Made for
Relationships
Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy
6:5; Leviticus 19:18[1]
One of the challenges of this time
of separation from others is that we don’t have nearly as many face-to-face
contacts with people. Of course, we do get to see each other on the screen with
our Zoom gatherings, but it’s just not the same as being together. Believe it
or not, I’m actually an introvert. I love being around people, but I need
“alone” time to re-charge. Even those of us who are introverts need to see the
people in our lives. I think part of the stress we’re all feeling is that we
don’t have the same level of personal interaction with co-workers, friends,
family, and the church family.
One of the main motivations for
being a part of a church like ours is the relationships we form. As we heard
earlier in our service, many times the church becomes an extended family for
those whose are away from their family members. I don’t know about you, but
that’s one of the things I miss most about being able to gather together in
person. At the same time, I have a deep concern for your safety, and I don’t
want to leave anybody out of our worship. For now, it seems that the best
course is to continue to gather on Zoom, and to have regular opportunities for
us to “meet and greet” one another in safe ways.
The fact that relationships are so
important to us is, I think, something that is true by design. In the creation
story in Genesis, God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to
our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). This passage is the basis for the idea that we as
human beings are created in the image of God. Throughout the ages, theologians
and scholars have debated precisely what that means. Some have said that it is
our capacity for reason, others that it is our ability to “have dominion” over
the rest of creation, and others have even said it is the fact that we walk
upright!
I would say that the Scriptures
point us in a different direction. Understanding God is in some ways
straightforward, and in other ways it is complicated. Especially in the New
Testament, as in our Gospel reading, the language for God is the language of
“Trinity.” This is one of the most complicated aspects of our faith. As I
understand it, Trinity means that God does not exist in a solitary condition.
Rather, God is “God in three persons” who are bound together by love. God is
“God in relationship,” “God in community.” The very statement that “God is
love” implies that at the heart of who God is, there is relationship. For there
to be love, there has to be an “other” to love. That love starts with the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are bound together by the love they share for
one another. And so it is that I think we are meant to read the creation of
humankind in the image of God in part as a statement about who God is: God is “love
overflowing” to all of us, and the whole creation.
“God’s love overflowing”[2]
reaches out to all created things, and especially to the human family. As I
mentioned, that we are created in God’s image means that we are made for
relationships. We are designed to respond to the love that God has poured out
in our hearts. The primary way in which we do this is in our relationship with
God our Creator. We are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). That means seeking
God, following God’s ways, honoring God with our lives, and serving God by
serving others.
That last part points us to the
other essential way in which we respond to the love God has poured into our
lives. Just as God exists in the community of love between Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, so we are made to love others. We are created to “love your neighbor as
yourself” (Lev. 19:18). We love God by loving others through the relationships
we build with them. Just as God exists in a fellowship of love, so also we who
are created in his image are made for relationships.
We’ve been given an amazing gift: we’ve been designed to relate
to God and one another with love. And we’ve been given an amazing task: we’ve
been created to share God’s love with one another and with those around us. To
be this kind of people, people who are fundamentally shaped by God's love,
people who share God’s love with all those we encounter, is more than we can do
by ourselves. Fortunately, we have an example of what that looks like in human
terms in the person of Jesus Christ. And we have a “helper” to guide us and
empower us in the person of the Holy Spirit. We who are made for relationships
can look to God our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer to live out the
love we have been given by sharing it with all our fellow members of the human
family.
[1] © Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm,
Ph. D., on 6/7/2020 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] See the
PCUSA statement on the Trinity entitled “The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing”
at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/resource/trinity-gods-love-overflowing/.
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