God?
Biblical scholars provide many suggestions for the use of the plurals in verse 26. Some say it comes from the plurality of royalty, where a king often says “we” when pronouncing some royal decision that was made only by the king. Other scholars suggest the plurality comes from grammatical agreement with the Hebrew word “Elohim” that is translated as “God” in English, but in more literal translation is actually a plural “gods.” Other scholars say the plurality is a vestige of polytheistic mythology that still clings to this ancient story of creation. And still other scholars suggest the plurality expresses the first hints of a triune God. On Trinity Sunday a lot of Christian pastors will point to the Spirit (wind) referred to in verse 2 of this first chapter of Genesis, and others will point to Jesus in the prologue to the Gospel of John, as was done in the story above. So, where do you stand on this usage of “us” and “our?”
In many churches this text is traditionally read on Trinity Sunday. What do you see in this creation story that applies to the church’s doctrine that there is one God, known in three different ways or persons?
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created humankind in his image… male and female he created them.” Does this mean that God has both male and female characteristics? If so, identify some of these male and female characteristics.
There are lots of masculine images of God in the Bible. Can you identify some of the feminine images of God in the Bible?
The Hebrew people lived in a patriarchal society, and the Bible is heavily weighted with masculine images of God. If the Hebrews had lived in a matriarchal society, would the Bible have been heavily weighted with feminine images of God?