Vulnerable in the Image of God

NOTE: The time signatures in the text below refer to the above TED talk by Brene Brown, “Listening to Shame.”

Let’s just start with this. I do not like this story. At all. It is an icky, uncomfortable, vexing, obnoxious, disagreeable story. It is the kind of story that sends me to the thesaurus looking for adjectives to describe how much I dislike it. Because, seriously, what the heck am I supposed to do with this story?

The story of Genesis so far is the story of people behaving badly. Adam and Eve listening to a snake, and Cain killing Abel; God wiping everyone out and starting over, thinking that Noah was a nice guy and good starter stock, but people (including Noah) still behaving badly; then there was the whole Tower of Babel debacle, and people still found a way to make mischief, even though they couldn’t talk to each other. So now, God is going to try selecting one guy, a good and faithful guy, who God can kind of coach along. God chooses this guy, Abram, and promises Abram that he will be the father of nations, even gets Abram to change his name to Abraham, which means “father of many.” But still, Abraham isn’t even father of one at this point, and faithful though he may be, he and his wife still have their doubts, so he fathers a child with his wife’s handmaid, Hagar. This boy is named Ishmael, and it is through him that Abraham is the father of all Muslims. In fact, in the stories of Islam, it is Ishmael that Abraham takes up onto the mountain to sacrifice, not Isaac. In the tradition we have received, however, God tells Abraham that the promise is for both Abraham and his wife Sarah, and eventually Sarah has a son, who is named Isaac, which means laughter.

Which brings us to today’s reading. Chapter 22 starts out, “After these things, God tested Abraham.” I would like to add “again.” Because it seems to me God has already messed with Abraham enough – moving him across the continent, changing his name, forcing him to take refuge with pharaohs and kings (Abraham even had to lie, not once, but twice, and say that Sarah was his sister, and watch her go and live in the harems of these kings and pharaohs); Abraham even had to send away his eldest son Ishmael to secure the succession of the promise – I mean, hasn’t Abraham been thoroughly tested already? Apparently not, because now God is going to ask this ever-so-faithful Abraham to take the only son he has left and sacrifice him on a mountaintop three days away from home. And I’d just like to say, on Abraham’s behalf, because Abraham is either too faithful or too gullible to say it for himself, “excuse me?” Like I said, I don’t really like this story very much. I don’t like Abraham’s obedience and I don’t like God’s demand and I don’t like Isaac’s vulnerability. To say nothing of poor Sarah waiting at home.

So you know how there are times when something you’ve never really thought much about before suddenly shows up everywhere and you realize you need to pay attention? Well, that’s what happened to me this week. It started with an email Cynthia sent me with a link to a couple of TED talks by Brene Brown. I’d heard of this woman in a few different contexts, but I’d never gotten around to watching her speak or reading her books, so I watched them. They were all about vulnerability. Then I came across this website called The Work of the People, where all of these videos are collected, videos of various really smart really spiritual people talking about the things they think are important about God, and time and time again on that website, I found people talking about vulnerability. Then I saw a video of one of the greatest preachers in America, Barbara Brown Taylor, talking about vulnerability in worship. Then I was listening to some commentary online, and they started talking about being vulnerable, and I decided maybe I’d better start paying attention. Maybe God was trying to get me thinking about this vulnerability thing.

So I watched Brene Brown’s TED talks a few more times. Really, I considered just showing that and calling it good. They are just that good. I have linked them to our webpage, and I’m sending you home with homework – go and watch these videos. They are time well spent.

But I’ll give you the Cliff notes as best I can. Brene Brown is a researcher and a social worker. She has spent a lot of time studying human connection and how we build relationships. And what she has discovered is that we are hardwired for connection. We are actually, biologically, chemically, and neurologically created to be in relationship. Remember that whole image of God business from last week when we read Genesis 1 in the middle of a thunderstorm? Well, as a refresher, let me remind you that you were created in God’s image. And God’s image is a community – a creator, a breath, a powerful Word; a maker, a redeemer, a sustainer; a Father, a Son, a Spirit; a community; a relationship. So now we have it from the Bible, and from the research. We are created for connection.

And the thing that makes connection possible is vulnerability. The only way that we can truly connect to another person is to let down the guard, and show them who we really are. To be vulnerable with them. Listen to what she says in her talk: 3:52-5:12

And already, I’m liking this reading of Genesis 22 way better. Because everyone is vulnerable in this story. Everyone has put their relationship and their very being on the line. Isaac is clearly vulnerable. Not just physically. But he trusts his father, and through his father, Isaac trusts God. And when he asks his terrifying, terrified question, “Where is the lamb?” he is putting it all on the line. Abraham is definitely vulnerable, no one would argue that. Abraham is putting his trust in this God who has so far come through for him, but what will he do if God lets him down? He’s given his whole life to this God and here he’s about to give his son’s life to this God and there had better be some kind of payoff. Not to mention that if he comes home without Isaac Sarah is going to kill him.

But here’s the thing that I like about this reading – God is also vulnerable. God is also putting it all on the line. What if Abraham refuses? What if Abraham decides to throw his lot in with another God? What if Abraham jumps the gun and kills the boy before God can stop him? A lot rides on Abraham here, and while Abe is putting his trust in God, God is putting a lot of trust in Abe. And now we have another image of God to work with. God is not just about relationship. God is about the authentic relationship that can only come when we let down our guard and place ourselves in one another’s care. When we show ourselves for who we truly are – not hiding behind masks of shame or power or who we think we are supposed to be or could be if only we could get it together; not playing parts or controlling others or being controlled by others – when we show ourselves for who we truly are, we make ourselves vulnerable. And it can be painful, but more than that, it is necessary. Absolutely necessary. 5:12-6:05

And this vulnerability will be a theme that will come up again and again as we work our way through the Narrative of the Bible this year. As we discover together what the image of God is, this image in which we were created. Because time and again, God will show God’s self, will be vulnerable, will pledge fidelity and love, and be rejected – at the foot of Sinai, in the fires of Ba’al, and finally on the cross. And even then, God will remain true – true to us and true to God’s self, showing us the fullness of God in the broken body of a vulnerable man hanging on a cross, taking on all the shame and grief and pain of the world, vulnerable to the point of death. And through that vulnerability, the same vulnerability that we see in Isaac on the mountain, we see the image of God, the image in which we were created. We see God becoming vulnerable for the sake of the whole world, reconciling the world through this broken body hanging on a cross.

But here’s the tricky part. God didn’t become vulnerable so that you wouldn’t have to. This is not God being vulnerable as an excuse for us to hide behind our masks. This vulnerability of God opens the way for our vulnerability. The enemy of vulnerability is shame. Shame is the voice that tells us over and over again that we are not good enough. Here’s how Brene Brown explains it – 13:08-14:01.

But hear this: God has no truck with shame. God will not put up with shame. God has created you for relationship, real authentic relationship. God knows that shame gets in the way, every day, that we live in a world powered and fueled by shame, a world where we hear 1000 times a day how we are not pretty enough or smart enough or rich enough or smell funny or whatever, and we have been sacrificed on the alter of shame over and over and over again. And so God has said enough – shame is not your god. Shame is not allowed to have power over you. And so your God has come into the world with the antidote to shame – vulnerability. God has shown us once and for all that vulnerability – God on the cross – will win every time over shame – the taunts of the soldiers, the handwashing of Pilate, the betrayal of the disciples. Vulnerability carries shame into the grave, buries it next to death, and rises again Easter morning, showing us the true face of God – the One who walks first into vulnerability, so that we will have the courage, the strength, the power, to follow; to become vulnerable ourselves; to live in the image in which we were made.