Imago Dei

Imago Dei

“God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…”

So God created humankind in his image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 NRSV

Imago Dei means “in the image of God” in Latin. We believe that EVERY PERSON is created in the image of the Divine (and we honor the name by which you call them).

Even though it seems unnecessary to define what “every person” means, here are some descriptions:

• BLACK LIVES MATTER

  • In an ideal world, we would not need to say this, but this is a life-threatening and urgent issue that requires our immediate effort to change the world, until it does not need to be said anymore.

• People who identify as LGBTQ+

  • Every sexuality*

  • Every gender and identity*

• Every nationality and “status” (as it has been well said, “no person is illegal")

• Every ethnicity

• Every religious or spiritual belief

• Every ability

• Every skin & hair color

• Every person of every socioeconomic status

• … and the list goes on

Most of us have grown up in a culture that values some people over others. Males over females (patriarchy, misogyny), one race over another (white supremacy), wealthy people over impoverished people (classism), people of certain weight or dress size over others (sizeism, fat-phobia), etc. This applies to us as well - we have to continually counter these beliefs that values some people over others. Each of us were created in the image of the Divine.

*Please see this great resource on the Genderbread Person.