Naomi's Notes - 03/18/07
"Imago Deo." Image of God. As a child I learned that humans are created in God's image, but in seminary I was introduced to the idea that our personal image (concept) of God determines how we live our lives, and that we "image" God by the way we live.
Recently in a sermon, Chuck imaged God as a mother holding a baby in her arms. The baby cannot comprehend the vastness of the mother, yet is able to relate to her and to feel her love.
Ben Patterson, in Serving God: The Grand Essentials of Work and Worship, relates still another image of God through a wonderful story about renowned Polish pianist/composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, around 1919:
"Paderewski was, at one time, both the prime minister of Poland and a virtuoso pianist. A story is told about a mother who brought her young son to hear him perform. The boy was just beginning to learn the piano and she wanted him to hear a master, so she bought tickets for two front-row seats in the concert hall. They sat down a few minutes before the concert was to begin.
In the excitement of the event, the mother was looking around the large hall, mesmerized by the glitter and festivity. She didn't notice when her son climbed up on the stage, walked over to the piano and sat down on the bench. Suddenly she, and everyone else in the auditorium, heard the tune 'Chopsticks' coming from the piano on the stage. To her embarrassment and horror, she turned to discover that her son was committing this sacrilege upon the master's piano.
Before she could get up on the stage and stop the boy, the master himself walked out from behind the curtains. Paderewski smiled at the distraught mother and waved her back to her seat. He then stood behind the boy, reached around him with both hands and began to play a lovely obbligato to his 'Chopsticks.' They were co-workers but not co-equals."
Patterson goes on to say that we "become co-workers with God only when He reaches around the feeble work of our hands with His hands and sanctifies it." What a wonderful image of a loving, not scolding God who understands our fledgling talents and encourages our creativity and innocent inquisitiveness - all of which, after all, are God-given. This amazing God takes whatever we offer freely, adds Godly enhancements that minimize our mistakes, and shapes it into something glorious!
"I'm just a child and I haven't got much,
But whatever I have I give it to You, Lord,
I'm just a child and I haven't got much,
But whatever I am I give it all to You."
See you in worship this Sunday –
Naomi