This weekend I have been on another SEITE residential at Herne Bay Court.

We look at persons in relation and formation. We looked at identity and difference, how we are dependent on relationships, and the view that it is actually our relationships that identify us as being unique. My identity with God makes me unique in who I am, but does my relationships with other people add to that uniqueness. For me the jury is still out on that while I ponder the question.

We also looked at what the whole area of ‘made in the image of God’ was all about. In particular,something I had never thought about was that in some way we must reflect the tri-une nature of God. If God is trinity, then the human image of God, it follows, should reflect that trinity in some way.

Is this correct? If it is correct, then should humanity also reflect God’s omnipresence and all powerfulness in some way too? As I reflect, I suppose humans can be in more than one place at once in some ways. For example, wherever you are reading this, in a (very poor) sense I am there with you; whether you are reading in Gillingham, East London,Canada, America – hey I am there with you! Scary thought!

In other ways too humans are powerful. We have the ability to change our environments, which is something other ‘creatures’ cannot do readily.

We are created in the image of God – I guess it does not have to be a great image, and in some cases we are not!

I am mulling this stuff over – I do not know what I think or what my opinion is yet – how do we start to understand what particular characteristics of God are reflected in our humanity? How far is this a helpful reality, and how far is this a created concept attempting to give meaning to something that may not be explainable? What are the realities and implications of ‘being created in the image of God’?