Image of Love: I Am Us
Issue 029
AUGUST 29, 2018
WRITTEN BY CODY MCMURRIN
I don’t even know when it started. This was just always a part of my life growing up, but I do know, looking back today, that I value Sunday nights more than any other part of my childhood. My earliest memories are throwing rotten oranges at each other, playing backyard football, and falling off of swings while our parents were having a discussion in the living room.
My parents never intended to start a church. I think the group started because my parents were young and had no family nearby. They created their own extended family - a family of families. They didn’t know what they were starting. Was it a bible study? We certainly spent time studying the bible, but I learned a whole lot more from these people than I ever learned from a bible study or church program. Was it a small group? If you consider going out to lunch with 70+ people a small matter, then I guess so. I know this. It certainly was good.
In the creation story of Genesis 1 and 2, there is a consistent echo of creation being good, until there is a sudden shift in chapter 2 verse 18. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Then, God creates a helper for the man, and what does this helper aid the man to do? In my opinion the answer is back in Genesis 1:26: “Let us (keyword here) make mankind in our image”. Together, the two people the ish (man) and ishshah (woman) form an us and help each other live into the image of God. And it was very good!
“I cannot remember church songs, sermons, or services that have had a long-term impact on my life, but I can remember the relationships. I can remember the people. Perhaps that is why God chose to come to us as a Person.”
Recently I have been asked a few times the question, “What should we do as a church? How should we be organized?” I have learned from Pastor Hunter that “the question is not ‘how do we organize?’ The greatest question is, ‘who is God and how do we get to be more like Him together?’”
God is an us. I am = Us. God is the three persons in trinitarian relationship, and God is the relationship itself. I cannot remember church songs, sermons, or services that have had a long-term impact on my life, but I can remember the relationships. I can remember the people. Perhaps that is why God chose to come to us as a Person.
I remember laughing on Sunday nights with people I learned love. I remember getting picked up on the side of the road when my car broke down and helping each other move. I remember getting in fights and learning to reconcile. I remember coming around each other for comfort in the midst of tragic events.
Milena and I get the privilege of carrying this on in our own day, in our own way. The people are different, but the love is the same. As we love one another sacrificially, we move one step closer to living into the image we were created in. The image of Jesus. The image of Love.