My Image of God

How do we create an image of God? The idea of the image of God may evoke a myriad of responses. Exodus and Leviticus commands us not to create images or pictures or idols of our God. Yet how do we then reconcile these directives with Colossians' description of Jesus as the image of the invisible God? And even so, how do we know what Jesus looked like?

It seems to me inherent that any image of God that we create will be reductionist. As fallen beings anything we ever do in relation to God--thinking, picturing, describing, or praising--is never enough. Regardless of all of our efforts, our God will always be too small in our own minds. Yet, it seems that as beings created for relationship (especially relationship with our God) that our inadequacies are ok because more importantly than getting everything right in our mind and thoughts and words when it comes to Christ, it is even more important that we simply come to Him. So, with this knowledge, I created an image of God. An image that is inadequate, reductionist, and imperfect, but an image created in an effort to more fully understand and relate to my God.

So in my endeavor to create an image of God I came up against the difficult task of having to define what I believed God would look like. Although God is not subjective, I believe each individual may have a slightly different view of our God based upon their own personal experiences with Him. So, from my perspective, would I seek to create an image of God as the romantic arms and eyes of a God who is deeply in love? Or could I create an image that embodied my understanding that I see God in other people, yet people are not God. Essentially, I was struggling with what a friend more adequately expressed: How do you take an image of that which cannot be captured? Like the wind or the waves of the ocean. The inherent goodness of these things is in their dynamism, and once an image is created that movement stops and something is lost. For me, God has elements of movement, He is a dynamic trinity, a life-source, and breath.

And finally, as I worked through the constant and indecisive flow of thoughts that rolled around in my head as I considered this endeavor, I was told this story by a friend: My friend was working with small kids over the summer and during one afternoon she passed around a shoebox to the kids. She told the kids that inside the box there was the image of God. My friend said to each of the kids that they could take turns looking into the box but the make sure that they didn't show what was inside to anyone else. Let everyone have their own turn looking into the box and seeing the image of God. Now many of you, I am sure, know where this story is going. Amidst giggles and smiles of understanding, each child looked into the box which held a mirror.

So as I created my image of God, I sought to implement elements of the Caravaggio and Robert and Shana Parkeharrison images. Caravaggio's style especially emphasized the body and flesh of Christ, a reality that I often forget or ignore. And the Parkeharrison photo illuminated, in my opinion, movement and breath and life, all vital aspects of God. Therefore, in my imperfect way I created an image of God. Almost too easily, and yet with hours and days of contemplation behind it, I took a self-portrait. On the windiest day possible, I stood in the sunlight, allowed the wind to envelope me, I took a picture of myself, and created an image of God.

God, as I understand and see Him in my image, is in the light. God is light, according to 1 John and in Him there is no darkness. God, as I understand and see Him, is in the wind. The Holy Spirit, "Pneuma", is breath and wind. This wind has the ability to overpower us, to change us, and with that, to bring such joy. Whether seen in the trees or in my hair, God in my image is both invisible yet seen in the effects of the wind. And lastly, and maybe most obviously, God, as I understand and see Him in my image, is seen in me. One of the first things we learn about humans in the Bible in Genesis 1 is that God created us in His image. So as the artist, I sought to find the image of God in people, yet also as the artist, I more than anyone am aware that I am not God. Therefore there can be no confusion or belief that we call ourselves God, and yet every certainty that we are the image of God.