The Image of God

Where is IT? Can you put your finger on IT? Can you taste IT? Can you feel IT brush by you in a crowded room? Does IT catch your attention out of the corner of your eye as you hurry down a busy street?

This is the season of manifestation--so why is God so elusive to our natural senses?

In his work Answer to Job , Carl Jung asserts, "It is, in fact, impossible to demonstrate God's reality to oneself except by using images which have arisen spontaneously or are sanctified by tradition . . ." So God is easily revealed in rite, ritual, and symbol. Where is God revealed in our everyday lives?

In the season after the Epiphany, we Anglicans follow the manifestation of God in Jesus from his baptism by John through his Transfiguration upon the mount. In our sanctified tradition, we see revealed in the person of Jesus - IT. So there IT is! Yet outside of Sunday morning and the retelling of Jesus' stories, is IT still manifested among us?

Dogmatic statements can chap the lips if spoken often enough, especially in this cold weather. What is needed is flesh and blood, hearts causing veins to pulse, the energy of life itself. There is a very important image that has the authority and power to reveal God to the world right now, and that symbol is you and me!

On January 11th, we will celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. The fundamental ritual of Baptism is an open invitation for you and me to become one of those "images which have arisen spontaneously or are sanctified by tradition." The vows we make on that day breathe into us the power to reveal God to this broken world by exemplifying the qualities of love, respect, peace, service, and dignity, in our everyday lives and with every breath we take.

Where is IT? Look into the eyes of your child, your lover, your spouse, your friend, even your boss. There you will see an ancient symbol of the manifestation of God; in that moment, feel IT's Presence.

Joel t