Reflections on "Selfies" Genesis 1: 26-31; Galatians 3: 23-29

This sermon worked really well during the Chapel service.  The play on the selfie at the beginning of the sermon and then the group shot of the congregation in the conclusion worked really well.  I still feel like I am struggling with this sermon series.  The sermon did not go as well in the Sanctuary service. Although I had some good slides to accentuate some of the points, I think the use of the slides forced my timing a bit and I was a bit off balance throughout the Sanctuary sermon.

“Selfies” October 18, 2015; FPC, Troy; iPhone theology series; Genesis 1: 26-28; Galatians 3 23-29

Introduction: Take selfie

Selfies are the photos that people take of themselves:

sometimes selfies are taken for fun;

sometimes to communicate where a person is;

sometimes to show what is happening in the moment - I took a not very random sample of young people I knew who take selfies and asked them why they take selfies (the first response was “I feel a sermon coming on”) and one young person responded “”did I really go out if I don't have a selfie of it?”

sometimes because there is no one there to take the photo

sometimes as part of a sermon

and probably for many other reasons;

I confess, I seldom take selfies, in part because I don't particularly like the look of the photo with my face splashed across it!

But, selfies have me thinking about how we are created in the image of God.

Move 1: What does it mean to be created in God's image?

a. Look around the pews at everyone gathered here.

1. We all look rather different, don't we?

2. Even in our homogeneous gathering where on the spectrum of what people look like in the world, we are all basically in the same place, we see differences.

3. Is the image of God a compilation of all our physical traits?

4. Calvin and Hobbes cartoon: Calvin preening in front of a mirror says: Made in God's own image,. Yessir. Hobbes looking on comments: God must have a goofy sense of humor.

b. I also hear the image of God used in discussions these days about lifestyles.

1. Someone says, “I am created in God's image. I am like this. Therefore, God's image must include the way I am.”

2. Others argue: “we are created in God's image. We fall short of that image. You need to change your ways to reflect God's image.”

100. I read and essay this week about being made in the image of God.

1. the author notes that Biblical scholars do not know what exactly the image of God mentioned in Genesis means.

2. Am I like God in my spiritual traits? In my physical form? In my consciousness or creativity

3. the author does not give an final answer, but notes that I don't know, but the possibilities are breathtaking to imagine.

4. Author goes on to write: If nothing else, the creation story insists that God's mark is imprinted on my very being. I might ignore or distort it, but the mark is always there. Whether I acknowledge it or not, I reflect something of God's joy, God's intentions, God's love, and God's beauty just by virtue of existing on the earth. I am His, and so He is mine. JOURNEY WITH JESUS, A WEEKLY WEBZINE FOR THE GLOBAL CHURCH, SINCE 2004; Essay by Debie Thomas, http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20140609JJ.shtml

500. Being created in the image of God means a connection with God.

1. Not some distant connection, but something close and intimate.

2. Who God is somehow is found in who God created us us to be.

Move 2: Selfies reveal how easily we becomes focused on ourselves, which leads us away from the image of God to which we are called.

a. Regardless of why selfies are taken, they give the impression that the only person that matters is the person taking the photo, who happens to be front and center of the photo (or maybe off-center if I took the selfie!).

1. Everyone else is background.

2.  It reminds me of when my father used to take Polaroid photos of the baby grandchildren. If a parent seemed concerned about how they looked, my father would tell, "Don't worry, you're just background!"  In the world of selfies, the person taking the photo is all that matter; everyone else is background.

b. Selfies often look distorted because of the prominence of the person taking the selfie.

1. it is hard with the distance of one's outstretched arm to capture much more than one's own self.

2. Even with a selfie stick to give some greater distance, it's still about the person taking the selfie – they are front and center.

3. The image of God in us gets distorted when we only focus on ourselves. .

4. The image of God ought to be primarily about the one who creates us, but we distort that and make it about us.

b. Selfies can be dangerous, literally.

1. I read in July about a new brochure published by the Russian police that begins with the comment:  "A cool selfie can cost you your life."  

2. In the first six months of 2015 in Russia there had been ten deaths and 100 accidents from people striking lethal poses -- for example, getting close to an animal for a selfie only to have the animal attack; standing near exposed wires and then touching them while taking the selfie; leaning over rooftops for a photo and then falling (www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/russia-selfie-death-brochure/index.html).

3. So focused on oneself, that the person forgets what’s around him or her.

4. If you remember the sermon a few weeks ago on sin and how sin often comes from our focus on I, you can see how the selfie world fits in with our sinfulness.

c. when we read in Genesis about creation, we discover a call to be connected with what's around us.

1. we read in Chapter 1 the creation of humans how they are given responsibility of caring for all of God's creations.

2. If we read in Chapter 2 of genesis the story of God creating humans by breathing the breath of life into Adam, we also read about how God sees that Adam needs a partner, someone with whom to be in relationship, so God creates Eve out of Adam.

100. One of the foundational beliefs we have about God is that God is Trinity – three in one.

1. We may not be able to explain it fully, but it stands before us as a reminder that God is a relational God.

2. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Creator, Sustainer, redeemer – however we want to label our Trinitarian God, we do so to describe a God who is relational and connected.

3. Genesis story – God refers to God's own self as us – 'Let us make,” in “Our image”

4. the God who is self-defined as relational.

5. to be made in Gods' image means being made in relationship with one another.

d. to a large extent, the selfie world is more about self than about relationships.

1. Admittedly, most selfies are sent to someone else or posted on social media, which indicates some level of relationship, but it is hard to imagine that in the world of selfies there is much emphasis on relationships.

2. imagine if Adam sent us a selfie of himself that first day of creation

1. there he is front and center.

2. in the background you can see glimpses of the Garden of Eden, the beautiful creation God has coaxed out of the swirling water;

3. Oh yeah, there on the side of the selfie screen is the arm of someone else.

4. it must be Eve because she's the only other human around.

5. But it does not look like a world of relationships – it looks like Adam's world.

I doubt God would have looked at Adam's selfie and called it good.

Move 3: Being created in the image of God calls us to evolve.

a. Selfie-- by itself, it captures one moment on a spectrum

1. But, people string together a series of selfies to tell the story.

2. For example, my daughters like to string together selfies of their activities on Friday nights so I can get the whole story (thanks for that girls!).

2. Primitive example on the screens – Richard on Friday working on the sermon in his office.

3. Richard on Saturday night working on the sermon at home, with a football game in the background.

4. Richard on Sunday morning in his office having just typed this sermon.

4. Richard practicing the sermon before people arrive for worship.

6. Selfies tell the story moving forward toward the evolution of a sermon.

b. We grow into the image of God.

1. Humans quickly move from the goodness of creation to separation from God.

2. How do we get back to that image of God.

3. Minor prophets call us to new understandings.

4. God sends Christ to show us what it means to live in the image of God.

5. Christ, who exemplifies for us what it means to perfectly live in the image of God.

6. had this thought about Jesus and the Last Supper – Leonardo DaVinci has a painting of it. Jesus with the gathered group. Jesus in the middle, but everyone part of it. Imagine if Jesus took a selfie – mainly himself with everyone crowded in behind as if they did not matter.

5. Paul writes about how we are new creations in Christ.

100. New vision

1. Paul writes to the Galatians: we are no longer Jew or Greek, slave or fee, male or female...

2. To live into the image of God means growing into that new vision.

3. notice how that new vision is described in terms of relationships.

4. or better yet, the redefining of relationships.

5. The distorted human perspective sees that which divides – Jew and Greek; slave and free; male and female.

5. To be in God's image calls us to relationships that bind us together.

7. to be fully who we are created to be, we have to grow into this vision of God's image that transcends that which divides us.

Conclusion: Let me take another photo.

Instead of a selfie – a picture of the gathered community, a much better image of God.