“Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

— Genesis 1:26

“That’s modalism, Patrick!” I just had to get that out of the way. I am sure at least one of us is going to try to preach a doctrinal sermon on the Holy Trinity this week. I’ve tried. Many, many times. And the truth is, I’ve never quite felt like I landed it. Maybe some of you do better than I do.

But what if, instead, we talked about what it means to be created in the image of God?

One of my Hebrew professors used to say that Genesis is not only talking about individuals. It’s talking about humanity. All of humanity is created in the image of God. Which means none of us carries that image fully on our own. We catch glimpses of God in one another. And together, across all our differences, we begin to reflect something fuller of who God is.

There is something about that that resonates deeply with me: that I am not fully myself without you.

The truth is, we need each other. We need each other to become whole, to heal, to grow into who God created us to be. We are made for relationship, made to live alongside one another, to be present in each other’s lives.

And maybe that tells us something important about God.

Because the God we worship is not solitary, but relational: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God exists in relationship, in self giving love, in holy communion. So it makes sense that we, too, are created for relationship, not isolation. Perhaps being made in the image of God means being made in and for relationship.

Beloved, may you feel the whirl of the triune dance holding you together and holding you up this week.