I believe God's image is in everyone, I think....

I believe we are all, every single person, created in the image of God.  I say I believe that; I think I believe that; I want to believe that; and yet there are more times than I'd like to admit that I don't act like I believe that.  And that's just with people in my everyday life....

Last night during our 5 o'clock service I was reflecting on part of the Baptismal Covenant.  "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?" (BCP, 305)  ALL persons it says-not just those people in whom God's image is easy to see.  Not just in those people where I want to see it.  Further, the question asks us to seek and serve--to make the effort, to work to see Christ in all persons.  I'm not sure I want to do that; I don't know that I want to admit God's image is in all of us.  And I certainly don't want to have to put any effort into finding it in those people who hurt me or those I love or anyone else.  But, if I truly believe God's image is in all of us than that means it is also in people who do evil things and I am called to try to find it--that means God's image is in Jesse Matthews or whoever killed Hannah Elizabeth Graham, and I'm not sure I want to believe that; it's easier to just see evil and to hate.  And yet my faith that I hold so dear is telling me differently; I admit I don't like it.

As I try to wrap my mind around this I recall a conversation I had with a parent in Caroline's class.  Her husband is an attorney and one of their new associates went to high school with Jesse Matthews.  She told my friend that in high school he was good and gentle and kind and she was having a hard time believing he could hurt anyone.  My first thought was, "I guess some people can fool anyone."  But last night preaching on the Baptismal Covenant I had to confront the hypocrisy in front of me.  If I really believe what I profess than just perhaps regardless of what he may have done, God's image is a part of him....

I believe the Baptismal Covenant is what we strive for, what we use to order our lives, to try to again and again live into the image of God that is within us.  But it's not easy and we have to admit that and confess that.  The confession in Enriching Our Worship (p. 56) says,

God of all mercy,
we confess that we have sinned against you,
opposing your will in our lives.
We have denied your goodness in each other,
in ourselves, and in the world you have created.
We repent of the evil that enslaves us,
the evil we have done,
and the evil done on our behalf.
Forgive, restore, and strengthen us
through our Savior Jesus Christ,
that we may abide in your love
and serve only your will. Amen.

This is hard; really really hard.  People do have to be held accountable for their actions; justice does have to be served--I want to leave it there.  I want to hate the actions so much that I can hate the person, disregard the person, cast the person off as pure evil, deny the goodness, even the smallest amount of goodness that can be in someone.  I want it to be easy, but it's not.  I know I need my community of faith and God's help to believe.  I know I cannot do it on my own.  Right now my core convictions, my faith is being challenged--do I really believe what I profess?  Can I really believe it?
I'm trying....