Every morning for a hundred days the Trinity went silent as the breaking edge of the early sun sped past Iceland, Greenland and then onto American soil. Spirit sighed as Son complained, “I saved their ungrateful asses for this kind of behavior?” Godhead was silent as godheads tend to be, but noted that maybe they should have gone with the dolphins as the lead species. “These humans don’t deserve to walk by forests and rivers, much less have dominion.” The Three/One gave up and stepped back to let the foolish species simply erase itself. It would leave only a very minor archeological layer of plastic as evidence of an experiment gone awry. “It’s a lovely little planet; someone will come along and treat it right.”
Somebody has to remind God not to give up. That usually means an artist with a soul that could not be silent, even against all the evidence. This time it was my friend and colleague Sally Morris who noticed that DEI–the target of the most sophomoric obsessions of you-know-who—also spell the Latin word meaning “of God.” Once the phrase “imago Dei”—“image of God”—entered her thoughts, she knew that other Latin terms and elaboration on them would follow. She turned to her poet and theologian friend Mel Bringle to keep faith with the subtle nuances of Latin and, well, God. The lyrics:
Imago Dei is the image of God.
Diverse and cherished, we are made by one God.
Each gender, class, and race reflects God’s holy face.
To see your likeness, help us, O God.
Voluntas Dei is the strong will of God.
Of equal standing as we follow our God, no longer slave or free,
we join in unity.
To work for justice, help us, O God.
Caritas Dei is the wide love of God.
Included gladly in the arms of our God, of this, we have no doubt:
God’s grace leaves no one out.
To welcome others, help us, O God.
These simple lessons are the teachings of God.
Diverse and Equal and Included by God, we rise to righteous calls
each time we topple walls.
To live your Gospel, help us, O God.
Descant:* Imago Dei. Voluntas Dei. Caritas Dei. Auxilio Dei.
*English: Image of God. Will of God. Love of God. By the help of God.
As Mel explains, “The concluding phrase about toppling walls alludes to Ephesians 2:14, where we are again called to live as one in Christ, because “He is our peace [who] in His flesh has made [us] one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (NRSV).
Saul Alinsky said long ago to never go up against a group of people that sing together, especially when they are singing like their life depends on it.
Every church and organization on the verge of forgetting its identity should sing this song five times a day. Every waffling Board of every faith-related university and hospital should, too, or else they’ll embarrass themselves as they scurry into some safe corner in which to hide from history and their own self.
Artists remind us who we are.
Sometimes the artist reminds God to live up their name, too. Don’t give up on us God!
Tomorrow another day unfolds, built on the shambles of previous bad decisions. But not without hope that even when we waffle and fail, someone will come along to remind us who we are.
/////
You can download lyrics and full sheet music with a better explanation by the artists on the GIA website. https://giamusic.com/resource/imago-dei-is-the-image-of-god-pdf-du01930
If you use it, please let Sally and I know, maybe with a video link. Gary.gunderson@gmail.com or morrissa@wfu.edu
