Minister’s Message: A damaged portrait
Published 5:30 am Friday, July 17, 2026
One of my favorite images from the early church comes from Athanasius, a theologian who lived more than 1,600 years ago. He imagined humanity as a portrait of a king that had become damaged. The portrait was faded and worn and parts of it were marred beyond recognition; however, it was still valuable because it still bore the image of the king.
That image has stayed with me because it is so reflective of the human condition: we are capable of sacrificial love, yet at the same time we carry wounds from relationships, failures, and losses. We can be generous one day and selfish the next. We understand that there is something beautiful about human beings and yet something deeply ugly as well.
I see this regularly in my work as a chaplain. People facing death and serious illness often spend time reminiscing about experiences that shaped them for better or for worse. They dwell on memories of love and being loved. They reflect on regrets and seek out forgiveness. Beneath all of it is a question that many of us carry: Who am I, really?
The Christian story begins with the conviction that every person is created in the image of God. That belief is the foundation for human dignity, as our worth is not determined by our health, our success, our intelligence, or our usefulness, but by the indelible fact that we bear the imprint of our Creator.
At the same time, Christianity is honest about the fact that something has gone amiss. Sin has distorted God’s image in us. We hurt one another and we become trapped in patterns we wish we could escape. We inherit wounds and pass wounds on to others. The portrait is still there, but it is not what it once was.
Athanasius believed that this is why Jesus came. If the portrait was damaged, it needed to be restored according to the original. Christians believe that Jesus is that original image. In Him we see humanity as it was meant to be since the beginning. Jesus entered a world marked by suffering and death, living with perfect love for both God and neighbor. He took the world’s brokenness upon Himself in death and rose again.
The hope of Christianity is not simply that people can be forgiven, though that is certainly foundational to it; it is that people can be restored. God is at work renewing what has been damaged and recovering what has been lost.
The portrait is not thrown away and the King does not abandon it. Instead, He comes near and begins the patient work of restoration. May the portrait remind us that God’s response to human brokenness is not in abandonment, but in the work of restoration.
Rev. Christianne Salinas Zeiger is a palliative care and hospice chaplain at Kenai Peninsula Home Health and Hospice.
