In the beginning was the Word The Word was with God The Word was God

God created the heavens and the earth…

And all its living creatures

God then created Woman and Man…the pinnacle of creation

In the image of God He created them, male and female he created them… (Genesis)

What does this mean? The question we need to ask first is: Who is God?

The Images of God are many

These images which come from: Scripture Tradition Teachings These tell Christians that…

God is relational This famous icon represents the Holy Trinity The three winged angels represent God the Father, Son and Spirit They sit, open to one another around the single table— symbolising their unity mutual trust and giving nature They eat from the same plate symbolising their mutual sharing and communion What does this Icon tell us about God and ourselves?

Just as God is in relationship, we also are created to be in relationships: Relationship with our creator and relationship with others. Only when we act in communion with God and others do we truly live out of the image of God in which we are created

The Two creation accounts in Genesis tell us that God created the heavens and the earth These creations accounts are commonly acknowledged to be “myths” The word “myth” refers to stories which convey the beliefs of a group. It does not refer to falsehoods or fantasy. The creation accounts were not written as history texts, they were written to recognise the universal belief that God is the creator of the universe

We call God Creator, not only because as Christians we believe he was the cause for the entire universe coming into being… …..but also because we believe that at every second he sustains the universe. In other words every second that the universe exists is due to God’s continuous creative act. We can see God’s Creative activity in the world and universe, in human society, in families, in individuals. Think of some examples….

Because we are created in the image of God, we too are meant to be creative, not only through creating new life but also by sustaining life. What does this look like? What does this sound like? What does this feel like?

Being creative doesn’t look like this…

Nor does it look like this:

Being creative does look like this: Live 8 Concerts

It also looks like this

It sounds like this: "The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.“ - Martin Luther King, Jr.

It sounds like this: "It's not about charity, it's about justice." Bono, on eradicating poverty "It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." Mother Theresa "Poverty is the worst form of violence." Mahatma Gandhi

It sounds like this "The US cannot win the war on terrorism unless we confront the social and political roots of poverty." Colin Powell "Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit." - Eli Khamarov

It Feels like this Acceptance Belonging Trust Unconditional Love Peaceful Good Respected Exciting Joyful

We are called to be creative!!! To live out of our dignity as people created in God’s image requires us to live as God lives. Just as God is creative, so we are called to be creative. This is our Christian vocation.

Just as God is relational, so also are we called to relationship. We can only truly live out our full dignity by relating to our God, who is our creator and by relating to others in a life giving manner. Just as the scriptures tell us: “How can we love God whom we can’t see, if we fail to love our brothers and sisters whom we can see.”

This means we are called to bring forth life. We can do this through our work, through the way we build up those around us, through the way we care for our environment, by bringing new life into the world and through many other means.

Jesus reminds us that we will be judged according to how we loved others, for when we love others, we love God also.