“The whole person, not merely [their] soul; the true human community, not only the individual; humanity as it is bound up with nature, not simply human beings in their confrontation with nature—it is these which are the image of God and [God’s] glory.”
–Miroslav Volf
We believe that we are created in the image of God. This is a radical idea that, for many, may have been dulled by familiarity over the years. That belief may have also lost some of its spark when, particularly in western Christianity, it came to be applied almost exclusively to the individual. But what if it is not only our individual identities that reflect God’s image? What if that image is more fully reflected in the ways that our individual stories, bodies, and callings intersect with and impact each other? What if, like our personal stories of transformation, the particularity of our work with others reveals something deep and beautiful about who God is?
So much of our mission at The Seattle School leads us to that idea. In recent months on the blog, we’ve been wrestling with how transformation draws us deeper into the call to serve God and neighbor, and how living out that call in a sustainable way requires that we never stop nurturing the process of formation. This month, we’re going to be exploring how integrating those two processes—personal formation and outward service—is an act of worship, one that reveals the image of God in profound and surprising ways.
How does your calling reflect something of who God is? How might your service draw you deeper into worship? As Barbara Brown Taylor invites us to consider, what is your altar in the world?
These are big questions, and they are intimately connected to story. That means that, when we let our transformation inform our calling as an act of worship, our work in the world might look as unique as our own story. Service looks different for everyone, which means that your calling might be a bit unconventional—and this is a good thing.
Here’s to unconventional callings, continued transformation, and service as worship. And here’s to the image of God that is continually being revealed in and between and through each of us as we serve God and neighbor.