“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2

“So God created humankind in God’s  own image. In the image of God, God created them. Male and female God created them.” Genesis 1:27

The biblical record begins with the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. A divine and mighty wind, sweeping over the chaos, untamed below.

The poet of Genesis attests God’s hand at work in all of creation. The Creator  forming and molding one piece upon another. Plants spring up and bloom, birds fill  skies, fish swarm in the sea, and animals roam the Earth.

Finally we were made in the image of God. Not some people, but all people, each one of us made in the image of God, with all of our struggles, defeats, fears, and possibilities, created by our maker, to have a place in God’s realm.

In God’s eyes, there are no races greater or lesser than the other, all have value and worth, for each of us has been created in the image of God.  God’s heart is wide and deep, naming all of creation, “Good.”

Which should cause us to pause, in our judgments and pronouncements, especially of people who do not look like us, or sound like us, think like us, or speak like us.

This past year we have painfully watched the scapegoating and demonizing of many in our immigrant population, based almost entirely on race. Rather than coming together for an honest discussion of our immigration law and fixing its problems, the Trump administration has spent the past year targeting people for deportation.

Of those arrested and detained, most had some form of legal status, from seeking asylum, work permits, *DACA protection, to spouses applying for Green Cards. Few have had criminal records.  Actions have been cruel, arbitrary and unjust, with families torn apart, children left alone, and injuries from violent arrests.

In the process of deporting thousands of good people, we’ve created and are creating, warehouses of Detention centers, and utilizing the private prison system. Many are dehumanizing, poorly run and abusive. Reports continue to come out of tainted food, bad water, inadequate medical care,  and medically preventable deaths. Even children are confined in family detention for months, where no child belongs.

A nation that no longer recognizes, each person is made in the image of God, loses its soul.

As we soon reach our 250 Anniversary of the founding of this country, may we do so recognizing the divine worth, of those whose humanity is being denied today.

May God who rules over chaos, and swept across the waters of creation, hover over us in the chaos of this moment. May the Spirit draw all of our hearts to compassion, goodness, mercy and true justice. May we recognize each of God’s children as precious siblings in Christ . . . People of worth, dignity and value, that we may act and live and be, God’s instruments of love in our world.

*DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals