Morning Meditation: A Better Political Imagination

Dear God who shaped humanity from dust and breathed into us Your own image,

This morning I sit with the radical claim of Genesis 1:26-28 — that every person who has ever drawn breath carries the imago Dei, the image of God. Not just the people I agree with. Not just the people who vote like I do or worship like I do. Every single one.

The early Anabaptists understood this. When sixteenth-century reformers reached for the sword to settle theological disputes, communities like the Swiss Brethren in Zurich chose a staggering alternative — they refused to coerce, even when it cost them their lives. They believed that if every person bears Your image, then no political arrangement built on domination or violence can ever reflect Your kingdom. They imagined something better: communities where the last are genuinely first, where enemies are fed before allies are flattered, where power flows downward like water seeking the lowest place.

Lord, I confess how easily I shrink my political imagination to fit inside a ballot box. Teach me the Anabaptist vision — that Your kingdom is not a platform but a way of living together. Help me see the mother working two jobs, the immigrant learning a new language, the veteran sitting alone in a waiting room, and recognize in each face the fingerprints of the Creator.