In this session we’ll explore what it means for seeking justice that God made humans in God’s image
- how human diversity is a gift to be celebrated
- how discrimination happens and why it is unjust
- and the importance of hospitality, affirmation and removal of stigma for all God’s people in the pursuit of justice
Section 1: Welcome
Section 1 is covered in Slides 1-4 of the Session 2 PowerPoint
Check in question
- Do you like your name?
- Does it have particular meaning for you?
Option 1: Prayer to read together
Great God, your love has called us here
as we, by love for love were made.
Your living likeness still we bear,
though marred, dishonoured, disobeyed;
we come, with all our heart and mind,
your call to hear, your love to find.*
Open us to see and hear others with your eyes and your ears,
that the path to your justice may become clearer
and all your people might be given hope,
and know your power to save and heal.
* Brian Wren, Singing the Faith 499, v1 © Stainer and Bell
Option 2: Prayer activity using Psalm 139
Reflect on this verse from Psalm 139:
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works”
Now consider all the ways in which you are distinctive.
Give people a piece of paper and a pen.
Read aloud the verse from Psalm 139:
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works”
In a time of quiet, ask people to write or draw the ways in which they are distinctive.
Explain, that this might be
- physically distinctive (the way you look, you hair, build, skin, nails)
- outwardly (how you choose express yourself through the way you dress)
- the choices that are particular to you (the foods you like, your happy places)
- your emotions (the things that bring you joy, your deepest memories, the times when you feel most alive).
Remind everyone that each one of us is different, yet each one of us is created in the image of God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
End with this short prayer:
God,
Open our hearts and minds to the diversity and distinctiveness to be found in ourselves, in others and in you.
Amen.
Section 2: Setting the context
Section 2 is covered in Slides 5-7 of the Session 2 PowerPoint
What does being made in the image of God mean for justice?
Look carefully at yourself – all the wrinkles, spots, beauty and uniqueness.
Humankind is made in the image of God. And God delights in you.
Think of the places and situations where you have borne God’s image today. How does that feel?
What is the difference between an image and the real thing?
How are images damaged and manipulated? And what might this say to us about injustice in our world?
Option 1: Getting started activity
Gather together some mirrors, enough for each person in the group if possible, or invite people to look at themselves in their camera phones.
- Look carefully at yourself – all the wrinkles, spots, beauty and uniqueness.
- Humankind is made in the image of God, and God delights in you.
- You are a bearer of God’s image, and because of that, you are of infinite value and worth.
- Think of the places and situations where you have borne God’s image today. How does that feel?
- What is the difference between an image and the real thing?
- How are images damaged and manipulated? What might this say to us about injustice in our world?
Option 2: Film and questions
This film is XX minutes long and features conversations with Methodists about their experience of justice-seeking.
It can be downloaded from methodist.org.uk/XXX
These two questions are suggested as introductory ones.
- What did you hear that surprised or encouraged you?
- How does the understanding that all humanity shares in God’s image affect how you think about justice?
If the group want to engage further with the content of the films, these are offered as additional questions:
Section 3: Exploring the Bible
Choose one or more of the Bible passages below.
Bible Passage 1: Genesis 1:26-27
Covered in Slides 8-10 of the Session 2 PowerPoint
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.”
So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
This passage comes near the end of this account of creation by God, and follows the ordered creation of the heavens, earth, seasons, and living things. Human beings, male and female, are then made in the image of God.
What’s important here is the difference between human beings and all other creatures. This is not to say that other living things are unimportant, but that human beings have a particular status in the sight of God – all of them. The realm of physical things is the arena of God’s activity and cannot be separated from the spiritual.
Because humanity is made in the image of God, it follows that the way we treat each other is intimately bound up with our devotion to God. The sense that each of us is made in the image of God is helpful for uplifting those whose sense of worth has been denied, lowered, or disappeared.
Being created in the image of God, who has in this passage just created the world and creatures, means a divine commission to share in God's creative work, and to support God's intention that everything is filled with goodness.
(New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)
Bible Passage 1 optional discussion questions
- How has the belief that humanity is “created in God’s image” affected you?
- In what ways has it shaped how you choose to act or think?
- In our society or world, what creates discrimination and stigmatisation? What can we do to challenge this?
- In the film Jongi speaks of meeting his jailor and allowing God’s image to be present in the person who had oppressed him. When we are struggling for justice, how do we prevent ourselves ignoring or denying the image of God in the oppressor or those with whom we disagree?
Bible Passage 1 optional activity
Bring a newspaper (or a few newspapers) and share them around the group.
Invite people to look for examples of how people are treating others.
Are there examples where people are being valued or examples of people being ‘othered’? What might be the causes of this?
Are there people in whom members of the group struggle to see the image of God? Invite them to talk about why this is and reflect together on the challenges this presents to us all.
Questions to ask
- In the newspaper, look for examples of how people are treating others.
- Are there examples where people are being valued – or examples of people being ‘othered’?
- What might be the causes of this?
- What does being made in the image of God mean for justice?
- Getting started activity – look at yourself, a bearer of God’s image
- Film and questions