A More Nuerodiverse God — Our Bible App

Day 1 of 3: In the Image of the Divergent God

So God created human beings in his own image; in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. -Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

Genesis, the first book in the Bible, tells us that at the beginning of humanity’s creation, God created us all in God’s own image. Yes, all of us. Not just the male, the cis, the heteronormative, the white, the able…or the neurotypical. All of us.

For too long those whose cognition, perception, and social styles have been seen as diverging from the norm, as somehow intrinsically flawed or broken, have been exempted from the Imago Dei – the image of God. Just like those with poor, black and brown, disabled, trans and queer bodies, we have been othered, even while some of us – those deemed useful – have been lauded for our gifts. The stories told about us are of a people who are, because of our brain wiring, somewhere on the margins of the Kingdom.

But Genesis tells us a different story. Genesis tells us, in unambiguous terms, that we are all created in God’s image. This is an entirely different reality from simply saying that God loves us all, or that we are all His/Her/Their children. To say that we are created in God’s own image means not just that we are like God but that God is like us.

That God, in all God’s spectacular rainbow glory, is a spectrum too. Neurodiverse. Thinking, perceiving, and relating in myriad wonderful possibilities. As autistic people, or people with ADHD, synesthesia, sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s or any other form of neurodiversity, we are an integral part of the Imago Dei.

It would not be complete without us.

God in whose image we are created, today I remember that as a member of the neurodiverse community, I am beautifully and wonderfully made in your image. We are not broken, but beautiful; not flawed, but flawless; not Other but Beloved. Amen.

Kelly Palmer

Day 1 of 3: In the Image of the Divergent God

Start reading this 3-day devotional in the app. Find it on the Featured shelf.