We continue with poetry and imagination in "Hopeful Imagination."
The poetry does not describe what is happening. Rather it evokes images and invites perceptions in Israel that were not available apart from the poetry. The poetry is not aimed first of all at external conduct, as though the poet expected people immediately to start packing for travel. Rather, the poetry cuts underneath behavior to begin to transform the self-image, communal image, and image of historical possibility. The rhetoric works to deabsolutize imperial modes of reality... The outcome of such poetry is hope. It is hope which makes community possible on the way out of the empire.
The poet from 2nd Isaiah through to poets today are quite like gardeners. They plant, they tend to the soil, they talk to the plants that cannot be seen, they add compost and mulch...they do whatever is necessary to provide a place for the future to blossom. This is so important when the present is oppressive and/or the people cannot see beyond the predicament in which they live. Hope is such a powerful force in life. Hope that comes from visions of what is not yet a reality can help us to make our way through the mire in which we may find ourselves. Hope can ease our anxiety and help us to begin imagining something more to life. Maybe that is why the prophet offers to the people those wonderful words: Comfort, Comfort, ye my people!
Connection: Do you have people in your life that serve as the poet for you when you are stuck? I could be that you do...but you have just not considered them as such. They may simply be friends, co-workers, neighbors...who knows! Listen.
You bring into our lives, O God, this comfort that penetrates the turmoil of the day to touch us and assure us of the life you still have in store for us. When we are anxious, help us to breath and wait and begin to listen to your word of hope that plays all around us. Amen.
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