Faces on Faith: We are not insignificant in God’s eyes
We live at the water’s edge.
Those of us who live, work or attend church or temple on Sanibel live at the water’s edge — literally and spiritually.
Because the water’s edge is where land, water and sky all meet. And in the symbolism of the Bible and the Christian and Jewish traditions, land, water and sky all represent, at various times, both the divine and encounters with it.
In the second Creation story in Genesis, God is present on land, walking in the Garden of Eden before actually speaking to Adam and Eve. In the Exodus story, God becomes present to Moses in a burning bush. And in the Christian Gospels, Jesus — Emmanuel — God with us — spends his days journeying through the land.
When it comes to water, God parts the Red Sea for the Israelites escaping from Egypt; God provides water for those same Israelites through a rock; and Jesus both walks on water and describes new life in God as “living water.”
And as for sky, God descends from the sky to give the Torah to Moses; God declares Jesus to be God’s beloved son from the sky; and Jesus ascends to the skies after his resurrection.
The water’s edge — the place where all three — land, water and sky — meet. And the place where Jesus called his first disciples. The place where the grandeur, and vastness, and power and timelessness of the divine met some marginal, unglamorous, unknown fishermen and transformed them.
The place where God declared that while they might have been small in relation to that divine grandeur, vastness, power and timelessness, and small in the eyes of the world they lived in, those fishermen were not insignificant.
Not insignificant to Jesus or to God. Just like all of us. To God and to the Jesus who embodies that God for Christians, no one is insignificant. Not you. Not me.
Not Charlie Kirk.
I respected Mr. Kirk’s advocacy for free speech and his efforts to engage in dialogue with those who held opinions and beliefs contrary to his, while at the same time finding some of his positions and understanding of Christianity troublesome.
And Charlie Kirk, while being better known than most people, was still, in the grand scheme of things, small in relation to the grandeur, vastness, power and timelessness of the divine, and small in the eyes of the world as a whole.
But he was not insignificant. Not insignificant to God or to Jesus. And we must never lose sight of that if we are to be free of the current impulse toward, and national stain of, political violence.
In this time, when so many of us are wondering what we are to do about all the division and discord in our society; how we are to live when far too many leaders and citizens are choosing to see and treat others who differ with them politically, socially and spiritually; maybe we could at least start there. By remembering that no one is insignificant in the eyes of God. By refusing to see any of God’s people as insignificant to the point where we are passive about harm coming to them, let alone condoning or celebrating it as some are when it comes to Mr. Kirk’s death.
As people who live, work and worship at the water’s edge, we have a special, daily reminder that we are not insignificant in God’s eyes. And with that, perhaps, comes a special responsibility to not just embrace that spiritual truth for ourselves, but help others — help our society — embrace it too.
Let us stand at the water’s edge together.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Boyea is senior minister at the Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.