We have only one child left at home, except for short periods. But that doesn’t mean things are quiet. Gabriel can make quite a racket. He always has. I recall when he was just about four years old. Even alone he’d sing and talk loudly with a number of toys surrounding him. He’d bang them about, and he’d pretend he was different characters as he played.
Imagination. When we’re little it seems we have no shortage of it. But when we grow up most of us put our imagination on the shelf along with the toys we once enjoyed. Imagination is for kids. Reality is for adults. Or so we sometimes think.
But it’s not so! An adult without imagination is a person who can’t see beyond what is in front of his or her eyes. Faith sees something more. The world with its wars, poverty, oppression, illness and pure drudgery is what we too often think of as “reality.” In the face of this flawed reality, we desperately need some imagination. Imagination powered by faith.
Faith-filled imagination enables us to get a glimpse of a better world. A bumper sticker reads, “Imagine World Peace.” Some scoff. But imagination is the first step toward change. It allows us to incline our hearts and minds toward a brighter, more just, harmonious and God-blessed world. When Jesus taught us to pray to God “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” he called us to a prayerful imagination. Imagination helps us realize that the world as it is around us isn’t inevitable and unalterable.
“We walk by faith, not by sight” wrote the apostle Paul. Those who are strictly realistic can only “walk by sight.” That is not enough for those of us who walk with Jesus. We believe he can make the impossible possible if we walk by faith. Let’s be faithfully imaginative. Let’s imagine a better world and a better church. Then let’s live imaginatively and create a reality more pleasing to God.
Grace and Peace,
Craig